By Dan Lobdell

American freestyle fans would have a hard time picking a better year for action packed events on home soil, and the hits keep coming with this weekend’s World Cup in Los Angeles.

If you can’t make it to the Forum, catch all the action LIVE on FloWrestling starting Saturday at 3:30 pm PDT, and continuing into Sunday morning at 10:30 am PDT.

Dual meets are a rarity on the senior level, but for American fans used to watching their favorite college team every weekend, the World Cup is a great time to jump in and familiarize yourself with our Olympians. All six reps for Rio will be competing this weekend, in what will likely be their last competition until August.

Let’s check out some of the most highly anticipated bouts:

Daniel Dennis vs Amit Kumar, India: Daniel Dennis already has an incredible story on his road to Rio, but this weekend he could come face-to-face with a pair of wrestlers who were at the opposite end of the spectrum when he left Iowa City. 

In the fall of 2013, Dennis thought he was finished from competing on the senior level and was coaching at a high school in California. Also in the fall of 2013, Hassan Rahimi of Iran and Amit Kumar of India met in the world finals in Budapest. Three years later, Kumar won’t be India’s rep in August and a loss to Dennis in Saturday’s final group B match would likely keep Rahimi from going to Brazil as well.

This first round match will kick off action in Group B for the Americans. Dennis wrestles the most like a European of any of our wrestlers, which should come in handy against the straightforward lunges of Kumar. With the way these two are trending, a Dennis win seems likely, especially if Dan can get on top and deliver some rib crunching gut wrenches.


Tony Ramos vs Bajrang, India: We have not seen Tony Ramos at this weight since he won the 2014 NCAA finals at 133 in his last match for Iowa. The two-time world team member will make his Tar Heel WC debut this weekend up a weight against the Asian Games silver medalist.

Bajrang Punia is very creative on top, not content with the usual gut wrench and leg lace series we see in freestyle. As you can see below in this repechage match from worlds, Ramos will need to control the match from neutral. Any time on top for Bajrang could blow the match wide open, but Ramos has some of the best leg defense on team USA.


Jordan Burroughs vs Ashraf Aliyev, Azerbaijan: This appears to be a late breaking change, as it was originally reported Jabrayil Hasanov would be the 74kg Azeri rep. Aliyev was one of the few wrestlers to take a period from Burroughs under the old rules, which you can watch below.

But Burroughs has evolved a great deal since then, and Aliyev might not even be the best 74 in Azerbaijan. Aliyev will need to turn back the clock to 2011 to stop Burroughs’ knee pound double and wicked leg lace series. This will serve as Jordan’s warm-up match for the dual looming with Iran later that day.


J’Den Cox vs Alexander Gostiev, Azerbaijan: While his teammate Khatiyev qualified the weight for Rio, it is Gostiev who has been on a tear since worlds. He won Golden Grand Prix in November, Azeri nationals in December and Yasar Dogu in February. Although he “only” took second at Euros, the string of medals vaulted him to third in this month’s world rankings.

Cox is on a similar run of success, in large part due to his receptiveness to coaching. We knew from three years of NCAA success that J’Den can attack legs and finish in folkstyle, but his single leg has only reached new heights these past few months in freestyle. Keep an eye out for a turn in par terre, as it currently appears to be the only thing missing from J’Den’s arsenal.


Daniel Dennis vs Hassan Rahimi, Iran: American fans may be surprised to hear that the Iranians have not settled their 57kg spot for Rio. Rahimi was the 55kg world champ in 2013, the last year under the old weights. He has taken bronze and silver since then, leaving him as the only bantamweight to medal at each world championship this quad.

Rahimi likes to ease his way into ties, slowly working the head more and more until he can pull his opponents off balance for a low shot or quick go behind. Dennis may have to quicken the pace to put up enough points to knock off Rahimi, the No. 2 ranked guy in the world. Lucky for him, there is plenty of tape of Rahimi against his former Hawkeye WC teammate Tony Ramos, including this razor thin match from last year’s World Cup.


Frank Molinaro vs Sayed Mohammadi, Iran: For this one, we have quite possibly the best wrestler right now who has not won a world title against the comeback kid Frank Molinaro. Mohammadi was Bronze at Vegas Worlds and is currently ranked 4th. 

Watch him here in one of last year's best World Cup matches where he takes out London Gold Medalist Togrul Asgarov.


Jordan Burroughs vs Hassan Yazdanicharati, Iran: This is one many Iranian fans have been waiting for, as Yazdanicharati is one of the most ballyhooed young stars to come out of Iran’s highly successful junior program over the past few years. But this is a different test than any he has seen before.

Yazdanicharati is a Tasmanian devil on the mat, constantly attacking from an underhook, even by Iranian standards. One thing that sticks out from watching him at last year’s world championships was the underhook to a knee pick he hit on James Green in their semifinal match. But up a weight, against a wrestler like Burroughs who knows how to utilize space and level changes, the underhook may not come into play. Of note, in all four of Burroughs’ world/Olympic titles, he went through an Iranian to win it. 


J’Den vs Karimi: To put it succinctly, Karimi is a jackhammer. But a shoulder injury has dulled that jackhammer a little bit, leaving last year’s bronze medalist wide open for an upset. A win here over the fifth-ranked Karimi would absolutely get Cox ranked right before the Olympics.

Cox is one of the few 86kg guys in the world with the size and power to hang with Karimi, which is so crucial a top heavy weight like this. The 2x NCAA champ has passed every test so far, but this one will roughly equate to a final boss battle on the hardest setting, with thousands of vuvuzelas blaring in your ear. Case in point, this cakewalk over 2013 world champ Aldatov.


Kyle Snyder vs Abbas Tahan, Iran: This will be Kyle Snyder’s first ever World Cup, a great opportunity for him to tighten up his game right before Rio. He could see his semifinals opponent from worlds last year in the final group B match on Saturday.

Snyder jumped out to a 4-0 lead in that match with his patented low single. The 2016 NCAA champ will have to keep up that high pace to win by technical superiority against the undersized Tahan, especially if America is to knock off the four-time defending World Cup champs. In what could very easily be a 4-4 dual, classification points will be of the utmost importance. Re-live that semis match below.


Tervel Dlagnev vs Komeil Ghasemi, Iran: This is one we’ve seen before, six times to be exact. The first meeting was at the 2012 Olympics, with Ghasemi winning to take home the bronze medal from London. They’ve met at the World Cup twice before, but Tervel had to pull out of last year’s finals. That same injury kept him out of worlds, which Ghasemi also missed due to injury.

Ghasemi has gotten the best of Tervel five times, most recently at the Paris Grand Prix in January. We know this one will be the last match of the dual, and decide who comes out of Group B to make the finals. US fans will be hoping for a repeat of the match below, when a locked-in Dlagnev pulled away from Ghasemi in Budapest and won every leg attack situation.