The 2025 Senior World Championships will take place in Zagreb, Croatia, from September 13 to 21. The 70 kg weight class in men’s freestyle will be in the first group of weight classes wrestled at worlds this year on September 13 and 14. Team USA’s PJ Duke is making his world championship debut in a deep field that includes seven past senior world medalists, along with a host of other contenders. Check out the article below for a full breakdown, along with our medal predictions, for 70 kg at this year’s World Championships.

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70 kg 2025 World Championship Rankings

The above rankings are based on results from head-to-head matchups. United World Wrestling seeds off of Rankings Points accumulated over the past year at the Olympics, Continental Championships, and Ranking Series Tournaments. Check out the full 2025 World Championship Rankings Here.

70 kg Seeds At The 2025 World Championships

1. Yoshinosuke Aoyagi, JPN
2. Akaki Kemertelidze, GEO
3. Nurkozha Kaipanov, KAZ
4. Kanan Heybatov, AZE
5. Arman Andreasyan, ARM
6. Austin Gomez, MEX
7. Vasile Diacon, MDA
8. Ismail Musukaev, HUN

The Favorite

• Nurkozha Kaipanov, KAZ - 2024 World Gold, 2019 World Silver

Kaipanov will return to worlds this year at 70 kg to defend his world title after spending the beginning of the year at 74 kg. Kaipanov has an incredibly exciting style and is proficient at both generating his own offense and scoring off counters. At last year’s Worlds, Kaipanov dominated his way to the finals by defeating Abdulmazhid Kudiev (13-2), Akaki Kemertelidze (12-2), Nicolai Grahmez (14-2), and Mitch Finesilver (9-0). Then, in the finals, Kaipanov won a close, 5-3 decision over Japan’s Yoshinosuke Aoyagi.

While Kaipanov’s run to gold was impressive last year, it was also somewhat surprising considering his results over the past 5 years. Kaipanov had failed to medal at worlds since he won silver in 2019 and spent the majority of his time up at 74 kg. This year will tell us if Kaipanov’s performance last year was just a flash in the pan or if Kaipanov will be a contender for years to come at 70 kg.

Kaipanov's win over Yoshinosuke Aoyagi in the 2024 World Finals:

The Gold Contenders

• Yoshinosuke Aoyagi, JPN - 2024 World Silver, 2024 U23 World Bronze, 2023 U23 World Silver, 2022 U20 World Bronze, 2019 U17 World Bronze
• Amir Yazdani, IRI - 2021 & 2023 World Silver, 2022 U23 World Silver, 2015 U17 World Silver
• Ernazar Akmataliev, KGZ - 2022 World Bronze, 2021 World Silver, 2021 U23 World Gold 
• Saiyn Kazyryk, RUS - 2018 U20 World Gold
• Viktor Rassadin, TJK - 2024 & 2025 Asian Silver

The above five wrestlers all have the skills and past accomplishments that prove they are the most likely wrestlers in the field to challenge Kaipanov for gold. Still at only 23 years old, Yoshinosuke Aoyagi will be back at worlds this year and looking for redemption after falling just short with silver last year. Aoyagi has an outstanding hit list with notable victories over James Green, Will Lewan, Inalbek Sheriev, Vazgen Tevanyan, Akaki Kemertelidze, Arman Andreasyan, and several other top wrestlers at the weight. Aoyagi is solid in all positions and has won world medals at every single age level, proving that he’s capable of performing his best on the biggest stage. 

Aoyagi's win over James Green:

Amir Yazdani will be returning to 70 kg after coming up just short in his attempt to make Iran’s world team at 74 kg. Yazdani had two wins over the past year over world medalist Younes Emami at 74 kg, but will strengthen Iran’s lineup at the lower weight. Yazdani has very few holes in his game and will be right in the mix to win a gold medal in Croatia. He’s a fantastic hand-fighter, and his right side single is as good as they come.  Yazdani also has great shot defense and reattacks. With two world silvers already, this could finally be the year Yazdani reaches the top of the podium.

Yazdani's win in the 2023 World Semis over Ramazan Ramazanov:

Kyrgyzstan’s Ernazar Akmataliev is one of the most exciting wrestlers in the world, regardless of weight class. He has fantastic upper-body attacks and is capable of putting up big points against anyone in the world. He also has an impressive hit list of victories with wins over Viktor Rassadin, Yoshinosuke Aoyagi, Nachyn Kuular, Tulga Tumur-Ochir, Nurkozha Kaipanov, and a host of other accomplished wrestlers. However, Akmataliev is also known for being a bit inconsistent and will drop matches to wrestlers far less accomplished. Because of that inconsistency, I’d be surprised to see Akmataliev come away with gold, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him beat anyone in this bracket.

Akmataliev's win over Aoyagi at the 2025 Asian Championships:

Saiyn Kazyryk was the biggest surprise of Russian nationals. He came into the tournament unranked but ran through a deep field to earn his world team spot for Russia. Kazyryk is a rare blend of a wrestler who has outstanding fundamentals but also big point-scoring potential. He doesn’t have the international experience of many of the other wrestlers in this bracket, but he was a U20 world champion back in 2018 and even boasts a win over Zain Retherford from 2019. 

