Riza or Lopez, Lopez or Riza?

Mijain Lopez is among the greatest, most decorated wrestlers of all time. But he's not without the occasional loss, the most recent of which came to Riza Kayaalp in last year's Vegas final.

After seeing the brackets released, there are three strong favorites to make the finals who have really excellent draws.

85kg - Zhan Belenyuk (UKR)

The Line: +145 on 5dimes.eu; Even on Sportsbook.ag
The Reason: Originally, I wasn't so thrilled with Belenyuk's line. I really liked the +1500 value of Hungary's Viktor Lorincz, who has wrestled for World Bronze the last three years. But he's stuck on the bottom half with an awful draw.

Belenyuk is the defending World Champion and has just 4 losses in the last three years. Two of those losses came to Chakvetadze (RUS). The other came to Tahmasebi (AZE). 

He’s was the odds on favorite before brackets were drawn, and now that you’ve seen them... you’re crazy if you don’t lay some cash on him. Belenyuk walks to the finals and Chakvetadze and Tahmasebi wrestle first round in the bottom half.

130kg - Riza Kayaalp (TUR)

The Line:  +$280 on 5dimes.eu
The Reason: Whether or not you believe Mijain Lopez (CUB) is the best GR heavyweight in the world (and that the 2015 World final was an outlier) is irrelevant. He should walk to the finals, and at almost 3 to 1 for your money, this line is silly considering he’s the reigning champ and has already beat Lopez head-to-head. The weight is pretty much a two-man race. +$280 is a great value.

Other Picks:
Lopez is +$140 on 5dimes. While the bottom half is considerably deeper than Kayaalp’s top half, Lopez should find his way to the finals rather easily. You don’t often find a guy that’s + money as a consensus favorite. It might sound contradictory to the value pick of Kayaalp above, but if you believe (like many do) that Lopez wins the rematch with Kayaalp, you should love this line.

Other Lines on Sportsbook.ag
85kg - Habibollah Akhlaghi (IRI): +$700
85kg - Rustam Assakalov (UZE): +$180
85kg - Saman Tahmasebi (AZE): +$500
85kg - Viktor Lorincz (HUN): +$1500

130kg - Heiki Nabi (EST): +$2500
130kg - Oleksandr Chernetskyi (UKR): +$600

Olympic Wrestling Previews:

Men's Freestyle: 57KG | 65KG | 74KG | 86KG | 97KG | 125KG
Women's Freestyle: 48KG | 53KG | 63KG | 75KG
Greco Roman: 59KG | 75KG | 85KG (Coming 8/14) | 130KG

Top Matches Of Olympians:

Men's Frestyle: Daniel Dennis | Frank Molinaro | Jordan Burroughs
J'den Cox | Kyle Snyder | Tervel Dlagnev
Greco Roman: Jesse Thielke | Andy Bisek | Robby Smith | Ben Provisor (Coming 8/14)
Women's Freestyle: Haley Augello | Helen Maroulis | Elena Pirozhkova | Adeline Gray

Know A Foreign Hammer:

Toghrul Asgarov | Roman Vlasov | Taha Akgul
Saori Yoshida | Anzor Boltakaev | Abdulrashid Sadulaev
Anuiar Gedeuv | Erica Wiebe | Soronzonbold Battsetsegg
Hamid Soryan | Vladimir Khinchegashvili

2016 Olympic Wrestling Schedule

How To Watch Olympic Wrestling:
Day 9 (Aug. 14): Prelims : Mat A | Mat B | Mat C | Finals
Day 10 (Aug. 15): Prelims : Mat A | Mat B | Mat C | Finals
Day 11 (Aug. 16): Prelims : Mat A | Mat B | Mat C | Finals
Day 12 (Aug. 17): Prelims : Mat A | Mat B | Mat C | Finals
Day 13 (Aug. 18): Prelims : Mat A | Mat B | Mat C | Finals
Day 14 (Aug. 19): Prelims : Mat A | Mat B | Mat C | Finals
Day 15 (Aug. 20): Prelims : Mat A | Mat B | Mat C | Finals
Day 16 (Aug. 21): Prelims : Mat A | Mat B | Mat C | Finals