Dingo Brigade

The Algerian was super obnoxious after his win, yelling out repeatedly and gesturing. Feel bummed for Saddoris. Bisek leads 1-0....trying to hold on....looks like he'll wrestle for bronze again this year. Great job.

Hungary's Peter Bacsi was a World champ last year, but it was at the non-Olympic weight of 80kg.. He's facing #2 Arsen Julfalakyan in a repechage match and is up 4-0. Basci looks really formidable, and as he adjusts to the new, lighter weight, I could see him being a real threat at Rio for gold at 75kg. He looks so sucked in and lean at this weight. Just as soon as Basci seemed to be running away with things, the Armenian went on a gutwrench bender, rolling Basci 3 times to take the lead 6-4. Very impressive response by Julfalakyan. This is a pretty talented matchup for an early repechage match. Both were World champs last year, with the Armenian at 75kg and the Hungarian at 80 kg. Another TD for the Armenian, and this is a point where the weight cut could be taking a toll on Basci. Nice comeback win by one world champ against another. Saddoris up now against Algerian Benaissa.....Huge headlock and throw by Saddoris to open up a 4-0 lead. Now 4-1. However, somehow in the ensuing scramble, it appears the Algerian inadvertently eye-raked Saddoris. He's really having a hard time....now he's back. Hope he can build on the great start. More head clashes by the Algerian--he's warned by the ref....and then promptly does it again, without any comment by the ref this time. He's using his head like a jab. He's certainly weaponizing his head and Saddoris looks a little dazed and frustrated. This is a dirty match. There, I said it. I think the Algerian knows he's out-classed, and he's turning this into an old fashioned donnybrook. I wonder if Saddoris is going to be in rough shape in later matches, even if he wins. Saddoris is wincing and visibly upset. 4-1 at the 3 minute mark. Hope the little break refreshes Saddoris. Passivity against Saddoris, ...2 turns by Benaissa...leads now 5-4...Saddoris appears to be fading a bit. Running out of time. Tough loss for Saddoris. Think the repeated headbutts really took a lot out of him. Bisek and Yanakiev are scoreless after 3 minutes. Passivity against Bisek, Yanakiev looking for the turn...Bisek fights it off, then reverses...looking for the fall....He'll settle for 2 for the counter. Beautiful defense by Bisek. Now they're challenging it...Bisek loses the challenge....still scoreless

Yanankiev with a big throw of the Egyptian. Leads 4-0,,,wins 5-0 Surkov beats Zheng 6-0. Benaissa beats Rivas 5-2

Of the 6 finalists today, only Denmark's Madsen wasn't ranked in the top-5 of his respective weight. In fact, he wasn't in the top 10. 66kg repechage #4 Surkov (Russia) vs. Zheng (China). Benaissa (Algeria) vs. Rivas (Venezuela) 75kg repechage #2 Julfalakyan (Armenia) vs. Novak (Hungary)....Julfalakyan makes quick work of Novak, winning by tech. Yanakiev (Bulgaria vs. Abd Elsalam (Egypt)

Can Guri beat #3 Rezaei and pull a third American into repechage? they're underway at 98kg. #1 Aleksanyan against the Romanian Ciura, and Guri vs. the Iranian. I don't want to be stereotypical, but Aleksanyan is unlike any other Armenian I've ever seen. He's blonde, fair skinned and has light eyes. I guess there are more ethnic groups in Armenia than I was aware. 1-0 at the break. They're back at it, a big throw attempt by Ciura, Aleksanyan too clever for it, pulls away and wins by tech. What a stud. Guri in a hole quickly, as Rezaei leads 3-0 at the break. The Bulgarian will need to regroup after the break and put it all together against the nasty Rezaei. 3-0 still, with 2 minutes left. Guri on top in par terre, needs a big gut or two. Guri just can't score on the Iranian. 3-0 with 45 seconds left. Looks like Williams will be the lone American not in the repechage rounds today. It's a shame because he showed some real flashes today. Would've loved to see him have another shot. Rezaei wins 3-0, will face Aleksanyan for gold. Should be a doozie--the offensive weaponry of Aleksanyan vs. the stifling defense of Rezaei. Repechage getting ready to start

