Wrestling fans were treated to a "supermatch" between Jordan Burroughs and Frank Chamizo at the 2018 Beat the Streets event. But that was just the beginning, as these dueling champions would go on to see each other two more times last year. The lifetime series stands at 2-1 in JB's favor, with the opportunity for round four coming tonight at the Dan Kolov rankings series tournament in Ruse, Bulgaria.

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Actions resumes March 1 at 3 a.m. ET

Full schedule

The men's freestyle weight classes of 57, 65 and 74 kg are scheduled to start on Friday in Bulgaria. With the time difference that means Burroughs and Chamizo should be wrestling their first match a little after 3 a.m. ET. 

You're going to want to have some freshly brewed coffee handy, as the randomly drawn bracket placed round four of this already legendary series potentially in the second round of the tournament. 

Neither Burroughs nor Chamizo have competed internationally since the Budapest World Championships. They will both wrestle pigtail matches before meeting—fingers crossed—in the round of 16. 

Burroughs will have to beat Jitender Kinha of India first. Jitender is India's No. 1 74 kg wrestler, but he does not have any results to suggest that his match with Burroughs will be a close one. Chamizo has a more credentialed first-round opponent in Azamat Nurikov of Belarus (by way of Dagestan). Nurikov has no world-level hardware, but he's come close, finishing fifth at the 2014, 2015 and 2017 World Championships. He's also won the prestigious Medved tournament in 2018 and placed third at the Yariguin just a couple months ago.  

To get a better sense of what to expect if and when these two titans clash in the wee hours of the morning, let's take a look back at their previous matches. 

ROUND 1: Beat the Streets NYC

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The hype for this match was tremendous. Inspired by the collegiate supermatch between Seth Gross and Bryce Meredith, Burroughs lobbied to get a match with Chamizo, who was then the reigning world champ at 70 kg. 

Chamizo picked up the gauntlet when Burroughs threw it down, and both wrestlers heightened the anticipation by taking virtual swings at each on social media, which we lovingly cataloged for posterity here. 

The news of this matchup got everyone fired up, perhaps no one more so than our own Mike Mal. Flo's technique guru wrote not one, but two detailed breakdowns of both wrestlers' repertoires prior to the event. The first masterwork from Mike, which focused on what Burroughs would need to do to beat Chamizo, can be found here.  The second, which pointed out some of the finer aspects of their respective games to look out for, can be found here. 

You can summarize this match up as Burroughs' unstoppable offense versus Chamizo's impregnable defense, but that would be selling Burroughs short on his defense and Chamizo on his offense, a fact that Mike helps bring to light in his breakdowns. 

Technical digression aside, the match itself lived up to the hype. Chamizo used his otherworldly scrambling to jump out to a 4-0 lead in the first, but Burroughs, who began the match with mostly single leg attacks, managed to score a TD before the midway break. 

In the second period, it was Burroughs' insane scrambling that was on display, as he avoided what looked like a sure takedown in the first minute, and then countered another deep shot by Chamizo for two. A step-out point for Chamizo in between those scrambles made the score 5-4 in Chamizo's favor as crunch time approached. 

In the final minute, it was a classic Burroughs freight train double in the clutch for the go-ahead score. Another final scramble in short time was entertaining for the fans, but it drained the clock and Burroughs took round 1 by the final score of 6-5.

ROUND 2: The Yaşar Doğu

The second meeting between JB and Frank took place about two months later in Istanbul, at the venerable Yaşar Doğu tournament. Burroughs and Chamizo met in the finals, and once again, wrestling fans were delighted by freestyle wrestling at its finest. 

If one were to lodge a complain about the Beat the Streets match, it's that holding the event outdoors, on an NYC pier that juts out into the East River, at dusk, created conditions for slippery mats. The rematch would be indoors, and it would be Chamizo who got revenge. 

The finals started relatively slowly, with Burroughs scoring the first point on a step-out but then giving up a point on a failed challenge. JB scored another step-out to make it 2-1 before the break. 

