Iran wrestling news

[maligned]

5 hours ago, The Genius said:

 

Brooks beat Mirasola 11-5, Dieringer 8-4, Valencia 7-6 then DT 4-1 and 3-1

All 3 of those guys could also score points on Yazdani, but would lose. They are all very dynamic in moments.

Valencia obviously just beat Azarpira up at 92 (i know you say it was the weight cut, but conditioning is not Valencia's strength either). He also was ahead of Taylor almost the whole first match (but lost 4-2) at Final X in 2022 the last time he met Taylor. 

I don't think Brooks is as good as Taylor was 2 years ago, but he's very, very good, and he will be the biggest challenge Yazdani has to face in Paris.

Edited April 29 by maligned

[Irani]

3 minutes ago, maligned said:

All 3 of those guys could also score points on Yazdani, but would lose. They are all very dynamic in moments.

Valencia obviously just beat Azarpira up at 92 (i know you say it was the weight cut, but conditioning is not Valencia's strength either). He also was ahead of Taylor almost the whole first match (but lost 4-2) at Final X in 2022 the last time he met Taylor. 

I don't think Brooks is as good as Taylor was 2 years ago, but he's very, very good, and he will be the biggest challenge Yazdani has to face.

At this point, we don’t know where Yazdani is with his recovery, but I think it’s safe bet that he will not be at his best .

while I think Yazdani will be favored, we will know better after we see him in Hungary

Edited April 29 by Irani

[The Genius]

On 4/29/2024 at 8:18 PM, maligned said:

All 3 of those guys could also score points on Yazdani, but would lose. They are all very dynamic in moments.

Valencia obviously just beat Azarpira up at 92 (i know you say it was the weight cut, but conditioning is not Valencia's strength either). He also was ahead of Taylor almost the whole first match (but lost 4-2) at Final X in 2022 the last time he met Taylor. 

I don't think Brooks is as good as Taylor was 2 years ago, but he's very, very good, and he will be the biggest challenge Yazdani has to face in Paris.

you are extremely biased if you think those first two guys wouldn't get teched 10-0 by Yazdani in 3-4 minutes 90% of the time they wrestle. More of a fun trivia than evidence of this, but Yazdani beat Dieringer 10-0 in 2016 actually

 

Those guys all scored (repeatedly) on Brooks because they are "very dynamic in moments". So DT couldn't score a single TD on Brooks in two matches because he is not dynamic in moments? the guy who got a clutch takedown losing 3-2 with 5 seconds to go in an Olympic final? 

 

Azarpira was 19-20 years old and hadn't even wrestled at 92kg as a junior... and he was a last minute replacement for Ghasempour so he didn't even have time to acclimate to the weight. so yes on balance and seeing their more recent results I will attribute that loss to the weight. which isn't to say that Zahid is not very good. he is. but he is not a serious contender to Yazdani or DT at their best. Don't give him any chance of beating Ghasempour either.

 

Brooks might be the toughest challenge to Yazdani. but maybe not. I wouldn't be surprised if he loses to Naifonov or Kurugliev, to be honest.

Edited April 30 by The Genius

[maligned]

19 hours ago, The Genius said:

you are extremely biased if you think those first two guys wouldn't get teched 10-0 by Yazdani in 3-4 minutes 90% of the time they wrestle.

 

In the sequence they happened:

 

Taylor over Valencia, 4-2 (when fresh...and 10-0 in match 2 an hour later)

Taylor over Yazdani, 7-1

Valencia over Amine, 6-0

Taylor over Brooks, 4-0 & 5-4

Yazdani over Amine, 7-2

Taylor over Yazdani by fall after leading 9-3

Brooks over Mirasola 11-5, Dieringer 8-4, Valencia 7-6

Brooks over Taylor 4-1, 3-1

 

Then Yazdani 10-0 in 3 or 4 minutes over the phenom Mirasola & Dieringer??

