Kyle Dake will once again get a chance to represent the United States at the world championships, and should be considered a massive favorite heading into Kazakhstan.

Any concerns about Dake’s healthy went out the window based on how he looked in beating Alex Dieringer last month in Round Rock, Texas. He appeared to be the world class athlete he always has been, looking explosive with a high mat IQ, the defensive maestro we’ve always known him to be.

World Previews: 57kg | 61kg | 65kg | 70kg | 74kg | 79kg | 86kg | 92kg

If you thought Dake was able to dictate the pace last year when he outscored opponents 37-0 en route to his gold medal, he might be even more dominant this year. As expected, the field cleared out a bit due to injuries and guys going up or down to try to qualify their country for the Olympics, making his path to another world title seem a tad easier on paper.

Both bronze medalists have vacated the weight, and Iran and Georgia should be making changes from who they sent last year. A condensed field and new faces likely means Dake will have to win four matches again to go back-to-back.

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The American: Kyle Dake

Of last year’s world champs, Dake is one of four who has not suffered a loss this year, but he’s only wrestled twice. Pointing towards what we’ll see in Nur-Sultan, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to give much stock to what we saw in Spain in July. That leaves us only with his two special wrestle-off matches against Dieringer for the world team spot.

Something he did very well is underhook Ringer and take away his best moves, which come off elbow control and attacking the tricep. Perhaps that means Dake, in his second year in the weight, will have a better handle on the first and second attacks of his main opponents. That's a scary thought given that he gave up zero points in Budapest.

One thing about Dake's move up to 79kg is it seems to be the optimum weight for him strength wise. While he's always been able to throw, he picks up more 4s (and 5s) than he did when he was still down at 74kg. Beyond that, he has the best gut wrench of anyone in the field.

Similar to when he was in college and felt he always went into a match with a 2-0 lead (escape and riding time), his ability to throw comes in handy if any of his bouts come down to criteria. And there is no more important skill than turning 2s into 4s and 6s because you can turn someone on top. Not only is Dake the best athlete and wrestler, but he also has more ways to score and is the most stout defensively. All in all, he's head and shoulders above the rest of the field.

Top Four Seeds

Dake winning the tie-breaker over Hasanov could hurt him somewhat in that Temyouri will be a tougher semi opponent than Kotanoglu, although it's possible neither make it that far. Had Dieringer won he would have been the two seed, and Gadzhimagomedov would have been the three seed had he not been injured.

Breaking Down The Field

The knee injury to Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov left Russia wide open heading into their nationals. Second ranked Magomed Ramazanov went up and 2017 Alans champ Alan Zaseev didn’t wrestle at all. Zaseev kept #5 Gadzhi Nabiev from making it to the main bracket at the Yarygin, and Nabiev also went 0-1 at the Ali Aliev. But the 2015 Junior world champ rebounded and took the spot at Russian Nationals.

Nabiev was Russia’s U23 rep last year, falling to Nika Kentchadze (GEO) in the finals. It will either be #8 Zurabi Erbotsonashvili or Kentchadze for Georgia. Both have their merits for going but will likely be out of contention to make the finals. Since winning U23s, Kentchadze has been less consistent, falling to Dieringer at the Dan Kolov and Hasanov at Euros before getting injured in Ukraine. Meamnwhile, Erbotsonashvili recently won Tbilisi, beating #6 Teymouri in the finals. I think it will be Erbotsonashvili replacing Davit Khutsishvili, who Georgia used last year in Budapest and at this year’s World Cup.

Dake's opponent in the world finals was the ageless Jabrayil Hasanov of Azerbaijan, who is ranked fourth. He lost three times to Dake last year: 5-3 at the World Cup, by pin in the Yasar Dogu quarterfinals, and 2-0 at worlds. This year, he won Euros and lost to Teymouri in the Takhti Cup finals. He was one of the few bright spots on a team many thought should finish third behind Russia and America.

In my estimation #6 Teymouri (IRI) will be Dake's toughest match. He had a tight one with Ringer in the Dogu semis, is from a power country, and has a win over Hasanov. Now he did fall to Erbotsonashvili in Tbilisi, but you can circle the semi against Dake as one to watch, even though I think Dake wins every match comfortably once again.

For Uzbekistan, #10 Rashid Kurbanov will be going to his seventh world championships, having won a bronze medal back in 2013 at 74kg, plus an Asian Games gold the next year. He did not wrestle at at the Asian championships this year, instead competing at the Medved and Ali Aliev (getting bronze both times), but does have five previous medals from his continental championship.

The host nation is sending #12 Galimzhan Usserbaev, who wrestled for a medal in the Rio Olympics. After getting bronze at the Asian championships, he was runner-up at both Sassari and the Ziolkowski in Poland.

A few guys to at least keep an eye one are Omarashkab Nazhmudinov (ROU) and Akhsarbek Gulaev (SVK), both former Russians who have made the finals of a couple tournaments each this year. Armenia is going with #16 Grigor Grigoryan again, who won a European bronze in 2014.

The Contenders

#1 Kyle Dake, United States

• 2018 World Champ
• 2018 Yasar Dogu Champ
• 2018 Yarygin Silver

#4 Jabrayil Hasanov, Azerbaijan

• 2019 European Champ
• 2018 World Silver
• 2018 European Bronze
• 2016 Olympic Bronze

#5 Gadzhi Nabiev, Russia

• 2019 Ziolkowski Champ
• 2018 Alans Champ
• 2018 U23 World Silver
• 2015 Junior World Champ

#6 Bahman Teymouri, Iran

• 2019 Asian Champ
• 2019 Takhti Cup Champ
• 2018 World Military Champ
• 2017 Asian Champ

#8 Zurabi Erbotsonashvili, Georgia

• 2019 Tbilisi Champ
• 2019 Ukraine Silver
• 2017 World Fifth
• 2015 U23 European Champ

#10 Rashid Kurbanov, Uzbekistan

• 2019 Medved Bronze
• 2019 Ali Aliev Bronze
• 2018 Asian Silver
• 2016 World Fifth

#12 Galimzhan Usserbaev, Kazakhstan

• 2019 Sassari Silver
• 2019 Asian Bronze
• 2018 World Military Bronze
• 2016 Olympic Fifth