Day 2 2021 Russian Men's Freestyle Recap

With champions being crowned at the  57, 86, and 92 Kilogram weight classes and the finals decided at 70, 74, and 125 Kilograms, it’s time to take a deeper look at all that happened on Day 2 of Russian Nationals.

#1 Zavur Uguev mounts comeback to stop upset minded Nachyn Mongush at 57 kilograms

Nachyn Mongush was one of the biggest revelations after day one of Russian nationals, as the 2019 Junior European champion was able to get a massive upset win over returning national runner-up #2 Azamat Tuskaev in the semifinals of day one. He wouldn’t disappoint in the finals against reigning three time national champion, top ranked Zavur Uguev. Down 4-0, Mongush would hit a spectacular uchi mata to take a 5-4 lead over the reigning 2x world champion Uguev. Uguev would retaliate with a big four point throw late in the match late to take a 8-5 win over the talented Tuvan upstart and earn his fourth national title.

In the bronze medal matches, 2019 Intercontinental Cup champion Abubakar Mutaliev was able to come away with a dominant 11-4 win over Belek-Ool Khuzuget who had upset returning bronze medalist #3 Akhmed Idrisov and 2019 bronze medalist Khasanhussein Badrudinov earlier. Returning national runner-up #2 Azamat Tuskaev was able to rebound from his 2-1 semifinal loss to Nachyn Mongush by registering a dominant 11-0 win over Uyugulan Ivanov. 

GOLD: #1 Zavur Uguev 8-5 over Nachyn Mongush

BRONZE: Abubakar Mutaliev over Belek-Ool Khuzuget 11-4

BRONZE: #2 Azamat Tuskaev over 11-0 Uygulan Ivanov

#4 Artur Naifonov takes 4-2 series lead against #3 Dauren Kurugliev to win second national title at 86 kilograms

The rivalry between #4 Artur Naifonov and #3 Dauren Kurugliev has a whole four years of history behind it. Starting off with Naifonov fresh off a Junior world title and Alans title in 2017 upsetting Kurugliev at the 2018 Yarygin on his way to bronze that was avenged by Kurugliev in the Russian nationals finals 2-1. The score tied 1-1, Naifonov and Kurugliev would wrestle again in the finals of the 2019 Ali Aliev with Naifonov coming away victorious again with a 2-2 win to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Kurugliev was released from competing at 2019 Russian nationals as he was the European Games which he won over 4x World bronze medalist Ali Shabanov of Belarus. Naifonov and Kurugliev would not meet again until the 2020 Yarygin finals in a match that was one again by Naifonov 2-1 for a 3-1 series lead. Kurugliev would not be denied at Russian nationals and was able to use a pushout to score a 2-1 win and make the series 3-2 in Naifonov’s favor. This time in the finals, Naifonov would strike gold for his second time with a 1-1 victory over Kurugliev to take the series lead 4-2.

Something that really stood out to me from both men’s tournaments were how peaked they were in regards to how they wrestled in their semis. I say this because they are so evenly matched, it’s really hard to say huge tangible improvements against each other when the match scores are always going to be 2-1, 1-1. But in their semifinals, Naifonov showed a great gas tank and his fantastic ability to transition right into par-terre offense after scoring on his feet in a 9-8 comeback win against #5 Magomed Ramazanov and #3 Dauren Kurugliev was able to keep his composure in a match tied late against #14 Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov and secure his win with a big double leg for a 5-1 score.

In the bronze medal matches, 2018 79 KG national champion #14 Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov posted a 5-1 win over 2014 74 KG national bronze medalist Zaur Makiev and #5 Magomed Ramazanov took a 4-1 win over Khabi Khashpakov.

GOLD: #4 Artur Naifonov over #3 Dauren Kurugliev 1-1

BRONZE: #5 Magomed Ramazanov 4-1 over Khabi Khashpakov

BRONZE: #14 Akhmed Gadzimagomedov over Zaur Makiev 5-1

#3 Magomed Kurbanov earns first national title in third finals appearance over 13 time senior nationals medalist #7 Anzor Urishev

In total, #7 Anzor Urishev has 14 medals at Russian nationals with his first coming in 2007 with a Junior national gold medal in the same year he was the Junior world runner-up to Abdul Ammaev of Uzbekistan. But at the Senior level, with his runner-up finish at this year’s Russian nationals he has now secured 13 straight medals with seven bronzes (‘09,’11,’14,’15,’17,’19, & ‘20), two golds (‘12 & ‘16) and four silvers (‘’10,’13, ‘18, ‘21). Urishev secured his 13th senior national medal with a 1-1 win in the semifinals over two time U-23 national champion Azamat Zakuev but then injury defaulted in the finals against returning two time national runner-up #3 Magomed Kurbanov who was coming off a dominant 13-0 semifinals win over #14 Guram Chertkoev.