Kind of hard to get started again after reading about the Tsirtsis tragedy, but here goes.... Semis underway at 66 and 75 kg. At 66 kg Armenia's Migran Arutyunyan has been a man on a mission all day, taking out the #2 ranked wrestler in the world already. He leads #3 Ryu of S. Korea 4-0 in the early going. TD for Ryu, 4-2. Ryu with another TD...4-4, but the Korean leads on criteria. Potential TD by Arutyunyan wiped out as he used his legs....4-4... Ryu wins on criteria, will face Staebler for gold. Also at 66kg, Stefanek and Staebler are scoreless after 3:30. Again, Saddoris must have Staebler win this to enter into the repechage. Passivity penalty against Stefanek. HUGE gutwrench and toss by Staebler, leads 5-0. He looks amazing this match. Wow, Staebler knocks off the #1 ranked wrestler in the world at 66kg, drags Saddoris into the repechage. Saddoris still has his work cut out for him, but at least he has a shot. What a day thus far for Staebler. At 75kg, Madsen leads Abdvali 2-0 with around 2 minutes left. This would be huge for Bisek if he can hold on. Big TD for Abdvali to tie it 2-2. Madsen wins 2-2 on criteria, pulling Bisek into repechage. That's 2 Americans still alive for a bronze. In the other 75kg semi match, the #3 Russian Vlasov is destroying #4 Mursaliyev 6-0 with a minute to go. Vlasov wins and will face Madsen in the finals.

Very sorry to hear about the passing of Jillian Tsirtsis in a vehicle collision. I'm sure the family is devastated, and I just want to offer a sincere condolence to the family. What a tragedy.

All 3 wrestlers still alive for repechage, as Guri wins his quarters match at 98kg. Now he'll need to upset the Iranian, Rezaei for Williams to have a shot at bronze.

At the halfway point, Staebler leads Saddoris 1-0. He needs to figure out what he wants to do against the tricky German. He really needs to win this match if he wants to have a shot at medaling. Otherwise, Staebler would have to knock off World #1 Stefanek of Serbia. Passivity against Saddoris....Staebler looking to turn...great early defense by Saddoris, Staebler keeps working, gets the roll...leads 5-0 and looks a little cocky. Saddoris has just over a minute left...now under a minute. Just doesn't seem to know what he wants or needs to do against the lanky opponent. This was a tough stylistic matchup for Saddoris, and he loses 5-0. #1 Stefanek, #6 Arutyunyan, #5 Staebler and #3 Ryu are on to the semis. Saddoris obviously will be rooting for Staebler against Stefanek 75kg now. Bisek up against the Dane Madsen.. Scoreless thru 1 minute. Bisek in a nasty scramble with Madsen, they rule it a 4 point move for the Dane. A little iffy looking, the US coaches throw the challenge, Bisek agrees with the challenge. Bisek really hgave him a nasty shuck when they stood up, bloodied the Dane. The challenge is denied, Bisek operating out of a 5-0 hole. Needs to open up his offense for sure, or this is going to be over early. He has 3 minutes to mount a comeback Bisek gets teched. Was never really in it. Now he needs Madsen to beat the winner of Datunashvili and Abdvali. All 3 US wrestlers have now lost and are hoping for repechage help. It appears that Bisek has the best shot at it. It's not necessarily disappointing that Bisek lost, it's more how he lost. He was never in the match.

98 kg, #1 Aleksanyan looks like a man among boys so far, tossing opponents like it ain't no thing. He's on to the quarters. Almost done with 98 kilos. The brawler from China, Xiao, appears to have dislocated Germany's Oehler's shoulder. He's in considerable pain. There's a future in MMA for Xiao. He's a pummeling behemoth. This is World's, so Oehler is back and competing, but he's grimacing. running out of time....I doubt too many people predicted him to come out of his section of the bracket, but Xiao is on to the quarters Quarters at 66kg up now #1 Stefanek of Serbia vs Zhadrayev of Kaz Saddoris vs. #5 Staebler of Germany #6 Arutyunyan of Armenia vs. Bolkvadze of Georgia #3 Ryu (Korea) vs. #7 Etlinger (Croatia) Bryce is the shorter, stockier wrestler. Staebler with an inside trip....no points as he clearly used the legs. Arutyunyan up 4-0 quickly against the 2014 Jr World champ Bolkvadze Staebler gets a point for the Saddoris step out. 1-0 lead for the German. Saddoris looks a little frustrated and confused by Staebler's unusual sideways stance

