Sadulaev

Transcript: Interview with Sadulaev

Wednesday, April 8, 2020 - 13:14 By United World Wrestling Press

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Q: Is it your goal to win three Olympic titles like Satiev and Karelin?

Talking about 3-time Olympic champions Saitiev and Karelin, it's great that we have such examples to follow.

For now, it's useless to consider winning my third Olympic title because World Championships are different from the Olympic titles. Anybody can win and anybody can lose. My main goal for now is my second Olympic title and then I will concentrate on the third one.

Q: How have stayed on top for so long?

Motivation helps me achieve everything. My rivals are training hard as well. They don't stand idly by. The younger generation is coming. Sport just takes a short period of our life. I have to win every possible tournament, before the younger wrestlers start stepping on my toes. Otherwise it will be too late.

Q: What do you think about a potential matchup with J’Den Cox?

I think, J'den Cox has a specific wrestling style.  However, Snyder will not be easy to beat, he is a current Olympic Champion. And he's a lot bigger than Cox. As it is said, we will see what happens on the mat. I'm interested in seeing them wrestling against each other.

I don't really know how the match between me and Cox will go, because we've never wrestled. At the Olympics we ended up in different brackets, I changed my weight category, but he stayed at the same one. We have never met on the mat.

Q: Why are there so many great wrestlers from Dagestan?

In Dagestan, wrestling is in our blood, It's basically our National Sport here in Dagestan it's the number one sport. Almost every boy takes part in freestyle wrestling. So, there's a lot of competition between them. That's why so many Dagestani wrestlers represent different countries, because they can't qualify for the Russian national team.

High competition benefits good wrestlers.

Q: How does it feel to be the first wrestler with one million followers on Instagram?

Even though I have one million Instagram followers, it wasn't my main goal. If I was truly interested in it, I would have got there much faster. I'm not very active on social media. Of course, I am pleased that people are interested and that they follow me.

Q: How do we continue to grow the sport of wrestling?

The growth of the sport and wrestling is very important. Recently, wrestling was overtaken in popularity by MMA. But still, wrestling remains as an Olympic discipline. That's why I think, wrestling should be spread all around the world. In general, in MMA almost all the fighter have some sort of wrestling background -- around 70% of the top UFC fighters are former wrestlers. That's why wrestling is so powerful

Q: How do you want people to remember you when you retire from wrestling?

 

The most important thing is to leave a good legacy so that no one would dare to tell my children or grandchildren -- that their father wasn't loyal or a bad person. Once again, it's important to leave a good legacy.

#WrestleUlaanbaatar

Ulaanbaatar Open 2025: Day 1 highlights and recap

Thursday, May 29, 2025 - 02:33 By Vinay Siwach

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ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (May 29) -- The third Ranking Series event, Ulaanbaatar Open, gets underway in the Mongolian capital. Seven Greco-Roman weight classes will be in action on Thursday.

WATCH LIVE | LIVE MATCH ORDER | ULAANBAATAR OPEN PREVIEW

13:05: Ahmet YILMAZ (TUR) goes big from par terre and scores eight points before getting two points for a leg foul from Sumiyabazar ZANDANBUD (MGL) to win 11-0. He will take on Yryskeldi MAKSATBEK UULU (KGZ) in the final. Yilmaz had beaten Maksatbek Uulu 11-3 in the round-robin bout earlier

13:02: Yryskeldi MAKSATBEK UULU (KGZ) takes just a minute to beat Nishant PHOGAT (IND) 9-0 in the first semifinal at 77kg. He will wrestle for gold.

13:00: The semifinals, only two in 77kg, will begin now. Nishant PHOGAT (IND) vs Yryskeldi MAKSATBEK UULU (KGZ) and Ahmet YILMAZ (TUR) vs. Sumiyabazar ZANDANBUD (MGL) 

12:20: Danial SOHRABI (IRI) gets the par terre and then turn Mustafa SAHIN (TUR) for a 3-0 lead in his Round 5 bout at 72kg. He then defends his position from par terre and wins 3-1. He will take home 8000 ranking points.

12:05: NITESH (IND) reverses the par terre position to get a point after Uzur DZHUZUPEKOV (KGZ) scores two turns from par terre. Nitesh gets a turn from par terre to make it 5-3. A par terre position in second period for Nitesh but no points scored. With the score 5-4, Dzhuzupekov defends his lead and wins at 97kg

11:50: Asian champion Danial SOHRABI (IRI) with a big suplex and beats Ankit GULIA (IND) to top his group at 72kg. He will have his Round 5 match against Mustafa SAHIN (TUR) which will be a virtual gold medal bout.

11:40: Ahmet YILMAZ (TUR) with an 11-1 win over Yryskeldi MAKSATBEK UULU (KGZ) at 77kg to confirm his semifinal spot. Yilmaz is a bronze medalist from the European Championships.

11:25: Asian silver medalist Razzak BEISHEKEEV (KGZ) holds off Murat FIRAT (TUR) 5-1 at 67kg. Solid win for Beishekeev. His compatriot Yryskeldi MAKSATBEK UULU (KGZ) rolls to a 9-0 win over Lkhagvasuren DASHJAMTS (MGL) at 77kg.

11:20: Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR) with another injury pull out at 82kg. Shahin BADAGHI (QAT) gets the victory.

11:10: Uzur DZHUZUPBEKOV (KGZ) waits for the second period to unleash the gut-wrench as he beats  Bat-Erdene BYAMBASUREN (MGL) 9-1 in the 97kg Round 2 bout.

11:05: Yryskeldi KHAMZAEV (KGZ) was down 3-2 against Ankit GULIA (IND) but bounces back with takedowns and two rolls to win 8-3 in Round 2.

11:00: Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR) comes on the mat but pulls out of the bout against PRINCE (IND) at 82kg. But he doesn't submit the injury report so we may see him again in later rounds.

10:50: Paris Olympic bronze medalist at 97kg Uzur DZHUZUPBEKOV (KGZ) starts off a little rusty against Gankhuyag GANBAATAR (MGL) and gives up six points. But he manages to score at the right time using gut-wrenches and wins 10-6.

10:48: World U23 champion Razzak BEISHEKEEV (KGZ) with two front throws to stun NEERAJ (IND) 9-0 at 67kg. Remember these are round-robin matches and not eliminations.

10:45: Injury scare for Turkiye as Alperen BERBER (TUR) pulls out of his match against Karan KAMBOJ (IND) at 87kg. Berber got the par terre and got two front rolls for a 5-0 lead before a reversal and roll made it 5-3 as Berber held his hamstring in pain. He tried continuing but Kamboj pushed him for a stepout and Turkiye coach called to pull out due to injury.

10:40: Another quick finish at 72kg as Asian champion Danial SOHRABI (IRI) rolls to a technical superiority win over Zandanbat BATSAIKHAN (MGL). Sohrabi looking to gather those points for a better seed at the World Championships.

10:35: Mehmet SAHIN (TUR) with a 9-0 win over Yryskeldi KHAMZAEV (KGZ) in Round 1 of the competition. Six weight classes have round-robin competition while 77kg has Nelson system with two groups.

10:30: Welcome to day one of the competition at the Ulaanbaatar Open with seven Greco-Roman weight classes -- 55kg, 67kg, 72kg, 77kg, 82kg, 87kg and 97kg.