2019 International Rankings - Men's Freestyle

Sadulaev Takes Advantage Of Snyder's Stumble

By Seth Petarra (@SethPetar)

There’s a lot of changes that went down in July, and there’s a lot of different guy’s body of work, so let’s get the simple stuff out of the way. Here’s how the top 5 is shaken up after #1 Kyle Snyder (USA) and #3 Jordan Burroughs (USA) lost at the Yasar Dogu to unranked Aslanbek Alborov (AZE) and #6 Frank Chamizo (ITA) respectively. Three-time World/Olympic champ Abdulrashid Sadulaev (RUS) takes the top spot, while returning 86 KG world champ #4 Hassan Yazdani Charati (IRI) moves up two spots to #2 in the rankings. Snyder falls two spots to #3 in the rankings, and Burroughs falls one spot to #4. Chamizo goes up one spot to #5. #8 Soslan Ramonov (RUS) falls one spot to #9 in the rankings after his finals loss to unranked Zurab Iakobishvili (GEO) at the Tbilisi GP while #10 Gadzhimurad Rashidov (RUS) moves up two spots to #8 to fill the gap. Yes, you could argue for Aliyev at the eight spot considering the wins he has over #10 Bekbulatov and #8 Rashidov, but the issue is he has a 3-2 loss to #9 Soslan Ramonov (RUS) at the Indian Pro Wrestling League so that prevents him from taking the spot. 

#12 Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov (RUS) gets moved down six spots to #18 in the rankings. #14 Magomed Kurbanaliev (RUS) goes up two spots to #12. #17 David Taylor (USA) moves up four spots to the #13 spot. I ranked Taylor ahead of the world champ Iakobishvili because Taylor doesn’t have the loses that Iakobishvili does, to Roland Ondar, Azamat Nurikov, Magomed Kurbanaliev, and Andrey Kviatkovski for instance. 

Unranked Zurab Iakobishvili (GEO) is in at #14 after his stunning win in the Tbilisi GP finals against former #8 Soslan Ramonov (RUS). #15 Khetik Tsabolov (RUS) is at #15 due to multiple head to head wins over Gadzhimagomedov last year plus a super dominant showing at the world championships, and his extensive body of work that includes wins over the aforementioned Gadzhimagomedov, #2 Hassan Yazdani Charati (IRI) and #13 David Taylor (USA). 

Returning world champ Yuki Takahashi (JPN) stays at #16. While Takahashi doesn’t quite have the extensive body of work or P4P wins like others in the ranking do, his dominant run through worlds and the fact he hasn’t lost since January 2017 at the Yarygin to #13(61) Abasgadzhi Magomedov (RUS) justify his spot on the list. 

Two-time World/Olympic champ Vladimir Khinchegashvili (GEO) slots in at #17 in the rankings and that’s because while he’s only got #1 P4P win (over #10 Haji Aliyev (AZE)), his body of work is excellent but he’s got losses against #21 Magomedmurad Gadzhiev (POL), #11 Ilyas Bekbulatov (RUS), #8 Gadzhimurad Rashidov (RUS). He also has unranked losses in the form of Sandeep Tomar (IND), Ismail Musuakev (RUS) and Rustam Abdurashidov (RUS). 

We've covered everyone ahead of Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov (RUS), who was #12 but fell to #18. And if I had to give you a synopsis of Gadzhimagomedov’s career at 74 KG, it’s that the guy is wildly talented and a world beater but also horribly inconsistent, thus he could never really break through and establish the wins he needed to break through the next level and build that P4P resume. But because I’m not really all that great at being concise, let’s look at all of Gadzhimagomedov’s ups and downs since 2016.