 

...and Kurugliev over Brooks??  Come on. Kurugliev has been a 1 or 2-pt match with Amine the last three times in 2 years, with Amine winning one.

 

I think you didn't watch the U.S. Trials matches. Dieringer has fully adjusted to 86kg, weight-wise now. He and the super dynamic young Mirasola would be clear favorites over Amine, for example. We know the American-born Amine very well in the U.S. No American would put their money on him over Brooks, Valencia, Dieringer, or Mirasola. Look at the scores above!! You're way over-valuing the imaginary separation between Taylor and Yazdani and the top guys that can't compete at worlds because of the 1-country limit.

 

If Yazdani is healthy, he deserves to be considered the Olympic favorite. Brooks is inexperienced, and I admit he could make a naive mistake and lose a match to someone other than Yazdani. But he has evolved into a monster that you're way undervaluing. If he's wrestling smart at the Olympics, Yazdani is the only one capable of beating him.

Edited May 1 by maligned

[The Genius]

6 hours ago, maligned said:

 

In the sequence they happened:

 

Taylor over Valencia, 4-2 (when fresh...and 10-0 in match 2 an hour later)

Taylor over Yazdani, 7-1

Valencia over Amine, 6-0

Taylor over Brooks, 4-0 & 5-4

Yazdani over Amine, 7-2

Taylor over Yazdani by fall after leading 9-3

Brooks over Mirasola 11-5, Dieringer 8-4, Valencia 7-6

Brooks over Taylor 4-1, 3-1

 

Then Yazdani 10-0 in 3 or 4 minutes over the phenom Mirasola & Dieringer??

 

...and Kurugliev over Brooks??  Come on. Kurugliev has been a 1 or 2-pt match with Amine the last three times in 2 years, with Amine winning one.

 

I think you didn't watch the U.S. Trials matches. Dieringer has fully adjusted to 86kg, weight-wise now. He and the super dynamic young Mirasola would be clear favorites over Amine, for example. We know the American-born Amine very well in the U.S. No American would put their money on him over Brooks, Valencia, Dieringer, or Mirasola. Look at the scores above!! You're way over-valuing the imaginary separation between Taylor and Yazdani and the top guys that can't compete at worlds because of the 1-country limit.

 

If Yazdani is healthy, he deserves to be considered the Olympic favorite. Brooks is inexperienced, and I admit he could make a naive mistake and lose a match to someone other than Yazdani. But he has evolved into a monster that you're way undervaluing. If he's wrestling smart at the Olympics, Yazdani is the only one capable of beating him.

You mix up random matches from all sorts of years for no apparent reason ... No idea what your point was there. My point was DT is the only one who couldn't score on Brooks (in two matches) which suggests DT was off rather than Brooks was amazing. Brooks was very lucky to be gifted the win against Valencia too. 

 

Yazdani wrestled Amine twice and beat him 11-0 then 7-2. Second time he was injured and had the tape on his shoulder (and needed severe shoulder surgery months later). I would almost bet the house on Yazdani teching Mirasola and Dieringer back to back. 

 

Kurugliev gave Yazdani and DT good matches and so has Naifonov lately.

 

I don't know why you keep mentioning Amine, a healthy Yazdani clearly techs him easily. I don't necessarily disagree with your last paragraph but I just wouldn't be as surprised as you if he lost to a Kurugliev or Naifonov (especially Naifonov).

[maligned]

19 hours ago, The Genius said:

You mix up random matches from all sorts of years for no apparent reason ... No idea what your point was there. My point was DT is the only one who couldn't score on Brooks (in two matches) which suggests DT was off rather than Brooks was amazing. Brooks was very lucky to be gifted the win against Valencia too. 

Those aren't random matches. They're all the matches involving a matchup between Taylor, Yazdani, Brooks, Valencia, and Amine since 2022. I didn't leave any out from that time, so they're not random. I included Amine and I keep mentioning Amine because he's exactly the same level as Kurugliev (1-3, 3-2, 1-2 last two seasons) and because a guy like Valencia beats Amine just as badly as Yazdani. I wrote out the scores so we can take away bias and see that past scores would clearly predict not only a very tight match between Brooks and Yazdani--but also not 10-0 results very often between Yazdani and the other guys Brooks wrestled at US Trials.

