2022 World Championship Rankings - Men's Freestyle

65 - Ismail Musukaev

65kg is a challenging weight to rank and even more challenging to determine a clear favorite. Ismail Musukaev defeated Haji Aliyev at the European Championships for gold and currently holds the top spot. However, Musukaev is not the most consistent wrestler and could lose to almost anyone in the top 10.

Haji Aliyev is the most credentialed of this group as a 3-time world champion and 2-time Olympic medalist. However, he's currently 31 years old and hasn't won a world title since 2017. Could he be past his prime? 

Then there's the young bunch in Rahman Amouzad, Vazgen Tevanyan, Yianni Diakomihalis, and Georgios Pilidis. All of them have impressive accolades from the age-level world championships but have yet to win a senior world medal. 

It's also worth mentioning Bajrang Punia - currently ranked down at #7. He recently took a loss to Abbos Rakhmonov at the ranking series event in Kazakhstan. Rakhmonov then went on to lose to Tulga Tumur-Ochir in the finals and Rakhmonov also doesn't have the senior-level wins comparable to Yianni to propel him higher in the rankings.