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A counter-argument:

Do you have a meeting? Because it's going to be during your meeting. And end 1 minute prior to the conclusion of your meeting. The result will be ruined and you won't be able to watch without going in blind. You're not alone because I have already resigned myself to this fate as well.

I don't think I'm getting caught in the moment. The Tank is just that good. He made the world finals with Olympic and World gold medalist Snyder look like a routine practice session. It was pretty much a perfect match. Took almost no risk, scored all the points, blocked everything Snyder had (which was nothing, since Sadulaev gave him nothing), and controlled both the pace of the match and where the wrestling occurred. 10 out of 10 in "mat generalship" (to borrow a boxing term). He has the best mat generalship. He holds position the best. He can handfight the best even against a bigger brute like Snyder who has both a size and reach advantage. He has flawless technique. He has the cardio to go with anyone. He has hands down the best par terre. He can scramble the best. He is the best and after this match, I'm calling him the GOAT. The medals will follow, but even right now, he is the best wrestler I've ever seen. How do you beat him?

Absolute beast of an athlete. Gentlemen and ambassador. We’re lucky to have him. This guy needs his own thread. How long till we see another like him? *note* It was 23 years between him and John Smith.

What makes you think that KS is stronger than Sad? Looked to me like KS could not move Sad at all. Plus, Sad routinely flips guys out of chest wraps, which, I think shows mad strength.

Basically two ways for Snyder to win: 1. Just go all out coming forward knowing that Sadulaev is comfortable not attacking for a bit to conserve his gas, and hope Sad doesn't score TOO much before he tires out. 2. Plant your ass dead center and hand fight (even if you're losing) the **** out of Sadulaev, counting on Sadulaev's willingness to conserve and hope to tire him out that way and win at the end. Today he did a lackluster version of 2. He needs to fully commit to it. Even if he does, though, Sadulaev is so good anyway... Anyway, he's the only current senior level athlete to have a win over Sadulaev. Nothing to sneeze at there, even if he (likely) never beats Sadulaev again. I know that's not what Snyder wants to hear or think, but it is what it is. Sometimes, people are just better than you no matter how hard you work.

He doesn't wait for the refs to "give" him anything. He dominates position and Snyder and gets awarded points for Snyder's passivity.

And to think back in 2011, Burroughs was a bright hope for USA freestyle wrestling. United States just came out of a disappointing year in 2010 where we placed 22nd as a team with no medalist. Everyone debating and pointing fingers on what had to be done in order to bring USA wrestling back from our low point. Enter JB, the new kid on the block without no major freestyle experience yet beats the defending champ at 74kg. Right there and then, we knew we just witnessed something special but never did I imagine he would be winning a world gold 10 years later. Amazing.

BSaitiev is my favorite wrestler ever, but he is not as "perfect" (as in mistake-free) a wrestler as Sadulaev. He was way more fun to watch, incredibly creative, a grandmaster of many more techniques than Sadulaev is a master of his key moves, but I am just so impressed with how Sadulaev completely owned Snyder and how Sadulaev keeps solid position every second of seemingly every match. He is so good at being so basic. Maybe having a few kids keeping him up at night will slow him down.

Welp...I was dead wrong. That wasn't even close. Snyder has now deployed 2 different strategies to defeat Sadulaev this year and neither kept him close. NLWC isn't gonna do jack for him until he gets better on the mat, which he clearly hasn't. This is no longer a rivalry, Sadulaev owned him easily in the last 3 matches. It hasn't been competitive since last decade.

Yes, his legacy as a 7x Olympic/World champion at the age of 25 is still not good enough. I personally will only be impressed if he pins Zare and Gable on the same night.

Nailed it

Structurally, I’m not sure it can be done. With the ear features necessary for the likely candidates, you’d end up with something like Arches National Park.

She was, 'Hungry Like The Wolf.'

Adeline wrestling Duran Duran? Should have happened in Rio!

Put a head wrap on it.

To be fair the only top level competitors that don't have to beat a Russian or Iranian to win worlds are the Russians and Iranians.

And he's not done. Who thinks he doesn't win 2022 and 2023 79 kg? 8x world champ on the come. Incredible.

Deserves its own thread. Congrats to our Iranian forum bros. I'm glad you guys relatively mailed it in at the Olympics, though!

Yea thats highly debatable

JB is rare among wrestlers in that he thinks, A LOT, about everything. What's more, is he's willing to talk about it and let people know what he's thinking about. In doing so, there were a few years there where from the outside it didn't seem like he was all-in, with talk of what's next, should he hang it up, can he still be the best, etc. Listening to him today, I don't get that sense at all, which might worry me a little bit if I was Kyle Dake. Granted, by the time those trials roll around JB will be nearly 36 and Dake will just be hitting cadet eligibility.

