2018 US Open Upperweight Preview: 125kg Is Fascinating

Apr 26, 2018 by Wrestling Nomad

It's finally 2018 U.S. Open week. That means the last chance to qualify for the World Team Trials challenge tournament next month in Rochester, MN, as well as the opportunity to win Final X berths at five weights.

Men's freestyle kicks off this Friday, April 27, at 9 AM Pacific time. All 10 weights will be going that day in Vegas, and today's preview covers the final three brackets. Registration can be found in FloArena, which will soon turn into brackets. The top seven placers at each weight qualify for the Trials.

The final three weights will be without Kyle Snyder and Nick Gwiazdowski, both of whom are sitting in Final X.

Watch the 2018 U.S. Open LIVE on FloWrestling

When: April 25-28 | Where: Las Vegas, NV

92kg

There’s only two guys already qualified for the World Team Trials challenge tournament who will be wrestling tomorrow, and one of them is J’Den Cox. Although Cox is a returning world bronze medalist, he is not sitting out in Final X because he is coming up from 86kg.

The three-time NCAA champ is competing in his first official U.S. Open, and is making his third appearance at his new weight. His first was a silver medal in Ukraine, falling to Olympic champ Sharif Sharifov (AZE) in the finals. The next was earlier this month at the World Cup, when he lost to Aslanbek Alborov (AZE) and Dato Marsagishvili (GEO).

But there is no one of their caliber competing this weekend. His chief competition is Hayden Zillmer, who made the 97kg national team a year ago. Beyond that will be Deron Winn, who has an impressive hit list as laid out here.

Kenny Courts had an excellent Bill Farrell, including pinning a Junior world champ to qualify for WTT. Enock Francois is slated to make his return to freestyle, but is also in Greco finals at 97kg. Cody Walters, now an assistant at Gardner-Webb, will be competing, up quite a bit from the 174lb where he was twice an All-American.

Coming up in weight is Timmy McCall of the Wolfpack RTC, right off a rough Bill Farrell. Nikko Reyes had an excellent Open last year, losing in the second round but then battling back to win five in a row and finish fourth.

Nomad’s Picks

1) J’Den Cox 2) Hayden Zillmer 3) Deron Winn 4) Nikko Reyes

97kg

Kyven Gadson is the returning champ from last year’s Open. Remember though that the winner of the Open advances to the WTT challenge tourney finals, one step closer to battling Kyle Snyder in Final X.

A couple other light heavyweights who finished on the odd side of the podium return in Nathan Burak and Ty Walz. Burak took bronze in both the Dave Schultz in November and the Cerro Pelado in February. Walz took the other bronze in Cerro Pelado, as well as a U23 bronze in November.

Blaize Cabell pinned Russian world champ Abdusalam Gadisov at the Schultz and seems like a great bet to finish top four this weekend.

Already a subscriber? Log In

Nomad’s Picks

1) Kyven Gadson 2) Ty Walz 3) Nathan Burak 4) Blaize Cabell

125kg

The public has been clamoring for this kind of heavyweight field for years. There’s tons of intrigue, from the senior level debut of Gable Steveson to the return of Olympic champ Jake Varner, and Adam Coon re-starting his freestlye career.

Steveson has never lost a freestyle match in high school, and won a Junior world title while still Cadet eligible; he’s still not 18 yet. Perhaps the best high school wrestler ever, Steveson has preternatural feet and an unflappable mindset. His snapdowns are impeccable and can level change off a quick high crotch in a way that will probably even give senior level heavies fits.

When the pre-seeds came out, everyone immediately circle the 4/5 quarterfinal between Steveson and Coon. A two-time NCAA finalist and 2014 Junior world bronze medalist, Coon has not wrestled freestyle since 2015 WTT; he won University Nationals a few weeks before that. Mike Mal did a good tech breakdown of their matchup.

Varner has not wrestled since the 2016 World Cup, which oddly enough was also his first foray into heavyweight. He wrestled the gigantic Iranian Parviz Hadi in the finals, losing 3-1. Varner also beat Said Gamidov of Azerbaijan there 10-0. The 2012 Olympic champ is a massive wildcard in this field, and all those in attendance will be wondering what sort of stylistic changes he might have to make to be successful.

The top two seeds at this weight are Dom Bradley, last year’s WTT finalist, and Zach Rey, last year’s Open finalist. I think Bradley's feet and gut wrench carry him this weekend, while Rey's still the hardest man in America to score on.