Things opened up in the second period. Jordan scored off a snatch single leg, but Chamizo never stopped scrambling and reversed Burroughs to make the score 4-2. A failed challenge from Frank's corner made it 5-2. 

Another single leg attack netted Burroughs a step-out and a 6-2 lead with just 1:51 left in the match. A vicious arm drag (or perhaps an arm snap down? Need someone to help me out on the nomenclature of that one), by Chamizo closed the gap to 6-4 with 70 seconds left on the board.

That's when things got wild. Burroughs countered an attack by Chamizo with a double, but Chamizo sank his hips and a scramble ensued. Burroughs was able to finish for two, but once again, Chamizo's constant motion caught Burroughs slightly off guard, and the two ended up back on their feet by the boundary. Chamizo was in on a single leg and appeared to force Burroughs out of bounds while Burroughs had a whizzer sunk in. It's tough to tell from the available angles (here's another video of the match, though still from the same side of the arena), but the action took place right in the front of the official's table and it was originally scored one point for Jordan. 

Chamizo's corner disagreed and threw the challenge brick. The call was overturned and ruled a feet-to-back for Frank. Burroughs' initial takedown gave him eight match points, but the four-pointer gave Chamizo eight points as well, plus he held tie-breaking criteria.

With less than 20 seconds to go, Chamizo countered a double by Burroughs to make the score 10-8. A step-out and a fleeing penalty on Chamizo (but a missed singlet pull penalty) made it 10-10 when time expired, which gave Frank the 10-10 victory on criteria.

Immediately fans began clamoring for round 3 in Budapest, and they would get it. 

ROUND 3: Budapest

Most assumed this match would take place in the finals, or, were they both drawn on the same side of the bracket, somewhere else on the championship side of the tournament. 

But Russian phenom Zuarbek Sidakov had other plans. After barely squeaking by 2017 World silver medalist Khetag Tsabalov in the 2018 Russian National finals, Sidakov buzzsawed his way through one of the most loaded 74 kg brackets in recent memory. Sidakov beat Burroughs and Chamizo in back-to-back matches before dispatching U-23 champ Avtandil Kentchadze of Georgia to win gold.

This is not Sidakov's story, but his handiwork placed both Burroughs and Chamizo in the repechage, which allowed for round 3 to take place. 

After dismantling Miroslav Kirov of Bulgaria 9-0, Burroughs advanced to the bronze medal match where Chamizo was waiting. And once again, the match lived up to the hype. 

A shot clock point gave Burroughs a slim 1-0 lead after two minutes of wrestling. Intense handfighting ensued but no more scores occurred before the break. 

Burroughs was put on the clock in the second and managed to score just before his 30 seconds were up. However, Chamizo continued wrestling through the sequence (that's kind of his thing), and he was able to left Burroughs' leg and score an exposure. That call wasn't made until Chamizo's corner challenged and got the no-call overturned. That made the score 3-2 in Burroughs' favor and gave both wrestlers (and the fans) an opportunity to catch their breath and prepare for the final sprint. 

A truly excellent scramble that started with about one minute left in the match brought the action to the edge of the mat. Burroughs whipped Chamizo over to his expose his back, but the officials ruled that Burroughs had stepped out of bounds before that sequence began. The step-out and failed challenge gave Chamizo a 4-3 lead with 48 seconds on the clock.

In times like this, it pays to be as clutch as Jordan Ernest Burroughs. A single leg from Burroughs drove Chamizo out of bounds. The official allowed Burroughs to keep working for the takedown via continuation, but then ruled it just a step-out when Burroughs eventually did get both of Chamizo's legs. Regardless, the point gave Burroughs the lead on criteria. 

Chamizo was unable to solve Burroughs' defensive in the final 26 seconds, and Burroughs added a World bronze medal to his collection. That makes for seven World or Olympic medals for Burroughs, five of them gold. 

The stage is now set for round 4. So brew your coffee, crack open your energy drink of choice and settle in for a long night. Action resumes at the Kolov at 3 a.m. ET. See you then!

And now, just for fun, let's check out Burrough's gold medal victory over Khetag Tsabolov in Paris back in 2017.