I think Reza Yazdani in 2011-2013 would be a tough matchup as he was only 5’8-5’9” tall and built like a tank. He smashed Varner. Varner drew into a weak side in the olympics and Yazdani had to go through Gadisov early on and was injured in the semis. Man that was a brutal side and when 96kg was the toughest weight by far. 97 is one of the worst weights now, probably the worst Olympic weight depth wise. When Snyder won it was because he got the previous era of mediocre conditioning guys tired such as Gadisov, Gazyumov and a undersized Sadulaev. Only difference is he realized all he had to do to beat Snyder is improve his conditioning and grow into the weight naturally and since then Snyder has had nothing for him.

The answer is AJ Ferrari and his 665 lbs. deadlift. Give him a few years.

Damn it. Zain cost us the team title again.

Nobody is the answer at 97 kg. Cox? I once drank the Koolaid of Cox being better than Snyder, and that may have once been true, but with Snyder at NLWC and Cox clinging on to KJ and having no consistent world-class training partners, I don't see it anymore. Cox admits that his style is opportunistic and he (probably too) patiently waits for an opening. Sadulaev doesn't give openings. Cox is also not the answer. The world doesn't have an answer. Snyder being a near lock for silver every time is still a great thing, and I wouldn't want that to change anytime soon.

No he's not. Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

I wouldve liked Satiev to be in here

He's assisted some by his weight class being not as athletically gifted, but he's a nearly perfect wrestler.

He was the first ever men's freestyle world champion from Poland. In the context of a men's freestyle final, it would be accurate.

Fujinami already beat Okuno twice and was one of Mukaida's training partners for the Olympics where reports are that she REALLY held her own. She wasn't old enough to enter Japan's Olympic trial tournaments in 2019, but Mukaida and Fujinami are on a collision course for possibly this Dec in one of Japan's National tournaments because Fujinami has stated that she wants to face Mukaida and beat her for the Olympic spot in Paris. If Fujinami wins the final tomorrow, we're seeing yet another Yui Susaki situation here....Yui beat Eri Tosaka(2016 Olympic champion) to take the world team spot and win her first senior world title when she had just turned 18 a few months before.

Deep fake. Cox is never late.

Men's weights first. Sadulaev vs Snyder will be the 6th match with no medal ceremony between 70 and 97, so probably a few minutes after 1pm ET.

I’ve come to love Gilman over the past couple of years. But man that comment at best highlighted that lack of social awareness. Don’t come with that liberal nonsense line. I’ve voted red for a decade just because you’re conservative doesn’t mean you have toss social grace out of the window.

Jordan Burroughs is the greatest wrestler in USA history

Amen to all of this

A lot of successful wrestlers comport themselves quite well. Narcissistic is way overused, and misunderstood, these days. However, there is no question Henson’s track record allows one to question not only his loyalty but whether he has the capacity to work well with others.

I would like to say that I'm disappointed Snyder didn't try to run the high crotch more. He was close at the olympics and hoped that could have been the secret sauce today.

His career trajectory is looking a lot like Medved's An early loss. Followed by a loss because of weight class related issues (Medved was cutting down for team reasons to let a another stud heavy into the lineup, the draining finally caught up to him with aging) followed by a long unbeaten streak. One thing Sad will never have is the unbeatable aura. But most people don't really care as time passes. Yarygin was incredible. A Euro, Olympic, and worlds back to back where he won every match by pin. Yarygin was never that dedicated to wrestling so his medal count doesn't compare but longevity isn't everything.

They're not equal anywhere, including here. Russia probably weights Olympics a bit more since they have entire closets full of world golds and we don't. But Olympic > World anywhere.

IMO you can’t fairly compare Smith’s record to JB’s. Smith wrestled in the Soviet era (as you note) and at time when there were ten weight classes. JB wrestled in the era after the Soviet breakup, and during increased migration of wrestlers to other countries. He also competed from 2011 to 2017 when there were only seven or eight weight classes, and he competed exclusively in an era of six Olympic weight classes. They are just both legends from different eras as far as I’m concerned.

Exactly. The first one was the shot clock that was needed to be given, both of them with 1 warning, Snyder made their decision easier when he decided to run around for a bit. The second one he fled the chest wrap, almost step out followed by Sadulaev controlling the center.

In fact, all 3 nations went exactly 32-8 in individual matches with 3 gold medals. Russia ends up with 8 medals compared to 7 for the other two and eke out the team title.

Correct. The points Taylor lost at 86kg made the difference.

LOL pretty sure he has pretty much already cemented his legacy and Cox is not even in the conversation here.

You call it a fork, I call it a toast extractor.

Probably on Flo for the mixup. We're maintaining brackets in Arena and have the Brunei flag mapped to the Bahrain country code. there's some other smallish things that need to be cleaned up in Arena but I am pretty they are all being put on the back burner so that everyone can focus on intergrting Arena and Trackwrestling's database/brackets etc. apologies for the confusion!

To paraphrase Seinfeld: nothing wrong with being "a dude."

Thanks I had not seen the Russian in 70 Kg, so I guess they have a shot too You just earned yourself some delicious Marine candy for your helpful post :)

I would've expected them to send Gazi or Kurb or somebody but those are just people I think of when I think of who's in the running for the top spot. I know Bizhoev is tough but I just assumes he was a tier down I should've researched before I commented.

Bo Peep