Kazyryk’s win over Retherford at 8:29:30 in the video below:

Medal Contenders

• Ismail Musukaev, HUN - 2023 World Gold (at 65 kg), 2019 & 2022 World Bronze (at 65 kg)
• Arman Andreasyan, ARM - 2023 World Bronze 
• Tulga Tumur-Ochir, MGL - 2021 World Bronze (at 65 kg), 2024 Olympic 5th (at 65 kg)
• Akaki Kemertelidze, GEO - 2024 World 5th, 2025 Euro Bronze, 2024 Euro Silver
• Kanan Heybatov, AZE - 2022 U20 World Gold, 2022 & 2023 U23 World Bronze
• Austin Gomez, MEX - 2025 Pan-Am Gold

The above group of SIX wrestlers really shows off the depth of talent at 70 kg. Wrestlers like Musukaev, Tumur-Ochir, and Andreasyan have already reached the podium at Worlds. Kemertelidze, Heybatov, and Gomez all have recent results that prove they’re knocking on the door. Because this group is so large, we won’t break down every single wrestler, but it’s worth taking a look at this group’s wins and losses over the past year.

Musukaev

• Wins - Haji Aliyev, Ernazar Akmataliev, Patryk Olenczyn
• Losses - Islam Dudaev, Rahman Amouzad, Jarrett Jacques, Kanan Heybatov, David Baev, Austin Gomez

Andreasyan

• Wins - Austin Gomez, Sina Khalili, Yegor Anchugin, Akaki Kemertelidze, Oleksii Boruta
• Losses - Yoshinosuke Aoyagi, David Baev, Inalbek Sheriev

Tumur-Ochir

• Wins - Zain Retherford, Sujeet, Abdulmazhi Kudiev, Vazgen Tevanyan, Alejandro Valdes, Mohammadali Amouzad
• Losses - Kotaro Kiyooka, Sebastian Rivera, Sina Khalili, Viktor Rassadin, Aliakbar Fazli

Kemertelidze

• Wins - Abbas Ebrahimzadeh, Haydar Yavuz, Brandon Cannon, Oleksii Boruta, Yahya Thomas, James Green, Mitch Finesilver
• Losses - Yoshinosuke Aoyagi, Arman Andreasyan, Vasile Diacon, Vazgen Tevanyan, Nurkozha Kaipanov, Abdulmazhid Kudiev

Heybatov

• Wins - Ismail Musukaev, Mihail Georgiev, Sina Khalili, Ebrahim Elahi, Austin Gomez, Patryk Olenczyn
• Losses - Abbas Ebrahimzadeh, David Baev, Magomed Eltemirov, Inalbek Sheriev

Gomez

• Wins - Ebrahim Elahi, Ian Parker, Ismail Musukaev, Meirzhan Ashirov
• Losses - Haji Aliyev, Kanan Heybatov, Arman Andreasyan

Sleepers & Landmines

• PJ Duke, USA - 2025 U20 World Gold, 2024 U20 World Bronze
• Haydar Yavuz, TUR - 2020 Euro Bronze, 2025 Yasar Dogu Gold

It’s challenging to emphasize just how deep the field is this year at 70 kg - I’ve already listed 12 wrestlers who are medal contenders! Seven of those wrestlers are past world medalists. Because of that depth, the number of wrestlers in the “Sleeper & Landmine” tier is slightly smaller. Team USA’s PJ Duke is fresh off a gold medal performance at the U20 World Championships, and though he’s only 18, he’s already made a significant impact on the senior level. Duke’s hitlist over the past year is incredibly impressive, highlighted by victories over Yianni Diakomihalis, Bryce Andonian, Ridge Lovett, Antrell Taylor, and Will Lewan. Duke will be an underdog against many of the more experienced wrestlers in the bracket, but he’s more than capable of making a run in this bracket and wrestling for a medal.

PJ Duke's win in the 2025 U20 World Finals:

Türkiye’s Haydar Yavuz is another wrestler who could surprise some people at worlds. Five years ago, Yavuz looked primed to challenge for a world medal but struggled with injuries that kept him off the mat. Prior to his injuries, Yavuz had notable victories over James Green and Israil Kasumov and also won a silver medal at the 2020 Individual World Cup. Still, Yavuz has struggled against some of the top contenders in this weight, but if he gets back to peak form, he could surprise some people at worlds.

70 kg World Championship Predictions

This weight class might be the toughest of any to predict at this year’s world championships. With so many legitimate contenders, I could see several of these wrestlers coming out on top in Croatia. With that in mind, I’m hesitantly picking Amir Yazdani to win gold. Yazdani has been so close over the past few years, and he’s an incredibly well-rounded wrestler who can win matches in a lot of different ways. Regardless of who wins, this weight should be amazing to watch play out in Zagreb!

Full 70 kg Medal Predictions:

Gold - Amir Yazdani, IRI

Silver - Ernazar Akmataliev, KGZ

Bronze - Saiyn Kazyryk, RUS

Bronze - Nurkozha Kaipanov, KAZ