2025 Men's Freestyle International Wrestling Rankings
Pound-For-Pound - Amir Zare
Amir Zare takes over the pound-for-pound #1 spot after winning his third world title in Zagreb. Outside of his world titles, Zare also won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics and was Silver last year in Paris. Zare only has 2 losses over the last 4 years - one to Taha Akgul and the other to Geno Petriashvili. Zare also has wins over both of those wrestlers and has been absolutely dominant against every other wrestler he's faced.
Iran's Rahman Amouzad jumps to the #2 spot after avenging his loss in the 2024 Olympic finals against Kotaro Kiyooka. Amouzad teched Kiyooka in the finals and is now a two-time world champion.
Abdulrashid Sadulaev was unable to compete at the World Championships, so although he didn't lose, he drops two spots. It also didn't help Sadulaev that former #1 Akhmed Tazhudinov lost to Amirali Azarpira. Although Sadulaev lost to Tazhudinov in 2023, Sadulaev is the most accomplished wrestler in the world right now and has only suffered three senior-level losses over the past 11 years. Because of his robust resume, Sadulaev remains at the #4 spot.
Similar to Sadulev, Zavur Uguev has an incredible resume as an Olympic and now 3 time world champion. Uguev lost last year to Masa Ono and Vito Arujau, but has been dominant since then winning the Yarygin, European Championships, Russian Nationals, and Worlds. Couple that with his career resume, and that gives him the nod over Zahid Valencia.
Valencia was the most dominant wrestler at the World Championships, but his lack of overall resume keeps him from breaking into the top 5. It was only last year that Valencia lost to unranked Valentyn Babii at the 2024 Zagreb Open. Before that, Valencia suffered a defeat to Azerbaijan's Osman Nurmagomedov at the 2023 World Championships. Valencia's incredible performance at Worlds jumps him 10 spots up to #6 but his "inconsistent" history keeps him from rising higher for now.
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