Big news as 2x World Champion J’den Cox has announced his move up to 97kg for the US Open. Should he win the US Open which he is projected to do with little to no problem then he will face Kyle Snyder at Final X for the 97kg world team spot.
With Cox essentially vacating the spot as the 92kg representative for the USA that leaves the door open to a few people such as Nate Jackson and Kollin Moore. Jackson faced Cox at Final X last year and actually took a match over Cox. Moore faced Cox for the 2021 World team spot at the trials where he was swept 2-0, Moore was up at 97kg last year where he made Final X and lost to Kyle Snyder.
Moore does have the head to head recent wins over Jackson so he would be the projected world team member for the time being.
The last time Kyle Snyder and J’den Cox faced off was at the Rudis+ Super Match card where Snyder was able to sweep Cox in the best of 3. Snyder won the first match 5-5 on criteria and pulled away in the second match with a decisive 7-1 victory.
Cox is coming off of a silver medal finish from the world championships where he fell to Iran’s Kamran Ghasempour 2-0 in the gold medal match. Ghasempour bumped up a weight class to face Snyder at the world cup in the December where Snyder defeated the world champion 5-0.
With Cox essentially committing for the move up to 97kg for this year and the Olympic year it may make this potential best of 3 series with Snyder more interesting.
