2018 UWW World Championships

World Championships Bracket Reactions: 70 & 97 KG

World Championships Bracket Reactions: 70 & 97 KG

Bracket analysis for men's freestyle 70 and 97 kg weight classes at the 2018 World Championships in Budapest.

Oct 21, 2018 by Andrew Spey
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The final two weight classes of the Men's Freestyle tournament have their brackets at last. Here's what Kyle Snyder and James Green have in store for them on day 3 of the 2018 World Championships from Budapest, Hungary. 

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The final two weight classes of the Men's Freestyle tournament have their brackets at last. Here's what Kyle Snyder and James Green have in store for them on day 3 of the 2018 World Championships from Budapest, Hungary. 

Men's Freestyle Previews: 70 97

70 Kilograms

Green has Khadzhimurad Gadzhiyev in the first round. Gadzhiyev was this year's junior world champion, so he's young but also very talented. He'll have a winnable match but tough match against #20 Byambadorj Bat-erdene of Mongolia if he gets by Gadzhiyev. 

It should get interesting for James in the quarterfinals, where he'll likely have the winner of #12 Mustafa Kaya of Turkey and #1 Magomedrasul Gazimagomedov of Russia. If Gazi prevails, as he is favored to do, and James makes it to the quarters as well, then a very crucial match with regards to the team race will go down in the first session of the day between Green and Gazi.

Waiting in the semifinals for the winner of that match could be Rio bronze medalist #17 Ikhtiyor Navruzov of Uzbekistan (RIP the Mongolian coaches' pants) or last year's 65 kg champ #3 Zurab Iakobishvili of Georgia. Also look for Iran's Yones Emami as a darkhorse from that quarter of the bracket, although he has to beat #19 Taimuraz Salkazanov of Slovakia in his opening round first.

On the other side of James is #7 Andrey Kviatkovski of Ukraine and not a whole lot else. 2013 champ David Safaryan from Armenia is there, as is Adam Batirov of Bahrain by way of Russia, but they are both on the downhill side of their career, although neither should be slept on either.

A potential dark horse from that side is my personal fav, Elaman Dogderbek Uulu of Kyrgyzstan. 

97 Kilograms  

Word around the campfire is UWW decided to call an audible and ensure Kyle Snyder and Abdulrashid Sadulaev were on opposite sides of the bracket regardless of any of the seeds they may have earned or whatever their draw might have been. I'll reserve comment on that decision until later, in the meantime at least we know it's possible that Snyder and Sadulaev could meet in the finals, potentially with the team race on the line again. Which is a good thing. 

Kyle has an unranked Mongolian first, but Mongolians are always tough, so Batzul Ulziisaikhan is not to be taken lightly. Assuming a win, Kyle will face Nathaniel Tyamoheloa of American Samoa, who can be taken just a touch more lightly than the Mongolian. 

There is no one ranked that could make the quarterfinals opposite Snyder, but waiting for Kyle in the semifinals is potentially either #18 Pavlo Oliinyk of Hungary by way of Ukraine and Murazi Mchedlidze of Ukraine by way of Georgia. Both will be a very tough out. 

On the other half of the bracket lurks the Dagestani Destroyer. A few more ranked wrestlers made it over to Sadulaev's side than Snyder's. After a first-round bout with unranked Nurov of the former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, it's likely Sadulaev will see unranked Mamed Ibragimov of Kazakhstan. Then in the quarters its either #15 Aleksandr Husthyn, #10 Magomed Ibragimov of Uzbekistan or #17 Fatih Yasarli of Turkey. 

Then in the semis it will probably be either #6 Elizbar Odikadze of Georgia, #3 Aslanbek Alborov of Azerbaijan or #12 Mojitaba Goleij of Iran. Goleij and Alborov meet in the first round, so one of them will be knocked out of gold medal contention early, and out of the bronze medal hunt assuming Sadulaev makes the finals. 

And if Snyder and Sadulaev live up to their end of the bargain, then the last match of the last day of the men's freestyle tournament of the 2018 World Championships will be those two titans going at it with a gold medal on the line. Sounds like a lot of fun to me.