ADVERTISEMENT

Zagreb Open

That may be Nolf’s best freestyle win to date (non-exhibition variety)
giphy.gif
 
3-3 win on criteria over Emami. Scored an early step out, added a takedown in the second and then backed up a ton but held on.

Nolf may not be as fun as he once was but it’s hard to argue with the results.
He has become a really good defensive wrestler. He used to give up tds because he knew he would just outscore you but that style doesn’t really work at this level. Still has a pretty high attack rate but picks his spots much better now. This is a really big win for Nolf. Emami won bronze at worlds last year only losing to Dake 3-1. Impressive tournament
 
My understanding was that Hayden went up to 174 for his last year so that he could be at the weight next to his brother (presumably to work out together at a closer weight). If it was just the hard cut to 157, I think he would have gone at 165.
Correct. Entirely sacrificed his success to help his brother. Said he was only coming back to help his brother win a championship and if it meant going up two weight classes to be his training partner then so be it. Great, emotional interviews during the NCAA tournament.
 
I just watched the 86 kg. final w/ Yazdani and Ishiguro from Japan. Ishiguro had a great tournamment, but lost 13-2 to Yazdani, giving up 13 straight points after getting the first takedown. Yazdani picked him apart from his left under hook position, like he does to almost everyone not named Taylor. I posted this back in September . . . "Since the 2016 Olympics Yazdani is 52-4 with four Olympic and World titles. All of his losses during that span were to Taylor. Here is the breakdown for Yazdani:
2016-Olympic champion
2017-World champion
2018-Lost to Taylor in the opening round of the World Championships and ended up taking third
2019-World champion (Taylor was injured and did not compete)
2021 Lost to Taylor at the Olympics to take second
2021 World champion-beat Taylor
2022-Lost to Taylor at the World Championships to take second

Were it not for Taylor, Yazdani would most likely be undefeated during that span, winning seven straight Olympic and World titles at the young age of 27. I wonder if Yazdani sees Taylor in his nightmares?
 
Muszukajev literally just played with Lee. You should watch the video. It’s something else. Crazy how good he is but you know he can barely stand after a couple minutes. Not sure about Lee’s strategy there. Good win over Seabass.
 
I just watched the 86 kg. final w/ Yazdani and Ishiguro from Japan. Ishiguro had a great tournamment, but lost 13-2 to Yazdani, giving up 13 straight points after getting the first takedown. Yazdani picked him apart from his left under hook position, like he does to almost everyone not named Taylor. I posted this back in September . . . "Since the 2016 Olympics Yazdani is 52-4 with four Olympic and World titles. All of his losses during that span were to Taylor. Here is the breakdown for Yazdani:
2016-Olympic champion
2017-World champion
2018-Lost to Taylor in the opening round of the World Championships and ended up taking third
2019-World champion (Taylor was injured and did not compete)
2021 Lost to Taylor at the Olympics to take second
2021 World champion-beat Taylor
2022-Lost to Taylor at the World Championships to take second

Were it not for Taylor, Yazdani would most likely be undefeated during that span, winning seven straight Olympic and World titles at the young age of 27. I wonder if Yazdani sees Taylor in his nightmares?
In that world then Bo stays in wrestling and I think he would get to Yazdani after a couple tries.
 
In that world then Bo stays in wrestling and I think he would get to Yazdani after a couple tries.

The crazy thing is that a lot of people were picking Zahid to pick off Taylor at Final X this year. Taylor played with his food in match 1 and then crushed Zahid in match 2. And, it seems people are rapidly forgetting that Bo, quite literally, spanked Zahid at OTTs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ski and nitlion6
Snyder is such a beast. Goes down 4-2 against Magomedov and then just wore his ass out. Wins 7-4 and Magomedov couldn’t move at the end of the match. Didn’t attempt a single attack in the last 30 seconds. Magomedov won bronze at 2022 worlds and Kyle beat him 4-0 there
 
It’s pretty crazy just how far ahead DT and Yazdani are from the field at 86kg. Mark Hall had a really good tournament beating Makoev and Abubakr but Yazdani just toyed with him in a 10-0 first period tech. Zahid got teched 11-0 by Ishiguro from Japan who then turned around and got teched in the finals by Yazdani. I don’t think there is another weight in the world where the top 2 guys have separated themselves from the field like DT and Yazdani have. Russia is the obvious wildcard but before they were banned their top guys weren’t beating DT and Yazdani either.
 
lots of guys have been close to dake on the scoreboard. not close in the sense i think dake wins 10/10 times if they wrestle.
If one guy gets the only takedown in the match and you don't think that's "close" then I don't know what is
 
Ehhh, I gotta back JS in this one. Dake never appeared in actual danger in that match. Not really a knock on Jason but just sort it where Dake is at right now. Think Nolf would do well to try to work on his explosiveness because the difference between the two in that sense is sometimes startling.
 
I think Nolf takes 2 of 10 from Dake right now but he keeps closing the gap every time out it seems. He went from getting teched like it was nothing to 2 fairly tight matches last year. Now he just beat last year’s world bronze who beat Salkazanov 5-0 in the same tournament. Nolf seems to have established himself as a top 5 guy in the world at 74kg. Dake is either 1 or 2 in the world though depending on Sidakov and Nolf isn’t quite ready to take his crown but if he continues on this trajectory he’s going to make things very interesting next year at the Olympic trials
 
If one guy gets the only takedown in the match and you don't think that's "close" then I don't know what is
i explained pretty clearly. i think dake wins that match 10/10 times.

despite scoring the only takedown of the series, nolf only led dake for a combined 15 seconds across 2 matches, roughly 2% of the total time wrestled. there was never a moment where dake was in danger of losing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mcpat and mn78psu83
i explained pretty clearly. i think dake wins that match 10/10 times.

despite scoring the only takedown of the series, nolf only led dake for a combined 15 seconds across 2 matches, roughly 2% of the total time wrestled. there was never a moment where dake was in danger of losing.
You’re not on the island alone. I view Dake like I view Michael Myers from Halloween. The dude needs to be buried 100 feet under before I declare him vulnerable.

And I need to be consistent with my general cynicism about people “closing gaps” despite holding Nolf in the highest regard.
 
Kollin Moore and Kyle Snyder both take gold. Moore had two beautiful high-cs and won 4-3.

Snyder was the more active but somehow found himself on the clock in the second period up only 1-0, and managed to get a step-out as time was winding down, then added another step out to win 3-0.
 
Snyder did his thing, but Azapira was tough--did not move from center, had the quickness to avoid Kyle's improved ankle picks, did not crumple under Kyle's famously heavy hands. Also did not really attempt to score--but he's going to be a name to remember in the years to come, I think.
 
ADVERTISEMENT