Krasnoyarsk, Russia. The home of the prestigious Ivan Yariguin Grand Prix, and one of the toughest tournaments in the world.

Watch 2019 Ivan Yariguin Grand Prix Live on Flo

January 23-26 | 11:00 PM Eastern

For the first time, the event will be streamed live on FloWrestling, as will every other Ranking Series event this year. Aside from being a major tournament for the seeding of the world championships, it is also how Russia has traditionally determined their team for the European championship.

It's no secret that Russia has more world titles, both individually and team titles as a country, than anyone else. So, who are the Russians you need to know before the event kicks off Thursday night?

57kg: Abasgadzhi Magomedov

Oftentimes, Russians will seemingly come out of nowhere, wrecking havoc and leaving the whole world scratching their head, wondering exactly where they came from. Magomedov is not one of those Russians, we saw him coming.

A Cadet world silver medalist in 2015 (to last year's 65kg world champ Takuto Otoguro), he won Junior Euros the next year. At Yariguin 2017, he defeated that year's eventual world champ Yuki Takahashi 8-2, and made it to the finals twice more that year, only to fall to eventual world champ Zaur Uguev, who unfortunately is injured and will not be wrestling this weekend.

He's been on a tear this year, winning the 61kg Junior world title and following that up with an Intercontinental Cup title at the same weight. He qualified for Yarygin by winning the Alans in December and will be the best Russian at this weight.

His primary attack is to post or tie up with his right hand and then shoot on his opponent's left leg, primarily ankle picks and low singles. Beyond that, he can stuff the head and chase tail to the opposite side of his usual single. Lastly, he has a sneaky arm drag that he typically hits by first tying up his opponents right hand and then dragging the left arm.

61kg: Magomedrasul Idrisov

The Dagestani had a breakthrough year in 2018, winning Russian Nationals, as well as U23 titles at both the European and World championships.

With two-time world silver medalist Gadshimurad Rashidov (we'll get to him in a second) going up to 65kg in preparation of the Olympic year, Idrisov has an opportunity to take hold of this weight class in Russia.

65kg: Gadshimurad Rashidov

From afar, it seems easy to tell when the Russian coaching staff believes in a young athlete. Rashidov was exempted from Russian Nationals and has now emerged as the favorite to win the Olympic weight after taking silver two years in a row at 61kg. He's beaten Tony Ramos and Logan Stieber already, and this weekend can defeat Zain Retherford. His gut wrench is one of the best in the world.

70kg: David Baev

The young Ossetian has already made two world finals at age level championships and is starting to make a name for himself on the senior level. He has developed a knack for winning matches in the final seconds, so much so that I'm going to start calling him Big Move Baev. After beating 2016 world champ Magomed Kurbanaliev for the second time, Baev has shown he's a name that needs to be recognized in the years to come. To win the Yarygin title, he may have to once again knock off James Green and avenge his loss at Russian Nationals to world champ Magomedrasul Gazimagomedov.

74kg: Zaurbek Sidakov

At first, I thought there was no way they'd send Sidakov to worlds. He'd barely and controversially beaten Khetag Tsabolov, a reigning silver medalist who had previously won a world title. Not to mention, Tsabolov beat Sidakov earlier in the year for the Yarygin title.

Bu then I remembered that Sidakov beat Frank Chamizo at the first Alans tournament in November 2017. Then he went to Budapest and beat Chamizo again, as well as Jordan Burroughs.

79kg: Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov

After years of incredible performances at the Yariguin, he finally cracked through and made a world team. The past five years he's won three times, made another final, and finished third at this tournament.

In 2015, he beat Andrew Howe in the finals and the next year beat Howe for bronze. Last year, he beat Kyle Dake 8-2 in the finals, which made him the favorite heading into worlds. However, Dake smashed him 13-0 in the semis. This week, he'll get a crack at Alex Dieringer.