70 KG: Men's Freestyle 2019 World Championship Preview
Photo courtesy of United World Wrestling
The title picture at 70 kg is fairly uncertain rolling into the 2019 Worlds. Two out of four World medalists return from 2018 in Zurab Iakobishvili and Adam Batirov, while former World medalists, young upstarts and seasoned veterans fill out the rest of the field.
Key players are missing. Most notable is 2018 World champion Magomedrasul Gazimagomedov, who has moved up to 74 kg in preparation for the 2020 Olympic Games. Turkey’s #5 ranked Mustafa Kaya was not entered, with #12 Haydar Yavuz going in his place. #11 Andrey Kviatkovskyy is also conspicuously absent, after being active all year.
Top UWW Seeds
Seeds are determined by points earned by winning bouts at United World Wrestling’s Ranking Series events, held throughout the year. The one and four seed will be on one side of the bracket, the two and three on the other. At the top are:
#1: Adam BATIROV (BRN)
#2: Nurkozha KAIPANOV (KAZ)
#3: Bahman Aliakbar EMAMICHOGHAEI (IRI)
#4: Zurab IAKOBISHVILI (IRI)
While these seeds are important for bracket structure, they do not necessarily reflect the actual standings of talent in the world. We’ll be referencing The Fight Site’s international rankings, compiled by Seth Petarra.
Title Contenders
While he remains unseeded, due to lack of participation in UWW Ranking Series events, the wrestler with the most momentum heading into 2019 Worlds is the young Russian, current #1 David Baev.
Like most weights, 70 kg has a strong field of Russian hammers to break through to even sniff the lineup. A 2017 Junior World champion, Baev had a strong showing in his first year as a full-fledged senior, taking bronze at the 2018 Russian National Championship. Baev rolled to a 2018 Medved gold before taking silver at the 2018 U23 World Championship, losing to #11(74 kg) Salkazanov in the finals.
Baev really broke out internationally at the 2018 Alans. He knocked off his countryman #4(74 kg)/#11(P4P) Magomed Kurbanaliev as well as two-time World medalist and current #19 James Green. Baev had another solid tournament at the 2019 Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix, beating James Green again and losing only to World champion Gazimagomedov and current #2 Razambek Zhamalov.
Baev earned his spot at the top of the weight class at the 2019 Russian National Championship, where he defeated #3 Evgeni Zherbaev and #2 Zhamalov to make the team.
Most likely to challenge him is the fourth-seed, Georgia’s #4 Zurab Iakobishvili. Iakobishvili announced himself as elite when he won a 2017 World title at 65 kg, defeating current #1 Bajrang Punia, #5(70 kg) Mustafa Kaya, and #7(70 kg) Magomedmurad Gadzhiev in the finals.
Up at 70 kg, Iakobishvili was still a force. At the 2018 European Championship he took bronze after defeating #11(74 kg) Salkazanov, losing to Kurbanaliev, then defeating #11 Kviatkovskyy. The Georgian won the 2018 Tbilisi Grand Prix, defeating his countryman #16 Khabalashvili, Salkazanov again, and 2016 Olympic champion Soslan Ramonov in the finals.
After winning a 2018 Ziolkowski title, Iakobishvili earned 2018 World bronze, beating Salkazanov and losing to eventual champion Gazimagomedov. Since then, Iakobishvili has not been perfect, but has only lost to the world’s best. He did not place at the 2019 European Championship, losing to #7 Gadzhiev who in turn lost to Mustafa Kaya. Iakobishvili won the 2019 International Ukrainian Tournament, and did not place at the 2019 Tbilisi Grand Prix after losing to Georgia’s #17 ranked Levan Kelekhsashvili.
Not many have a list of scalps as impressive as Iakobishvili at 70 kg, but Baev appears to be heading to Worlds in better form.
Medal Contenders
70 kg is loaded with potential contenders, so prepare for a long list.
Returning silver medalist and unranked #1 seed Adam Batirov is a bit of a mystery this year. The native of Dagestan had a distinguished domestic career for Russia, winning the Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix (10 years ago) among other tournaments. After a 5th place finish at 2011 Worlds, Batirov transferred to Bahrain. Since then he has bounced around in weight, failing to place at the 2017 World Championship or any continental tournaments in 2018. Despite that seemingly compromised form, Batirov ran to a 2018 World silver medal, defeating #11 Andrey Kviatkovskyy by technical fall before losing to Gazimagomedov.
Batirov competed at 74 kg at the Asian Championship this year but was injured in the semifinals. That was his lone competitive appearance since 2018 Worlds, who knows what we’ll get in Nur-Sultan.