 

Not believing the young, improving guy can beat a healthy Yazdani is like if I didn't believe Massoumi could give Steveson a very good match and possibly beat him--just because Massoumi is the new guy. The evidence is there and he looks fantastic. I think Steveson would beat him, but the results are there to say it would be a great match.

 

Anyway, I didn't mean to get so far into this topic. I love watching Yazdani. He is a great champion, and I mention my admiration of him to Iranians I meet any chance I get. If Brooks doesn't win, I hope it will be Yazdani in Paris. Peace, brother

Edited May 2 by maligned

[The Genius]

19 hours ago, maligned said:

Those aren't random matches. They're all the matches involving a matchup between Taylor, Yazdani, Brooks, Valencia, and Amine since 2022. I didn't leave any out from that time, so they're not random. I included Amine and I keep mentioning Amine because he's exactly the same level as Kurugliev (1-3, 3-2, 1-2 last two seasons) and because a guy like Valencia beats Amine just as badly as Yazdani. I wrote out the scores so we can take away bias and see that past scores would clearly predict not only a very tight match between Brooks and Yazdani--but also not 10-0 results very often between Yazdani and the other guys Brooks wrestled at US Trials.

 

Not believing the young, improving guy can beat a healthy Yazdani is like if I didn't believe Massoumi could give Steveson a very good match and possibly beat him--just because Massoumi is the new guy. The evidence is there and he looks fantastic. I think Steveson would beat him, but the results are there to say it would be a great match.

 

Anyway, I didn't mean to get so far into this topic. I love watching Yazdani. He is a great champion, and I mention my admiration of him to Iranians I meet any chance I get. If Brooks doesn't win, I hope it will be Yazdani in Paris. Peace, brother

It's difficult to compare domestic match ups with international match ups given familiarity etc. And that Amine result is a bit of an anomaly because Yazdani was injured. But fair enough. I probably got a bit too carried away though still stand by the fact I think healthy Yaz techs everyone in the US below DT and Brooks. Hopefully we see the best Yazdani and the best Brooks (and everyone else) and the rest will take care of itself. The US team looks weaker than I can remember for a long time but I am sure you will find a way to beat us anyway lol 

[Irani]

There are reports that Aaron Brooks tested positive at the U23 for substances that are legal, but need to be reported.

his attorneys are trying to sort this out.  If they fail, Taylor may compete in the Olympics after all.

[VoriaGhafouri]

Oh- the reign of Aron Brooks as the goat hopefully won’t come to an early termination.

[The Genius]

Damn. At least Americans can stop acting holier than thou and blaming PEDs every time they lose to an Iranian or Russian wrestler.

 

Seems weird to give DT the place if Brooks is suspended given DT went 0-2 in the trials. What about Valencia? He should probably wrestle DT to determine who gets the place if it comes to that, he was robbed against Brooks to begin with.

 

But Twitter talk is that the Brooks side is confident they will be able to compete. Presume Brooks passed all the tests since U23 worlds last year. 

Edited May 7 by The Genius

[Thor]

David Taylor was announced as the head coach of Oklahoma State late last night, I think his competition days are now over. 

[The Genius]

11 minutes ago, Thor said:

David Taylor was announced as the head coach of Oklahoma State late last night, I think his competition days are now over. 

Have to imagine Dake will do something similar after Paris. Changing of the guard.

 

Any idea why no news about Gable returning to compete at 125kg? Odd that he returned to compete at Worlds last year, pulled out last minute, then we never heard from him again. 

[maligned]

3 minutes ago, The Genius said:

Have to imagine Dake will do something similar after Paris. Changing of the guard.

