Titan Mercury Wins World Wrestling Clubs Cup
Titan Mercury Wins World Wrestling Clubs Cup
Titan Mercury won the world wrestling clubs cup thanks to a last second takedown by Nick Gwiazdowski
Titan Mercury has been crowned the greatest wrestling club in the world. Despite neither Olympic gold medalist on the roster winning their match, TMWC took home the Clubs Cup title in dramatic fashion over Bimeh Razi of Iran.
The Iranian squad had beaten Titan Mercury in the first two Clubs Cup finals, and came into the final having not lost a bout in their three duals.
It appeared to be all Razi early on, as 2013 world champ Hassan Rahimi opened the match with a 5-2 win over NCAA champ Nico Megaludis. An extremely strange sequence followed at 61kg, where Vladimer Khnichegashvili was losing 1-1 on criteria to Masoud Esmaeilpour on criteria. Late in the match, things got chippy and Esmaeilpour fell to the mat after a soft push from Khinchegashvili. The end result would be a double disqualification, something that in hindsight would benefit Titan Mercury.
It was looking bleak after an 11-0 tech by Ilyas Bekbulatov over BJ Futrell at 65kg. Bekbulatov is a multiple time Yarygin champ and European medalist from Russia; he was one of two non-Iranians on Bimeh Razi. However, Nazar Kulchytskyy turned the match in TMWC's favor.
At 70kg, Kulchytskyy won 6-2 over the other Russian Atsamaz Sanakoev to put Titan Mercury on the board. Alex Dieringer fell behind early on a 4 pointer, but rallied back to win 6-4 with a last second takedown and gut wrench. Dieringer ended up 4-0 for the tournament, Titan Mercury's only undefeated wrestler.
Dieringer's win knotted the team score at 2-2 heading into David Taylor's match with Alirez Karimi. The former Nittany Lion exploded in the second period, throwing up nine points in the bout's final two minutes over the past world bronze medalist. Due to the double DQ, this meant that Titan Mercury had to win one of the final two matches to win the dual.
Kyle Snyder faced off with Abbas Tahan, an Iranian whom he beat on the way to this 2015 world title. But for the second time in as many days, Snyder's foe exacted revenge for a prior loss. Tahan's 3-1 win came on the strength of a shot clock point, as well as a failed TMWC challenge when Snyder was pushed out.
Just like at the World Cup in LA, it came down to an American heavyweight against Parviz Hadi. The gigantic Hadi held a 2-0 lead at the break, but Nick Gwiazdowski continued to shoot and get in on legs in the the second. A stepout early on pulled the score to within one, and then with about 40 seconds left Gwiz fired off a low single. When he came out on top, Titan Mercury had won the dual won 4-3 and were club champions of the world.
Re-live the whole final starting at the 1:50 mark
The Iranian squad had beaten Titan Mercury in the first two Clubs Cup finals, and came into the final having not lost a bout in their three duals.
WORLD CHAMPIONS!!! BEST CLUB ON PLANET EARTH! #TMWC #WORLDCLUBSCUP #STAYHUNGRYFORMORE @USAWrestling @FloWrestling @unitedworldwrestling pic.twitter.com/fAGxusGk1i
— Titan Mercury (@titan_mercury) December 1, 2016
It appeared to be all Razi early on, as 2013 world champ Hassan Rahimi opened the match with a 5-2 win over NCAA champ Nico Megaludis. An extremely strange sequence followed at 61kg, where Vladimer Khnichegashvili was losing 1-1 on criteria to Masoud Esmaeilpour on criteria. Late in the match, things got chippy and Esmaeilpour fell to the mat after a soft push from Khinchegashvili. The end result would be a double disqualification, something that in hindsight would benefit Titan Mercury.
It was looking bleak after an 11-0 tech by Ilyas Bekbulatov over BJ Futrell at 65kg. Bekbulatov is a multiple time Yarygin champ and European medalist from Russia; he was one of two non-Iranians on Bimeh Razi. However, Nazar Kulchytskyy turned the match in TMWC's favor.
At 70kg, Kulchytskyy won 6-2 over the other Russian Atsamaz Sanakoev to put Titan Mercury on the board. Alex Dieringer fell behind early on a 4 pointer, but rallied back to win 6-4 with a last second takedown and gut wrench. Dieringer ended up 4-0 for the tournament, Titan Mercury's only undefeated wrestler.
Dieringer's win knotted the team score at 2-2 heading into David Taylor's match with Alirez Karimi. The former Nittany Lion exploded in the second period, throwing up nine points in the bout's final two minutes over the past world bronze medalist. Due to the double DQ, this meant that Titan Mercury had to win one of the final two matches to win the dual.
Feels great to be a member of the best club team in the world! Thanks @titan_mercury for the opportunity to compete! WORLD champs ! #USA
— David Taylor (@magicman_psu) December 1, 2016
Kyle Snyder faced off with Abbas Tahan, an Iranian whom he beat on the way to this 2015 world title. But for the second time in as many days, Snyder's foe exacted revenge for a prior loss. Tahan's 3-1 win came on the strength of a shot clock point, as well as a failed TMWC challenge when Snyder was pushed out.
Just like at the World Cup in LA, it came down to an American heavyweight against Parviz Hadi. The gigantic Hadi held a 2-0 lead at the break, but Nick Gwiazdowski continued to shoot and get in on legs in the the second. A stepout early on pulled the score to within one, and then with about 40 seconds left Gwiz fired off a low single. When he came out on top, Titan Mercury had won the dual won 4-3 and were club champions of the world.
Re-live the whole final starting at the 1:50 mark