World Rankings

Chamizo Climbs to No.1 in World Freestyle Rankings, 4 Russians Top Rankings

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY (Aug. 1) -- Two-time world champion Frank CHAMIZO (ITA) rose four spots to No.1 at 74kg in the August 2018 Ranking Series for freestyle wrestling. 

Chamizo, a world champion last year at 70kg, recently captured a gold medal at the Yasar Dogu with a criteria victory (10-10) over returning world champion Jordan BURROUGHS (USA), avenging a loss from May. Chamizo won a European bronze medal in May, with his lone loss coming to Soner DEMIRTAS (TUR) in the semifinals. 

Russia leads the pack with four wrestlers ranked No.1 in freestyle. No other country has multiple top-ranked wrestlers in the freestyle rankings. Russia's No.1-ranked wrestlers include Zavur UGUEV (57kg), Ilias BEKBULATOV (65kg), Akhmed GADZHIMAGOMEDOV (79kg) and Vladislav BAITCAEV (97kg).

Both Uguev and Bekbulatov won gold medals at the Yarygin Grand Prix and Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov tournaments, and both finished as silver medalists at the European Championships. Gadzhimagomedov won a gold at the European Championships, as well as gold medals at the Yarygin Grand Prix and Kolov-Petrov tournaments. Baitcaev claimed his first European title earlier this year, and was also a World Military champion. 


Fresh off winning a gold medal at the Yasar Dogu, Mohammadjavad EBRAHIMIZIVLAEI (IRI) sits atop the world rankings at 92kg. He won his Yasar Dogu gold by narrowly defeating fellow Iranian Alireza KARIMIMACHIANI on criteria. Earlier this year Ebrahimizivlaei won a gold medal at the Asian Championships. 


Nicholas GWIAZDOWSKI (USA) holds his No.1 ranking at 125kg after winning a bronze medal at the Yasar Dogu this past weekend. Gwiazdowski, a returning world bronze medalist, won a Pan American gold medal in May and an Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix gold in January. 

Other top-ranked freestyle wrestlers include Asian bronze medalist Abbos RAKHMONOV (UZB) at 61kg, Andriy KVYATKOVSKYY (UKR) at 70kg and Fatih ERDIN (TUR) at 86kg.

The final Ranking Series event is the Medved, which takes place Sept. 14-16 in Minsk, Belarus.

For more on the Ranking Series format, be sure to check out this article

View all the rankings on United World Wrestling's homepage.

57kg
1. Zavur UGUEV (RUS) // 42 Points
2. Thomas GILMAN (USA) // 36 Points
3. Suleyman ATLI (TUR) // 32 Points
4. Tsogbadrakh TSEVEENSUREN (MGL) // 32 Points
5. Khuresh Ool DONDUK OOL (RUS) // 30 Points

61kg
1. Abbos RAKHMONOV (UZB) // 49 Points
2. Gadzhimurad RASHIDOV (RUS) // 42 Points
3. Beka LOMTADZE (GEO) // 41 Points
4. Mirjalal HASAN ZADA (AZE) // 31 Points
5. Nurislam (Artas) SANAYEV (SANAA) (KAZ) // 24 Points

65kg
1. Ilias BEKBULATOV (RUS) // 45 Points
2. Bajrang BAJRANG (IND) // 45 Points
3. Daulet NIYAZBEKOV (KAZ) // 40 Points
4. Mehran Akbar NASIRIAFRACHALI (IRI) // 39 Points
5. Selahattin KILICSALLAYAN (TUR) // 39 Points

70kg
1. Andriy KVYATKOVSKYY (UKR) // 51 Points
2. Magomed KURBANALIEV (RUS) // 44 Points
3. Zurabi IAKOBISHVILI (GEO) // 43 Points
4. Taimuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) // 35 Points
5. Mustafa KAYA (TUR) // 31 Points

74kg
1. Frank CHAMIZO (ITA) // 44 Points
2. Bekzod ABDURAKHMONOV (UZB) // 37 Points
3. Daniyar KAISANOV (KAZ) // 37 Points
4. Mandakhnaran GANZORIG (MGL) // 32 Points
5. Dovletmyrat ORAZGYLYJOV (TKM) // 30 Points

79kg
1. Akhmed GADZHIMAGOMEDOV (RUS) // 42 Points
2. Jabrayil HASANOV (AZE) // 36 Points
3. Rashid KURBANOV (UZB) // 31 Points
4. Kyle Douglas DAKE (USA) // 30 Points
5. Muhammet Nuri KOTANOGLU (TUR) // 30 Points