 

Any idea why no news about Gable returning to compete at 125kg? Odd that he returned to compete at Worlds last year, pulled out last minute, then we never heard from him again. 

I guess you saw Steveson had been re-signed to the WWE and had more appearances. But he wasn't successful at developing a following and he was just released from the WWE a few days ago--too late to cycle off of WWE special sauce, train, and compete at Olympic trials. No word on if he'll try to get signed with another professional wrestling show or possibly go an MMA route. 

 

39 minutes ago, The Genius said:

Damn. At least Americans can stop acting holier than thou and blaming PEDs every time they lose to an Iranian or Russian wrestler.

 

Seems weird to give DT the place if Brooks is suspended given DT went 0-2 in the trials. What about Valencia? He should probably wrestle DT to determine who gets the place if it comes to that, he was robbed against Brooks to begin with.

 

But Twitter talk is that the Brooks side is confident they will be able to compete. Presume Brooks passed all the tests since U23 worlds last year. 

The substance Brooks tested positive for was adderall--the same stimulant prescribed for ADHD that Simone Biles was taking that became a news story. Both of them have prescriptions, but Brooks didn't file for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE). If he has ADHD, a stimulant like that doesn't interact with his brain in the same way to provide "enhanced" focus and performance like it does for a non-ADHD brain. That's why they allow a TUE. But it's admittedly very, very irresponsible, at best, not to apply for a TUE--and obviously is cheating if he doesn't have a verified ADHD diagnosis.

[The Genius]

17 minutes ago, maligned said:

I guess you saw Steveson had been re-signed to the WWE and had more appearances. But he wasn't successful at developing a following and he was just released from the WWE a few days ago--too late to cycle off of WWE special sauce, train, and compete at Olympic trials. No word on if he'll try to get signed with another professional wrestling show or possibly go an MMA route. 

 

The substance Brooks tested positive for was adderall--the same stimulant prescribed for ADHD that Simone Biles was taking that became a news story. Both of them have prescriptions, but Brooks didn't file for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE). If he has ADHD, a stimulant like that doesn't interact with his brain in the same way to provide "enhanced" focus and performance like it does for a non-ADHD brain. That's why they allow a TUE. But it's admittedly very, very irresponsible, at best, not to apply for a TUE--and obviously is cheating if he doesn't have a verified ADHD diagnosis.

That's unfortunate timing for him but you miss all the shots you don't take. The MMA route might be better for him. Or just wait a year and return, not like he's getting old.

 

I don't love TUEs because they can be a loophole for PEDs (which adderall definitely is hence why you need a TUE). But I'm not a doctor and if the diagnosis/TUE is legit then fine by me. Weird no statement by the UWW though.

[maligned]

2 hours ago, Thor said:

David Taylor was announced as the head coach of Oklahoma State late last night, I think his competition days are now over. 

@Thor and @The Genius, I'm actually seeing a lot of people on other boards insisting DT would wrestle the Olympics as his last tournament if Brooks can't go. It seems insane to think of in the middle of the transfer portal, needing to move across the country and probably selling a couple of local businesses. ...and probably leaving his training camp.

 

But people insist it would do so much for the notoriety of the Oklahoma State program that he'd do it.

They say, "John Smith wrestled in the Olympics while coaching. Cael Sanderson made a freestyle comeback while coaching. Why can't DT?"

I hear them, but in this day and age of 24/7/365 recruiting and training demands for D1 coaches--seems crazy. To be his best, he needs 6+ hours per day for training, eating, and recovery activities and 8-9 hours of sleep. He then uses 9-10 hours per day for a big-time D1 coaching job, plus family, business, moving, travel, media appearances, etc, with none of the downtime that a high-level athlete's mind needs in preparing for an elite event?  

 

Let me be the first to predict DT doesn't get gold if he is our rep.

[The Genius]

Some fun trivia:

 

Tsabalov is the only wrestler to have wins over both Hassan Yazdani and David Taylor (Tsabalov is 1-2 against Yazdani and 1-0 against DT).

