James Green will be making his fifth consecutive trip to the world championships this year. When he steps on the mat on Friday, September 20th, Greezy will be in search of his third world medal at the senior level.

World Previews: 57kg | 61kg | 65kg | 70kg | 74kg | 79kg | 86kg | 92kg

There’s a possibility that all six athletes who wrestled for a medal last year in Budapest will not be in the 70kg field next month in Nur-Sultan. Defending champ Magomedrasul Gazimagomedov (RUS) went up to 74kg for Russian Nationals and did not win the spot, and bronze medalist Franklin Maren Castillo (CUB) will likely be left off the team in favor of guys going at the six Olympic weights.

Being a non-Olympic weight, there will no doubt be some countries that focus their energies on the weights above or below, which could either result in a smaller bracket or one that has fewer landmines in the way of a medal.

The American: James Green

No one on Team USA has been more active than James Green since last year’s world championships. He has competed nine times since December, weighing in 13 times, and wrestling 24 matches total. That’s a ton of data to draw from for the purpose of this preview.

Being a five-time world team member means that everyone pretty much knows your strengths and weaknesses by now. I will always praise Green for having the best leg lace in this country and transitioning to it from a takedown better than anyone in America. Similarly myself and many others will criticize James for not pulling the trigger enough or putting guys away, an extremely difficult skill to master that most of the people getting on Green for it have never had to master themselves.

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But what becomes apparent when watching film of Green this year, it seems to be he has more problems finishing shots than an actual hesitancy to take them. The question Green and his coaches must answer is whether the issue comes from something that must be fixed technically, such as better setups, deeper penetration steps, or hand placement, or something mental in terms of willingness to drive through and finish shots.

What is undeniable is that Green has excellent positioning and mat control. His ability to move opponents around with his collar tie and dictate the pace of the match is top notch. But perhaps his greatest skill is his ability to transition into a lace, and he is the most likely person on our team to finish a match with his leg lace.

Green will carry the #16 ranking into Nur-Sultan.

Top Four Seeds

I included six for this weight because of some questions about whether Adam Batirov (BRN) and Andrey Kviatkovski (UKR) are going. Bahrain brought in the former Russian Batirov to help grow their federation, both in terms of his skill on the mat and additionally to help them administratively. But the only time Batirov competed this year was at the Asian championships where he went 74kg. For that country, qualifying for Tokyo is far more valuable than winning a medal at a non-Olympic weight.

Kaipanov and Emami should both be there, but UWW indicated in their article about seeds that Semen Radulov will likely be going in place of Kviatkovski. That would push 2013 world champ Safaryan and #17 Batyr Borjakov (TKM), the Spanish Grand Prix champ, into the three and four seeds, respectively.

Breaking Down the Field

David Baev (RUS) ascended to the #1 ranking in the world in part because fellow Russian and reigning world champ Magomedrasul Gazimagomedov moved up to 74kg. The 21 year old has now represented Russia at every age level, winning Cadet worlds in 2014, beating Ryan Deakin for Junior gold in 2017, and finishing second last year at U23 worlds. The Ossetian is 2-0 against James Green, with a 7-6 victory in the semis of the Alans in December and  his 10-2 in the Yarygin semis in January.

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European champ Mustafa Kaya (TUR) will be wrestling in his fifth world championships. We have the 2016 Olympian ranked #4 in the world, though he has only wrestled once this year. In Kaya's long career, he has only faced an American three times, beating Brent Metcalf in the second round of 2014 worlds and pinning Phillip Simpson back in 2012 at the Dogu. The only American to ever beat Kaya was Chase Pami 14-13 in a repechage match at Medved in 2014.

It is still unclear who Azerbaijan will send, but #5 Aghahuseyn Mustafayev looks like the best bet. If they send him (other options include #9 Murtazali Muslimov and #20 Gitinomagomed Gadzhiev), it will be his third appearance at a world championships. He has four medals from Military worlds, including gold in 2016 and bronze in 2015 and each of the past two years.

Georgia should probably send #6 Zurabi Iakobishvili, the 2017 world champ at 65kg and 2018 world bronze medalist. What could hurt him is that he lost to countrymen and #15 Levani Kelekhsashvili in the first round at Tbilisi and #12 Magomedmurad Gadzhiev (POL) in the first round of Euros. However, he also won Ukraine and the Henri Deglane this year.

Returning to worlds for Iran will be #14 Younes Emami, who was bronze at both Junior and U23 worlds in 2017. Emami, who was also silver at Cadet worlds in 2013, beat Kelekhsashvili in the semis of Tbilisi en route to his title there. His bronze medals at the Sassari and Asian championships earned him a seed at worlds that could be as high as two.

Kojiro Shiga will be representing Japan. The Asian silver medalist had a rough day one at World Cup, but fared much better on day two, beating Jason Chamberlain and last year's bronze Franklin Maren Castillo of Cuba. India is sending young Karan Mor, who won't turn 20 until after the world championships but won bronze at the Junior Asian championships in 2017 and 2018.

Shiga lost to #19 Nurkhoza Kaipanov (KAZ) in the Asian finals. If Batirov is out, Kaipanov becomes the top seed after winning the Sassari. He has represented Kazakhstan at Junior worlds in 2018 and Cadet worlds in 2015. His runner-up finish in Poland this month sets him up well as he'll walk into these world championships with home field advantage.

Bulgaria has two solid options in #18 Mihail Georgiev and Ion Corneanu champ Ali Pasha Umarpashaev, who they sent to Euros. Georgiev was their rep last year, and he also was runner-up at Yasar Dogu.

The Contenders

#1 David Baev, Russia

• 2018 U23 World Silver
• 2017 Junior World Champ
• 2016 Junior European Champ
• 2014 Cadet World Champ

#4 Mustafa Kaya, Turkey

• 2019 European Champ
• 2017 World Fifth
• 2016 European Silver
• 2015 Euro Games Bronze

#5 Aghahuseyn Mustafayev, Azerbaijan

• 2019 European Silver
• 2018 World Military Bronze
• 2017 World Military Bronze
• 2016 World Military Champ

#6 Zurabi Iakobishvili, Georgia

• 2018 World Bronze
• 2018 European Bronze
• 2017 World Champ
• 2017 European Bronze

#14 Younes Emami, Iran

• 2019 Asian Bronze
• 2017 U23 World Bronze
• 2017 Junior World Bronze
• 2017 Junior Asian Silver

#19 Nurkhoza Kaipanov, Kazakhstan

• 2019 Ziolkowski Silver
• 2019 Sassari Champ
• 2019 Asian Champ
• 2018 Junior Asian Bronze