We are just days away from the start of the toughest tournament in the world, the Ivan Yariguin Grand Prix. In preparation for the prestigious event, we have been doing previews breaking down the weight classes by the day they will be competed.

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January 23-27 | 11:00 PM Eastern

Day two will feature 65kg, 79kg, and 125kg on the men's freestyle side, which means only two Americans will be wrestling. However, those two Americans have six NCAA titles between them: Zain Retherford and Alex Dieringer.

The 30th annual Yariguin tournament will once again kick off the ranking series events for the year. Brackets for these three weights should come out Thursday morning, with wrestling starting that night and ending in the early morning. That next day will be the finals and medal matches.

Previews: Day One | Day Three

65kg

Zain's return. It will be only the second time Retherford has competed since August 2017, and just his fourth ever trip overseas, with the first being his 2012 Cadet world title. The Penn State grad essentially took last year off after his college career ended, and now will see himself in a weight class with two-time world silver medalist Gadzhimurad Rashidov.

The Dagestani is one of Russia's finest right now, having been released from competing in their Nationals last year and now emerging as the favorite to be their 65kg rep in the all important pre-Olympic year. Zain was the weight above when Rashidov teched Logan Stieber at the world championships in 2017, and Tony Ramos also fell victim to Rashidov at last year's Yariguin.

With the new format of the Yariguin, there is less depth from the Russians simply because there are only five of them in a bracket as opposed to 20 or 30 a few years ago. That being said, this weight probably has the most depth from the host country of any weight in the tournament, featuring Akhmed Chakaev, Nachyn Kuular, Muslim Saidulaev, and Kurban Shiraev.

Two-time world bronze medalist Chakaev is the defending Yariguin champ at 65 and beat Rashidov in the 61kg finals in January of 2017, with Rashidov returning the favor in the semis of Russian Nationals. Rashidov can gut you to death off elbow control and low singles, while Chakaev employs slick ankle picks and can chest wrap his way out of most shots.

Although those are the two biggest Russian names in the bracket, and rightfully so as they both won medals in Budapest, there are several other tough, young Russians. Nachyn Kuular has won the past three world Military championships, as well as the U23 world title in 2017 and U23 Euro title in 2018. If American fans have seen him, it was either beating Stieber on the backside of Yariguin last year en route to a bronze medal or teching Joey McKenna at U23 worlds. Chakaev beat him 3-0 in the Yariguin semis in 2017.

Two excellent youngsters grabbed my attention last month at the Alans: Muslim Saidulaev and Kurban Shiraev. Saidulaev beat Shiraev in the Alans finals in what was an eye-opening tournament for both. Saidulaev navigated the easier bottom side, but did take out 2017 world team member and 2012 Olympian Alan Gogaev in the semis. Meanwhile, Shiraev pinned Viktor Rassadin and beat Kuular 6-1 at the tournament in Ossetia.

Maybe it's recency bias, plus home field advantage, but I really think the Russians sweep the podium on Friday (pending how the brackets get drawn). Kuular has won a medal in every tournament he's wrestled the past five years, except for Yariguin 2017, and he might be the fourth or fifth best Russian in this bracket. Shiraev shut him down, as he did most of the Alans, proving to be extremely difficult to score on.

I would be remiss to also not include former Russian and now Turk Cengizhan Erdogan. The man they once called Opan Sat is no spring chicken, but just because he's long in the tooth does not mean he should be taken lightly. The three-time European champ (2010, 2011, 2013) and two-time Yariguin champ (2011 and 2013) made the world semis in 2017, losing to Rashidov.

Nomad's Picks

GOLD: Rashidov, RUS

SILVER: Chakaev, RUS

BRONZE: Shiraev, RUS

BRONZE: Saidulaev, RUS

79kg

Alex Dieringer had an excellent 2018 internationally, defeating every foreign opponent he faced in his new weight class. Unfortunately, this may be where his run comes to an end.

The Oklahoma State grad won tournaments in Ukraine and Belarus, as well as the Bill Farrell. Along the way, he beat world medalist Jabrayil Hasanov and European finalist Zelimkhan Khadjiev, as well as picking up a common opponent win over the Russian Gadzhi Nabiev, who will be in this bracket.

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Nabiev, representing Moscow, qualified for Yariguin by winning the Alans, and took bronze at Russian Nationals, losing to Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov in the semis. The two Dagestanis also had an excellent battle at the Kadyrov Cup in 2017. Points will be at a premium if they wrestle again, but Gadzhi's quick finishes will likely again be the difference.

It was those quick finishes that helped Gadzhi beat Kyle Dake in last year's Yariguin finals, and also Purevjav Unurbat in the world quarterfinals. Gadzhi has an excellent knee pound single that he explodes out of quickly, and a shot off a wrist tie where he feints an outside trip into a knee-pull. If he gets under your elbow, you're in trouble.

The world bronze medalist beat Alan Zaseev 7-5 in the Kolov finals in March, though he nearly blew the match late. Zaseev, the 2017 Medved champ, lost 4-3 to Nabiev early at the Alans before battling back. The Ossetian was bronze at last year's Yariguin and Russian Nationals the year before. He'll take the odd loss here and there though, which is why I feel Dieringer avenges his loss to Zaseev from the 2013 Junior world finals this weekend.

After making the world finals in 2015 and becoming a two-time Olympian the next year, Purevjav went up to 86kg, even winning a bronze medal at the Asian championships. But he dropped down to 79 and made the quarterfinals in Budapest, losing 6-0 to Gadzhimagomedov.

Khalil Aminov of Dagestan has had an excellent winter, winning the Vladimir Semenov and Intercontinental Cup, along with a silver at Mindiashvili to qualify for Yariguin. He was at the same weight as Dieringer at the Bill Farrell in 2016, when Ringer won and Aminov got fourth.

Nomad's Picks

GOLD: Gadzhimagomedov, RUS

SILVER: Dieringer, RUS

BRONZE: Nabiev, RUS

BRONZE: Zaseev, RUS

125kg

For the first time since 2015, America will not have a heavyweight representative wrestling at the Yariguin. It is also perhaps Russia's weakest weight.

The size of the bracket is expected to be small, but there will be three-time world and Olympic champion Taha Akgul of Turkey in the field. Akgul has only wrestled a Russian one time in the world championships, when he teched Bilyal Makhov in the 2015 semis. Even after not placing at this past year's world championships, he should still be considered the overwhelming favorite.

Budapest silver medalist Deng Zhiwei of China is expected to compete. Deng also took home a silver medal from the Asian Games, but he may not end up with as favorable a draw as had in either of those tournaments.

Russia will be led here by Anzor Khizriev of Chechnya. He has wrestled for bronze the past two years in Paris and Budapest, and has competed in the past five Yarygins. Khizriev made the finals in 2014 and 2018, with a third place finish in 2016.

Said Gamidov is a native Dagestani who up until last year competed for Azerbaijan. He was the junior world champ in 2015 and the U23 world champ last year. In the Russian Nationals semis, he fell to Khizriev in a match in which they both tossed each other to their backs.

Two-time Russian JR world team member Pavel Krivtsov, representing Moscow but from Kemerovo, just won the Mindiashvili to qualify for Yariguin. There in the finals, he defeated Zelimkhan Khizriev, avenging a loss from the Ali Aliev in May.

Nomad's Picks

GOLD: Akgul, TUR

SILVER: Khizriev, RUS

BRONZE: Gamidov, RUS

BRONZE: Krivtsov, RUS