If you've paid any attention to men's international freestyle the last couple years, you've no doubt noticed that David Taylor has been on a tear. And you also probably noticed that Taylor's career turned a corner once he bumped up to 86kg and packed on about 25 pounds of muscle.

Though Taylor has yet to make an appearance at the World Championships or Olympics, that all could change this year, especially with Kyle Dake at 79kg and J'den Cox at 92kg. With his twin American nemeses out of the way, Taylor becomes the heavy favorite to make his first world team at 86kg. 

The first step is next week's U.S. Open in Las Vegas. Then, if Taylor wins the Open—as he is favored to do—we'll see him again at his alma mater for Final X in State College on June 16 to decide who's heading to Budapest, Hungary, in October.

Watch the 2018 U.S. Open LIVE on FloWrestling

When: April 25-28 | Where: Las Vegas

Taylor made the move up to 86kg toward the end of 2015 and won his first international tournament at his new weight a little later in 2016. Since then, the "Magic Man" has been nigh unbeatable on the senior circuit.

2016 Spain Grand Prix (July 9)

W Itsvan Vereb (HUN) 8-6

W Uitumen Orgodol (MGL) 14-7

W Zahid Valencia (USA) 10-3

W Vahid Shahmohammadiizad (IRI) 6-2

Vereb was perhaps past his prime at this point but he did win a bronze medal at the 2013 World Championship. Orgodol is a two-time Olympian and multiple-time Asian medalist. So while Spain did not offer the toughest competition, the Spanish Grand Prix was nonetheless an impressive and auspicious showing for Taylor.

2016 Clubs Cup (Nov. 30-Dec. 1)

W Alireza Karimi (IRI) 12-6

W Bohdan Hrytsay (UKR) 19-6

L Dmytro Rochniak (UKR) 6-2

W Nika Kentchadze (GEO) Pinfall

Before Hassan Yazdani bumped up to 86kg, the man for Iran at this weight was junior world champion Alireza Karimi, a multiple-time Asian champ who won a bronze medal at the 2015 World Championships. Though Taylor stumbled against the unspectacular Dmytro Rochniak, the win over Karimi was one of the best of Taylor's career to that point. 

2017 Paris Grand Prix (Jan. 28)

W Richard Perry (USA) 8-5

W Akhmed Aibuev (FRA) 12-2

W Itsvan Vereb (HUN) 10-0

W Mihaly Nagy (HUN) 10-0

Taylor kicked off 2017 by winning another European tournament, this time in France. Though still not as impressive as some other competitions, it was yet another example of Taylor coming into his own at 86 kilograms. 

2017 World Cup (Feb. 16-17)

W Hassan Yazdani (IRI) Pinfall 

W Sharif Sharifov (AZE) 12-2 

W Vladislav Valiev (RUS) 14-4

W Dato Marsagishvili (GEO) 8-3 

If there was one event that announced Taylor's presence as a world title contender, it was the 2017 World Cup. Taylor would go 4-0 at the tournament and beat two Olympic gold medalists in Hassan Yazdani, the 2016 74kg champ, and Sharifov, the 2012 84kg champ. Yazdani and Sharifov each have another world gold medal to their names, among other credentials. 

And Vladislav Valiev and Dato Marsahishvili are no slouches either. After this event, Valiev would go on to win Russian Nationals and earn a bronze at the 2017 World Championships, and Marsagishvili has a bronze at both the Worlds and Olympics to go along with four European Championship medals. Not a shabby couple days of work for Mr. Taylor.    

Watch Taylor break Yazdani and stun the Iranian crowd:

2017 U.S. Open (April 28-29)

W Richard Perry 10-0

W Nick Heflin 15-4

W Pat Downey III 10-0

W Chance McClure 10-0

W Anthony Cress Fall

Taylor then made light work of the field at the 2017 U.S. Open. 

2017 U.S. World Team Trials (June 10)

L J’den Cox 5-3 

L J’den Cox 4-3

W J’den Cox 9-3 

W Nick Heflin 13-9

W Pat Downey 10-0

W Joe Rau 13-0

Taylor came agonizingly close to making his first world team last year. But as a returning medalist, J'den Cox was able to sit out the challenge tournament and was waiting in the finals for Taylor after he plowed through the challenge tournament in the same manner that he dispatched his foes at the U.S. Open: expeditiously. 

Taylor would take the Olympic bronze medalist Cox to three matches and score more cumulative points, but Cox took the series three to two and then went on to win bronze at the 2017 Worlds.

Watch DT win the first of three matches with Cox at the World Team Trials:

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2017 Clubs Cup December 7-8

W Alireza Karimi (IRI) 3-1

W Ganbataar Gankhuyag (MGL) Pinfall

W Alexander Moore (CAN) 14-4

W Pawan Kumar (India) 10-0

W Petar Savakov (BUL) Pinfall

Taylor rebounded from his first loss in nearly a year by destroying four outclassed opponents in team dual meet competition at the Clubs Cup. DT also proved his previous win over Karimi was no a fluke when he beat the Iranian for the second straight time. 

2018 Ivan Yarygin January 26-28

W Fatih Erdin (TUR) Pinfall 

W Artur Naifonov (RUS) Pinfall

W Selim Yashar (TUR) 4-1

W Yurieski Torreblanca (CUB) 4*-4

Taylor continued his torrid pace by winning the prestigious Ivan Yarygin, consistently one of the toughest tournaments of the year. After surviving a very tough Yurieski Torreblanca in the first round, Taylor took out three-time world medalist Selim Yashar in the second round. In the semifinals, Taylor pinned 2017 junior world champ Naifonov before capping things off with another pinfall, this time of Turkey's Fatih Erdin.

Watch Taylor win the prestigious Yarygin via pinfall: 

2018 World Cup (April 7-8)

W Aleksander Gostiev (Azerbaijan) 12-2

W David Khutsishvili (GEO) 11-1

W Masao Matasusaka (JPN) 12-2

W Pawan Kumar (India) 10-0

Which brings us to Taylor's latest display of wrestling proficiency. He trounced the competition once again, teching all four of his opponents, including multiple-time European medalist Aleksander Gostiev. 

David Taylor has never looked better and is primed to finally break through and make his first world team. Tune into FloWrestling to watch all the action at the U.S. Open on April 18-25 and then Final X in State College on June 16. Both will be, as the hype men like to say, must-see events.