Williams looks like he lost concentration briefly, gets taken down near the edge of the mat. Guts Williams, who then steps over and guts Guri....ties it up 4-4...Great match thus far.Challenge issued by US coaches....Williams says no thanks. 4-4, but Guri has criteria, so Williams needs to get busy....a minute left Williams needs a turn....20 secs left...nearly turns him...runs out of time. Easily could've, maybe should've, won this match....Big bummer. Williams wrestled a nice match, punctuated with a couple of mental lapses and some nasty defensive maneuvers against Guri's gutwrench attempts. Now he needs Guri to make the finals, but #3 Rezaei and #4 Ildem are waiting for him in the semis, so it's a longshot. So, so close for Williams.

75 kg #3 Vlasov beats his second former World champ in Hungary's Bacsi. With Kim's loss, Vlasov looks like a strong bet for the gold. Caylor Williams up now against Bulgaria's Guri Williams down on the passivity warning...Former world champ Guri nearly gets the gut. Instead, WIlliams steps over and gets the point. Leads 1-0. Great start for Wiliams, but he's got a long way to go still. Guri with injury stoppage. They're back now...3 minutes have elapsed.

Well, here's a big upset...Kazakhistan's Kartikov over 2-time World and 1-time Olympic champ, as well as the current World #1, Kim of S. Korea 4-2. Lots of near misses for Kim in this match, and a huge upset for the Kazakh.

66kg Ryu had his hands full until he pulled out a WWE style piledriver against Norway's Thommesen. 6-0 lead for the 2013 World champ. Looks like Saddoris' next opponent will be Germany's Staebler, currently 5th in the world Upset win by Armenia's Arutyunyan over #2 Lorincz of Hungary. 75kg Bisek up now against Gurpreet of India, who was also very impressive in his first match Passivity against Gurpreet...Bisek will try for a gut.....gets it...Huge move by Bisek, followed by another pickup and toss. Leads 4-0, very sharp in the early going Gurpreet returns the favor with a takedown, trails Bisek 4-2. If Bisek can hold on here, he can make some hay in his portion of the bracket. Bisek working the paintbrush 'stache very efficiently. He's a throwback to the 1970s TV show if I've ever seen one....another sweet TD for Bisek...leads 6-2. Looking sharp Saddoris will indeed face Staebler next round. Slide by for Gurpreet...attempts the gut, Bisek slides out....6-4 Bisek leads. He needs to hold on here, but Gurpreet is wily and a much better athlete than he appears to be. Bisek wins....5 for 5 for the US. Two quarterfinalists now for the US Quarters are now set at 66kg. I don't know if I'm seeing things, but it looks like former World team member TC Dantzler just got into some kind of tussle in the crowd...interesting

Saddoris taking the mat against Stas. Both very physical and aggressive out of the gate. Both wrestlers working hard to establish limb control. Each snapping and trapping. Looks like Saddoris tripped on the ref. They're reviewing it, but the initial call is two points for Kas... Points removed! 0-0 still. Saddoris didn't need that bad break, so it's great that they corrected the scoring mistake. Saddoris back to snapping hard.. Still scoreless. Saddoris back to the drawing board. Saddoris gets a passivity call, goes down. Stas looking for a gut, looks close, but Saddoris fights him off, still scoreless. Looked like a takedown for Saddoris, ref said the period expired. Still scoreless at the break. Very close opportunities for each. 3:30 gone now, still scoreless. Bad break, another passivity for Saddoris, now trails 1-0 and goes down. Nearly reverses in par terre, but at least he fights off Stas. 1-0, Saddoris better get after it now Big spin around takedown, plus a gut....and another....HUGE performance for Saddoris, now leads 6-1 Saddoris on to the quarters with a stirring win.

We're wrapping up 98kg...Saddoris is coming up soon. He'll face the Bulgarian Stas in a tough but potentially winnable match.

