It's been an up and down couple of years for Reza Yazdani, the 97kg superstar from Iran. Yazdani, nicknamed "The Leopard Of Juybar" is most recently coming off of some sort of a heel injury that was suffered in training. Injuries are not unfamiliar for Yazdani, who suffered a brutal knee injury in the semi's of the Olympics back in 2012. At that time, Yazdani was widely regarded as among the best wrestlers in the world at any weight.



This setback sidelined Reza for some time:


A year ago, Yazdani didn't look himself at the World Cup against Azeri wrestler Sharif Sharifov.



Since that time, Yazdani had come back and looked strong. At the Club World Championships Yazdani teched USA's Olympic Champion in 2012, Jake Varner. Since suffering his most recent injury, Yazdani is back on the road to recovery. This video of the Leopard in action shows a few men holding a throwing dummy for Yazdani to pummel.


If healthy, there's little question that Yazdani will be among Kyle Snyder's strongest challenges for the 2016 Olympic title.

Here's a throwback to one of Yazdani's wins at the 2013 World Championships. Reza went on to win the title over Khetag Gazyumov.