2022 World Championship Rankings - Men's Freestyle

79 - Jordan Burroughs

Though he lost a match to Chance Marsteller, Jordan Burroughs remains the favorite to win a world title this year at 79kg. By defeating Marsteller in two of three matches, Burroughs made his 10th world team and will look to win his 7th world title. 

Burroughs’ biggest challenger will come 2021 world silver medalist, Mohammad Nokhodi. Nokhodi will look to take revenge on Burroughs after losing in last year's world finals, 5-1. 

Another emerging challenger is Kazakhstan's Bolat Sakayev who recently finished silver behind Nokhodi at the ranking series event in Tunisia. Despite losing to Nokhodi in the finals, Sakayev defeated Chance Marsteller and also won the rankings tournament in Kazakhstan in June.

It's also worth noting that world and Olympic medalist Bekzod Abdurakhmonov will compete at 79kg after winning bronze last year at the Tokyo Olympics at 74kg. Bekzod notably has a 11-1 win over Jordan Burroughs from the 2016 Olympics and is impressively the only wrestler to defeat Burroughs by tech-fall. 

Ukraine’s Vasyl Mykhailov enters the rankings at #5 after winning the Matteo Pellicone in a field that included #8 Shakhdzhamalov,  #9 Georgios Kougioumtsidis, and #10 Akhsarbek Gulaev. Mykhailov is a “dark horse” to watch at this year’s worlds to potentially knock off some of the more established competitors in the weight.