A more reliable contender might be #6 Aghahuseyn Mustafaev of Azerbaijan. His run is mostly limited to the past year or so, but he’s been able to reliably put away most of the weight class save for a few ranked competitors. Mustafaev won 2018 Yasar Dogu bronze, his loss coming to #11 Kviatkovskyy. He took silver at the 2018 Intercontinental Cup, meeting #2 Zhamalov in the finals.
Any hype surrounding Mustafaev is largely based on what he was able to do at the 2019 European Championship. He defeated returning World champion Gazimagomedov before losing to #5 Kaya in the finals.
A bit more battle tested is #7 Magomedmurad Gadzhiev, the Dagestani now wrestling for Poland. Gadzhiev won a 2017 World silver medal at 65 kg by beating #18(74 kg) Azamat Nurikov and #2(65 kg) Alejandro Valdes Tobier before losing to Iakobishvili in the finals. At the 2018 International Ukrainian Tournament, Gadzhiev notched a big win over #4(65 kg) multiple-time World and Olympic champion Haji Aliyev. At the 2018 European Championship, he took silver after beating the aforementioned Nurikov, #12 Haydar Yavuz and #9 Murtazali Muslimov, only losing to Kurbanaliev.
Gadzhiev hit a bit of a rough patch, failing to place at 2018 Worlds, failing to place at the 2019 Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov tournament up at 74 kg, but rebounded at the 2019 European Championship. He earned bronze by defeating Iakobishvili 7-0, only losing by criteria to Mustafa Kaya.
Unfortunately, an injury took Gadzhiev out of the 2019 European Games and he failed to place when he returned at the 2019 Ziolkowski.
While many fans, especially Seth Petarra, are upset that we’ve been deprived of Mustafa Kaya, #12 Haydar Yavuz could make things interesting at Worlds. At the 2018 Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov, Yavuz earned silver by defeating #11(74 kg) Salkazanov, only losing to Russian hammer Bekbulatov in the finals. He did not place at the 2018 European Championship, losing to Poland’s Gadzhiev and Azamat Nurikov. Yavuz also failed to place at the 2018 Medved.
But 2019 has been a better look for Yavuz, who beat James Green on his way to 2019 Yasar Dogu bronze. At the 2019 Ziolkowski, he defeated #14 Nurkozha Kaipanov to win gold.
Kazakhstan’s own Kaipanov is a relatively recent phenomenon, most of his quality work has been in 2019. He defeated #15 Emamichoghaei to win 2019 Asian Championship gold, picked up another gold at the 2019 City of Sassari Tournament, then fell to Yavuz in the finals for a silver medal at the 2019 Ziolkowski.
Iran’s #15 Bahman Emamichoghaei has been fairly consistent in his first few years of relevance. Wining bronze at the 2017 Junior World and U23 World Championship, Emami planted his flag at the senior level by winning 2019 Asian Championship bronze. Emami picked up bronze at the 2019 City of Sassari Tournament, and he defeated #16 Konstantine Khabalashvili in August.
From the United States, #19 James Green will take on the world once again in 2019. A four-time NCAA All-American in college, Green transitioned fantastically to freestyle, quickly eclipsing his folkstyle career.
The former Husker won 2015 World bronze, then 2017 World silver when he beat #16(79 kg) Erbotsonashvili and lost to #3(74 kg) Frank Chamizo Marquez. James Green has done some of his best work at the Wrestling World Cup, where he beat #17 Kelekhsashvili in 2018. Green unfortunately did not place at the 2018 World Championship, but took bronze at the 2018 Alans where he only lost to current #1 David Baev. Another loss to Baev kept him from placing at the 2019 Yarygin.
Green found success at the 2019 Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov, losing to #10 Anzor Zakuev before beating #11 Kviatkovskyy for bronze. Green did not place at the 2019 Yasar Dogu after losing to Yavuz, and did not place at the 2019 Medved. It’s worthy of note that Green did suffer a domestic upset to Junior World silver medalist Ryan Deakin this year.
Outside Threats and Dark Horses
Mongolia’s Mandakhnaran Ganzorig could make an impact on the field. After winning bronze at the 2013 World Championship and 2014 World Championship, Ganzorig dropped one tier, taking 5th at 2015 Worlds and the 2016 Olympics.
Moving up in weight, Ganzorig took silver at the 2018 Asian Championship, but did not place at the 2018 Asian Games and did not place for the rest of 2018 for three straight tournaments. A 2019 Yarygin silver medal may inspire some hope, but it’s worthy of note that Ganzorig’s draw was relatively favorable for a tournament of that difficulty. Perhaps consistent with that thought, Ganzorig did not place at the 2019 Ziolkowski.
While he has been far from productive in the past few years, Uzbekistan’s Ikhityor Navruzov will be a recognizable name for some. Navruzov won 2015 World Championship silver before taking 2016 Olympic bronze. It would be quite the career resurgence for Navruzov to place in 2019, but you never know.