Going back to the 2016 Yarygin, we find that Gadzhimagomedov lost to eventual runner-up Muslim Dadaev (RUS) but then took out World champ Denis Tsargush (RUS) in the consos and beat Andrew Howe (USA) for bronze. Going into the 2016 Russian Nationals, Gadzhi was a threat to medal again after earning a bronze medal the year before, which included a heartbreaking semifinal loss to eventual world bronze and Olympic silver medalist Aniuar Geduev. Gadhzi beat 2013 world rep Kakhaber Khubezhty for the 2015 RusNats bronze. But back to the 2016 Nationals, Gadzhimagomedov won a barn burner of a match 10-9 against Yarygin champ Zaur Makiev (RUS) in the round of 16 but in his quarterfinal he lost to 70 KG Yarygin runner-up Khusey Suyunchev (RUS) and was later eliminated. Gadzhimagomedov came back for the Ali Aliyev and lost to Russian National 5th place finisher Kakhaber Khubezhty (RUS) in the finals. Gadzhimagomedov finished off the year by going to Intercontinental Cup where he beat Magomedkhaib Kadiamagomedov (RUS) but got pinned in his next match by Ashrab Geriev (RUS).

In 2017 Gadzhimagomedov had an awesome Yarygin with wins over the likes of Arsalan Budazhapov (RUS), Kakhaber Khubezhty (RUS), Atsamaz Sanakoev (RUS), and Khetik Tsabolov (RUS). Even with all that momentum going for him, Gadzhimagomedov still got teched 14-4 by Khetik Tsabolov (RUS) at the Yasar Dogu. Gadzhimagomedov then went to Euros and beat eventual world bronze medalist Ali Shabanov (BLR) but lost in the quarters to Murad Suleymanov (AZE). Gadzhimagomedov was able to wrestle back and get bronze with a win over Zelimkhan Khadjiev (FRA). 

So now Gadhzi has beaten Khetik Tsabolov and Kakhaber Khubezhty in 2017, but doesn’t show up to Russian Nationals, which Tsabolov wins in dominant fashion. Gadzhimagomedov however does compete at the Kadyrov Cup where he goes 2-2, teching #5 Bekzod Abdurakhmanov (UZB) and beating Russian National runner-up #8 Gadzhi Nabiyev (RUS), although he also took loses to #2 Khetik Tsabolov (RUS) and #11 Muslim Evloev (KGZ). The Tsabolov loss isn’t surprising but the Evloev loss was, especially at the time. 

Gadzhimagomedov then went to the Intercontinental Cup looking like the favorite but ended up getting upset by 2013 cadet world bronze medalist Timur Bizhoev (RUS) and injury defaulted out of the tournament. Gadzhimagomedov finished his 2017 on a high note with a title at the Kunaev where he got revenge on Timur Bizhoev (RUS) along with notching wins over Magomedkhabib Kadiamagomedov (RUS) and Bolat Sakaev (KAZ)

So far in 2018, Gadzhimagomedov has gone undefeated and picked up titles at the Yarygin, the Dan Kolov, and the European championships. At those events he collected wins over the likes of #2 Kyle Dake (USA), #3 Alan Zaseev (RUS), #5 Jabrayil Hasanov (AZE), #8 Radik Valiev (RUS), #16 Jumber Kvelashvili (GEO), #20 Martin Obst (GER), and U-23 Euro runner-up Johnny Bur(FRA). Having covered Gadzhimagomedov’s career from 2016-18, you can clearly see that he’s absolutely deserving of the top spot at 79 KG, yet he doesn’t have the overall P4P resume to contend for a higher spot with his only P4P wins being over #15 Khetik Tsabolov (RUS) and #19 Kyle Dake (USA), plus he has so many unranked P4P losses like Kakhaber Khubezhty (RUS), Timur Bizhoev (RUS), Ashrab Geriev (RUS), and Muslim Evloev (KGZ). 

Having now gone into way too much detail regarding Gadzhimagomedov’s career, let’s go over the new addition to the P4P rankings: returning 97 Kg world bronze medalist Aslanbek Alborov (AZE). He enters at #20 on the strength of a Yasar Dogu title that saw him beat #1 Kyle Snyder (USA) and #24 Sharif Sharifov (AZE). Currently the series between Alborov and Snyder is 2-2, with Alborov taking the matches at the 2017 world cup and at the Yasar Dogu, while Snyder took them at the 2016 world cup and at last year’s world championships.