With Russia out of the world championships as well as Belarus it seems like Kyle Dake will have another gold medal run and claim his 4th world title this year in Belgrade, Serbia.
Zaurbek Sidakov and Magomedkhabib Kadimagomedov were the two opponents who a majority of people wanted to see Dake wrestle but with that not happening let’s take a look through the field that he will be up against in Belgrade.
United World Wrestling released the seeds a while back via Instagram. The seeding is based in how many points you accumulate through UWW events that you compete in.
#1 Kyle Dake (United States)
#2 Tajmuraz Salkazanov (Slovakia)
#3 Frank Chamizo (Italy)
#4 Turan Bayramov (Azerbaijan)
#5 Yones Emami Choghaei (Iran)
#6 Khetik Tsabolov (Serbia)
#7 Soner Demirtas (Turkey)
#8 Mitch Finesilver (Israel)
Khetik Tsabolov-
Looking at these seeds the first thing that stands out is Khetik Tsabolov at the 6 seed. Tsabolov competed for Russia the majority of his career but transferred to Serbia where he will most likely compete for the remainder of his career. With Zaurbek Sidakov at the weight class and the Russia ban maybe this was for the best.
You can’t count him out of this but given his performances recently it may be a stretch to see him making the finals. He has a 6 seed which puts him on the opposite side of the bracket as Dake. He will most likely have to get through Chamizo and Salkazanov if he wants a shot at Dake.
Tajmuraz Salkazanov-
Salkazonav is another Russian born athlete who will be looking to get redemption over Dake in Belgrade. He is a 2 time world medalist taking bronze back in 2019 and silver this past year falling to Dake in the finals.
The 26 year old has looked very good recently defeating Turan Bayramov and Frank Chamizo to win the European Championships a while back this year.
Frank Chamizo-
Chamizo if he shows up here is the main competitor for Dake coming in as the 3 seed. The 2x World Champion and Olympic bronze medalist has been a staple in the international wrestling scene all the way back since 2010 and will be looking to add another gold medal to his resume.
He just fell to Salkazanov in the 2022 European finals but should he make the necessary adjustments he will be looking at the Olympic bronze medal match rematch with Kyle Dake.
Yones Emami Choghaei-
The 2019 world bronze medalist is looking good coming off of a gold medal finish at the Asian Championships. He is the main dark horse here and should he get to the semifinals will see reigning World Champion Kyle Dake.
Kyle Dake-
Dake has been one of the best wrestlers in the world since he got on the scene. Held off of teams by Jordan Burroughs and J’den Cox till 2018 it was somewhat rough but he has used the time he was able to compete at the World Championships very well.
Winning 3 World Titles and an Olympic bronze medal Dake has dominated the 74kg field. The main thing as stated before is that he has not beaten Kadi and has never wrestled Sidakov. Who knows when this match will go down or if we will ever see it at this rate.
Looking at his draw he will most likely see Salkazanov, Chamizo, or Tsabolov in the finals unless something crazy happens. He is an overwhelming favorite to win the gold this year looking at his dominant wins over the Salkazanov and Chamizo at the World Championships and Olympics respectively.
There are not many American wrestlers that have won 4 gold medals so should Dake win this year he will put himself amongst an elite group.