 

Yazdani has wins over every wrestler he has faced at 74kg and 86kg. The only guy he wrestled and hasn't won against is Gazimagomedov (Yazdani lost to him 3-1 in 2015 worlds at 70kg in Yazdani's last match at 70kg, when he was only 19 years old).

 

Yazdani has lost to 4 wrestlers in his career (Gazimagomedov, Shabanau, Tsabalov, and Taylor) and DT has lost to 6 non-American wrestlers (11 total) (Tsargush, Tsabalov, Nurmagomed, Rochniak, Lasghari, and Yazdani) in his career.

Edited May 7 by The Genius

[maligned]

18 minutes ago, The Genius said:

Some fun trivia:

 

Tsabalov is the only wrestler to have wins over both Hassan Yazdani and David Taylor (Tsabalov is 1-2 against Yazdani and 1-0 against DT).

 

Yazdani has wins over every wrestler he has faced at 74kg and 86kg. The only guy he wrestled and hasn't won against is Gazimagomedov (Yazdani lost to him 3-1 in 2015 worlds at 70kg in Yazdani's last match at 70kg, when he was only 19 years old).

 

Yazdani has lost to 4 wrestlers in his career (Gazimagomedov, Shabanau, Tsabalov, and Taylor) and DT has lost to 6 non-American wrestlers (11 total) (Tsargush, Tsabalov, Nurmagomed, Rochniak, Lasghari, and Yazdani) in his career.

Yazdani has definitely been more consistent across all weights in his career. Of course you can point to some of DT's losses in his own country as understandable (Burroughs, Dake, Cox); but Yazdani reached the top level at a much younger age, and Yazdani developed consistency at 86kg much more quickly than DT did. It's almost funny to read some of DT's results from 2015 and 2016.

[The Genius]

7 minutes ago, maligned said:

Yazdani has definitely been more consistent across all weights in his career. Of course you can point to some of DT's losses in his own country as understandable (Burroughs, Dake, Cox); but Yazdani reached the top level at a much younger age, and Yazdani developed consistency at 86kg much more quickly than DT did. It's almost funny to read some of DT's results from 2015 and 2016.

The last time Yazdani lost to someone who hasn't DT was to Tsabalov in 2016. The last time DT lost to a non-American who wasn't Yazdani was to a Ukrainian also in 2016. Kinda funny. But the big difference is that DT has a lot of losses to quite a few Americans (5 losses to Dake alone, 4 losses to JB, 2 losses to Cox, 2 losses to Brooks) while Yazdani has never lost against an Iranian. 

 

I would say Yazdani has the superior resume overall but they both have excellent wins (DT's 1-2 record against Cox and 1-4 record against JB, the only win coming against a much older JB, arguably let him down a bit).

 

Yazdani has wins over 6 World or Olympic champions: Tsabalov, Gadzhiev, Taghavi, Sharifov, Ghasempour, and Taylor.

 

Taylor has wins over 5 World or Olympic champions: Kurbanaliev, Sharifov, Yazdani, Cox, and Burroughs. 

Edited May 7 by The Genius

[maligned]

1 hour ago, The Genius said:

I would say Yazdani has the superior resume overall but they both have excellent wins

Yes, for sure. They're equal in Olympic and World golds--but then Yazdani has 5 additional medals compared to only 1 for Taylor. Plus, Yazdani took worldwide Golds at 2 different weights. (I think, too, that if there had been an in-between Olympic weight class like 79 or 80kg, Yazdani might be undefeated since 2016. I think Taylor's body naturally fit 86kg better than Yazdani; but if both would have stayed down 6 or 7kg all these years, it would have been a better fit for Yazdani than Taylor.)