At 98kg, #3 Rezaei of Iran and #2 Magomedov of Russia are going toe to toe. Scoreless through nearly 3 minutes. Good Lord, top ranked Aleksanyan of Armenia with 4 straight gut wrenches, to quickly dispatch Yonehira of Japan. Pure dominance. Magomedov and Rezaei still scoreless after 4 minutes. An exchange of penalty points makes it 1-1. Magomedov down in par terre gets rolled by Rezaei, the Iranian looking for the big win, leads 3-1. One minute left Near 2 pointer for Magomedov, but Rezaei holds own for the big win 4-2 over the Russian.

Williams up now, looking to make it 3-for-3 in opening matches for the US. He gets the Brazilian Albino. Nice explosion for Williams with a takedown on the edge of the mat. He leads 2-0. Williams looked to be in good shape to really put some space between himself and his opponent, but as he has attempting to turn Albino, the Brazilian reversed him and followed that up with a big lift and turn. Albino up 5-2. Wiliams looks like a different wrestler now....and not in a good way. Wow, what a turn of events. Williams gets a penalty point, follows that up with a lift in par terre, picks Albino up and throws him to his back....FOR THE FALL!!!! The US is now 3 for 3. Great comebacks by Bisek and now Williams.

Kim and Nemes in a battle at 75kg. Kim with an early 2-0 lead, Nemes strikes back to tie it at 2-2. Passivity against Nemes, Kim leads 3-2. The Olympic gold medalist is being tested by the Serb. Kim hangs on to win 3-2.

Bisek will face India's Gurpreet in his next match. Saddoris will face Bulgaria's Stas. At 75kg, #1 Kim of S. Korea faces #5 Nemes of Serbia

Bisek with another win for the US, 5-2 the final. Great comeback and a good momentum builder for the US. Ryu and Surkov really neutralizing each other. 1 point for Ryu, the Russian running out of time. Ryu's defense just too tough. Ryu with a huge win over the Russian 1-0 The quarters at 66kg are now set. Still a lot of elite firepower left at the weight

Right after Saddoris, here comes Andy Bisek. He'll tackle the Venezuelan Avendano Roj. Scoreless early, but a passivity call against Avendano gets Bisek a shot at a turn. Bisek active on top in par terre, but nothing doing...back to their feet. Bisek pushing the action. Bisek now down, the Venezuelan gets a pretty nice lift and turn, leads the 2014 bronze medalist 2-0. Bisek needs to turn up Not to distract from Bisek's match, but #3 Ryu of Korea and #4 Surkov of Russia are up now at 66kg. Another passivity against Avenado cuts the score to 2-1. Bisek with a couple of sweet gutwrenches, now leads 5-2. Great sense of timing and explosion by Bisek. Suddenly, he looks to be in full control. Ryu and Surkov scoreless 3:30 in.

Saddoris on the board first, with a second passivity call against Da Silva Pas. Bryce leads 1-0...lots of time left. Looks like the Portuguese wrestler is a little tired, but then again he has had his mouth open the entire match. He looks like a fish trying to breathe out of water....it's a weird looking thing he's doing. Saddoris comes back with his head taped...big takedown by Saddoris....leads 3-0. He's in control at this point, holds on to give the US a win in its first match. Great, controlled match by the former Navy standout

Saddoris up against the Portuguese wrestler Da Silva Pas. Saddoris attempts a throw, slips, quickly resets. No score early. Looked like a scoring opportunity for Saddoris, ref says no, back to their feet. Now they're in par terre, Saddoris on top, looking for a gut....no luck. Back to their feet, scoreless 1st period.

66kg Wow, that Migran Arutyunyan is some kind of showman. He was already in firm control against Greece's Vladimiros, but decided to entertain the crowd by picking up his Greek counterpart and spinning him close to 10 times (or so it seemed) before planting him on the ground on his back. Impressive little dude, but he likely has #2 Lorincz of Hungary lurking as his next opponent. At 98kg, China's Xiao and Kazakhistan's Iskakov engaged in what looked like a fistfight. A lot more brutality than technique in this one, but the Chinese wrestler prevails. Saddoris coming soon