2023 International Wrestling Rankings - Men's Freestyle

125 Taha Akgul

Russian Nationals threw the 125kg rankings into a bit of a mess. Ultimately, #9 Alan Khugaev walked away with gold with a finals win over #10 Shamil Sharipov. Khugaev’s side of the bracket was relatively “weak” and allowed him to cruise to the finals without wrestling another ranked opponent.

The bottom side of the bracket, however, had 5 wrestlers ranked in the top 15. Sharipov made the finals by defeating #14 Magomedov and #11 Anzor Khizriev (previously #3). Khizriev went on to take bronze over Magomedov in a competitive 7-5 match. 

Coming into the tournament, Batraz Gazzaev (previously #4) was riding a 12 match win streak and had beaten the likes of #3 Amir Zare, #6 Baldan Tsyzhipov, #9 Alan Khugaev, #6 Magomedgadzhi Nurasulov, and #17 Nick Gwiazdowski during that run. At Russian Nationals, Gazzaev lost his first match to unranked Tamerlan Rasuev. Because of his relatively recent ranked wins, Gazzaev stays in the rankings but takes a major hit and slides all the way down to #15. 

One other notable result comes from the Iranian League - #3 Amir Zare had an impressive 4-0 win over #8 Yadollah Mohebbi.

Questions or comments? Contact our ranker Jon Kozak on Twitter @KozakJon.