In the bronze medal matches, #9 Soslan Ktsoev would tech #14 Guram Chertkoev 11-0 in a rematch of their North Caucasian Federal District tournament last month he won by pin. In the other bronze medal match, Azamat Zakuev won 1-1 on criteria against 2018 86 KG national bronze medalist Zelimkhan Minkailov.

Israil Kasumov makes fourth national finals while local favorite Evgheni Zherbaev upsets returning national champion #3 Cherman Valiev to make first national finals

A past three time Russian nationals runner-up from 2014-2016, Israil Kasumov has been a perennial contender at every Russian nationals he has competed at. The Chechen stalwart had a strong run on the top half beating 2019 Dan Kolov runner-up #18 Anzor Zakuev 10-6 in his opening round match and making the finals off a dominant 11-0 win over 2017 61 KG junior world champion Abdulla Akhmedov. In the finals he will have two time Russian Nationals bronze medalist Evgeni Zherbaev, who owns a 2-0 match series lead against Kasumov with wins at the 2016 Korkin and in the bronze medal match of 2019 Russian Nationals.

Evgeni Zherbaev’s path to the finals was especially impressive as the Buryat veteran was able to avenge a past loss at the 2019 Kunaev to #6 Aznaur Tavaev with a dominant 11-0 win in the round of 32, followed it up with a 5-2 win over 2020 Yasar Dogu bronze medalist Viktor Rassadin in the quarters, and in the semis against the returning national champion #3 Cherman Valiev, he absolutely dominated scoring a series of early gut wrenches, a series of late chest wraps, and an arm drag into a single leg to secure a dominant 13-4 win and a spot in his first Russian Nationals finals.

2020 national champion #1 Razambek Zhamalov and three time national champion #3 Zaurbek Sidakov make the 74 KG set to collide in the 74 KG national finals

2020 Russian nationals champion #1 Razambek Zhamalov will face off against reigning two time world champion #3 Zaurbek Sidakov in a match between the #3 and #4 ranked pound for pound wrestlers in the world. Both men made the finals off strong performances on their side of the bracket with Zhamalov notching his first ever win over two time 70 KG world champion #9 Magomedrasul Gazimagomedov 2-1 in the semis after three past losses to him (2018 70 KG nationals, 2019 70 KG Yarygin, 2020 Yarygin finals).

On the bottom half, #3 Zaurbek Sidakov proved to be as strong as ever notching wins over the likes of 2019 national champion #7 Magomed Kurbanaliev 5-3 in the quarters and returning three time Russian nationals bronze medalist #8 Timur Bizhoev 4-3 in the semis. While these matches were wrestled close, Sidakov still showed that his ability to be clutch and pull out matches late was intact, a skill that will serve him well against the offensive dynamo that is Razambek Zhamalov. 

Young Russian talent takes over at heavyweight as Atsamaz Tebloev and Sergey Kozyrev make the 125 KG national finals

In a weight that was supposed to be about established veterans holding it down in the form of #6 Anzor Khizriev, #7 Batras Gazzaev, Vladislav Baitsaev, #8 Baldan Tszyhipov and Muradin Kushkhov, heavyweight was absolutely thrown on its head by upsets at every round. Right out of the gate, Saypudin Magomedov upset returning bronze medalist #17 Vitali Goloev 15-10 in the round of 16, 2019 national runner-up Said Gamidov beat 2019 97 KG national champion Vladislav Baitsaev 7-0 in the qualification round, 2016 Junior world champion Kazbek Khubulov upset #7 Batras Gazzaev 6-5 in the qualification round and 2018 110 KG Cadet world bronze medalist Sergey Kozyrev upset two time national champion #6 Anzor Khizriev 5-4.

Now that all the upsets are understood, it’s time to make sense of the rest of the bracket. So the top half has #8 Baldan Tszyhipov make the semis against two time national semifinalist Atsamaz Tebloev with wins over Muradin Kushkhov and Alain Khubulov. Atsamaz Tebloev makes his third straight semifinals match with wins over Khamzat Khizriev and a redhot Saypudin Magomedov who just beat returning bronze medalist #17 Vitali Goloev in the round of 16. Tebloev pins Tszhipov with less then 30 seconds left in the match to make his first national finals match.

The bottom half of the bracket saw an absolutely exceptional run from 2018 110 KG cadet world bronze medalist Sergey Kozyrev to make the finals. Kozyrev upset two time national champion #6 Anzor Khizriev 5-4 in the quarterfinals and in the semis he walked away with a 5-1 win over 2019 Yarygin bronze medalist Zelimkhan Khizriev, Khizriev having had made the semis with wins over Tamerlan Rasuev and Kazbek Khubulov who was fresh off a 6-5 upset win over #7 Batras Gazzaev.