 

But the "who was better" argument is obviously going to come down to what you prefer: overall resume vs. apex quality level. For a 7-year period from the U.S. trials in 2017 to the U.S. trials in 2024--Taylor was 70-1 across all freestyle matches in a traditionally very crowded weight class. As with all American wrestlers, he was not originally a freestyle wrestler--but there is a strong argument that once he fully adapted to the style and the 86kg weight class, he was at a level attained by only a few freestyle wrestlers historically. And part of that argument, obviously, is that he handed an all-time legend like Yazdani himself 5 of his 8 career losses (4 during that 7-year period, of course).

Edited May 7 by maligned

[The Genius]

37 minutes ago, maligned said:

Yes, for sure. They're equal in Olympic and World golds--but then Yazdani has 5 additional medals compared to only 1 for Taylor. Plus, Yazdani took worldwide Golds at 2 different weights. (I think, too, that if there had been an in-between Olympic weight class like 79 or 80kg, Yazdani might be undefeated since 2016. I think Taylor's body naturally fit 86kg better than Yazdani; but if both would have stayed down 6 or 7kg all these years, it would have been a better fit for Yazdani than Taylor.)

 

But the "who was better" argument is obviously going to come down to what you prefer: overall resume vs. apex quality level. For a 7-year period from the U.S. trials in 2017 to the U.S. trials in 2024--Taylor was 70-1 across all freestyle matches in a traditionally very crowded weight class. As with all American wrestlers, he was not originally a freestyle wrestler--but there is a strong argument that once he fully adapted to the style and the 86kg weight class, he was at a level attained by only a few freestyle wrestlers historically. And part of that argument, obviously, is that he handed an all-time legend like Yazdani himself 5 of his 8 career losses (4 during that 7-year period, of course).

All fair points. Yazdani was at 66kg as a junior and started his senior career at 70kg. While he has clearly grown into 86kg, a 16kg jump is huge and I agree that Taylor fits the weight better and generally looks bigger than Yazdani when they compete (but not stronger).

 

The main caveat, which also applies to Yazdani, is that the competition at 86kg has not been very strong, with DT and Yazdani sharing Golds between them as Sadulaev and Sharifov moved up after 2016. The next best guys were likely Iranian (Ghasempour, Karimi) or American but the rest of the world was not competitive (shown in DT and Yazdani's finish rate at Worlds/Olympics). 

Edited May 7 by The Genius

[Irani]

Draw for 57 Kg Olympic qualification 

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6t-V92oTwi/?igsh=MWx0eHlyeG81ZHZobQ==

[The Genius]

Sarlak beats Pirrodu (ITA) 4-2 in the R32

 

He faces 2024 Euros Bronze medalist from Georgia in the R16, he should win

 

but ultimately to win a qualifying spot he will need to either (i) win his bracket (by defeating the winner of Spencer Lee / Zou Wanhou), or (ii) reach the SF of his bracket then defeat the losing semi finalist from the other bracket (likely to be either Horst Lehr or Aman from India). 

 

neither route seems likely

[The Genius]

Sarlak beats the Georgian 9-3 in the R16 and will wrestle Kalzhan (Kazakhstan) in the QF

 

the American beat Zou 10-9 

 

Zou beat Sarlak 6-2 in Sarlak's last Worlds. the loss was very unexpected but Zou turned out to be a very good wrestler at 57kg and he looks to be in good form here

Edited Saturday at 12:10 PM by The Genius

[The Genius]

Sarlak loses to Kalzhan 7-2 in the QF.

 

Kalzhan will have to beat Lee (USA) for Sarlak to have another chance in the repechage, but that is very unlikely...

 

More likely is that we will not have a wrestler at 57kg in Paris. But that doesn't really matter since we don't have anyone that can compete for a medal anyway. 

[kkiane]

20 minutes ago, The Genius said:

Sarlak loses to Kalzhan 7-2 in the QF.

 

Kalzhan will have to beat Lee (USA) for Sarlak to have another chance in the repechage, but that is very unlikely...

 

More likely is that we will not have a wrestler at 57kg in Paris. But that doesn't really matter since we don't have anyone that can compete for a medal anyway. 

Sarlak makes me want to claw my eyes out he’s so bad