86kg
1. Fatih ERDIN (TUR) // 76 Points
2. David TAYLOR III (USA) // 62 Points
3. Artur NAIFONOV (RUS) // 46 Points
4. Sandro AMINASHVILI (GEO) // 41 Points
5. Yurieski TORREBLANCA QUERALTA (CUB) // 37 Points

92kg
1. Mohammadjavad EBRAHIMIZIVLAEI (IRI) // 51 Points
2. Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS) // 41 Points
3. Serdar BOKE (TUR) // 40 Points
4. Irakli MTSITURI (GEO) // 32 Points
5. Anzor URISHEV (RUS) // 29 Points

97kg
1. Vladislav BAITCAEV (RUS) // 38 Points
2. Elizbar ODIKADZE (GEO) // 37 Points
3. Magomed Idrisovitch IBRAGIMOV (UZB) // 36 Points
4. Mojtaba Mohammadshafie GOLEIJ (IRI) // 35 Points
5. Murazi MCHEDLIDZE (UKR) // 31 Points

125kg
1. Nicholas GWIAZDOWSKI (USA) // 48 Points
2. Danylo KARTAVYI (UKR) // 40 Points
3. Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) // 37 Points
4. Muradin KUSHKHOV (RUS) // 35 Points
5. Zolboo NATSAGSUREN (MGL) // 35 Points

#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open Flashback: Iran, U.S. opened season with success

By Vinay Siwach

ZAGREB, Croatia (January 18) -- United World Wrestling's 2026 season will kick off with the Ranking Series in Zagreb February 4. The recent memories of Zagreb may be the September World Championships but the 2025 season also kicked off with the Ranking Series in the Croatian capital.

Iran and the United States had strong performances in the first of the four stops of the Ranking Series, a theme which continued throughout the 2025 season as the U.S. dominated Freestyle while Iran dominated Greco-Roman.

Women's Wrestling participants were less in numbers but still saw U.S. and UWW wrestlers share gold medals.

Here's a trip down memory lane of the 2025 Zagreb Open Ranking Series before the 2026 season kicks off:

WATCH ZAGREB OPEN 2025 TOP BOUTS HERE

Freestyle

A young Iranian team snapped four gold medals in Zagreb with Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) winning gold at 61kg, Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) winning at 65kg, Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI) became champion at 92kg and Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) winning the 125kg gold.

For the U.S., Spencer LEE (USA) kicked off the season with 57kg with gold, Zahid VALENCIA (USA) won at 86kg and Kyle SNYDER (USA) at 97kg. Both Valencia and Snyder went on to win gold at the World Championships later in the season.

Azerbaijan, Slovakia and France won one gold each, with Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) winning at 70kg for Azerbaijan, Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) winning gold at 74kg, and Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) winning at 79kg for France.

Iran dominance began when Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) won gold at 61kg, beating the likes of Nuraddin NUVROZOV (AZE), Nashon GARRETT (USA), Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO) and Ebrahim KHARI (IRI). Javan would later win a silver medal at the World Championships. At 65kg, Ebrahim held his own in a thrilling final against Joseph MCKENNA (USA) to grab the second gold for Iran.

Young superstars Firouzpour and Masoumi put up a show to win gold medals at 92kg and 125kg respectively.

Lee was making a returning to competition six months after winning the silver medal at the Paris Olympics. He won the Zagreb Open gold with rather ease. For the U.S., Valencia saw himself win gold at 86kg outscoring his opponents 35-4 in four bouts. In the final, Valencia defeated world bronze medalist Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE), 8-0.

Snyder opened his season with a 33-1 scoring run in three bouts at 97kg in Zagreb. In the final, he easily defeated Abolfazl BABALOO (IRI).

Heybatov gave early warnings to the 70kg field by winning gold in Zagreb, a run which included wins over Austin GOMEZ (MEX), two back-to-back wins over Iranian wrestlers including a 12-1 one again Sina KHALILI (IRI) in the final. The two would wrestle again towards the end of the year at the U23 World Championships. Heybatov won that final with a 9-4 score.

Two veterans, Salkazanov and Khadjiev, were at their best in the opening Ranking Series tournament. Salkazanov blanked everyone, including winning 4-0 against David CARR (USA) in the final, to win 74kg gold.

Khadjiev had a tougher bat but managed to win the 79kg gold with a 5-3 win over Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) in the final. The French wrestler would later win silver at the European Championships.