#WrestleRome

WATCH: Matteo Pellicone 10 freestyle finals

By Vinay Siwach

ROME, Italy (June) -- Freestyle at Matteo Pellicone saw Azerbaijan claim most of the gold medals at the Ranking Series event. Azerbaijan won four gold medals and Slovakia being the second-best with two gold. Turkey, Puerto Rico, Ukraine and Georgia managed to win a gold each in Rome.

Here are the 10 gold-medal bouts from the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series event.

GOLD: 57kg - Horst LEHR (GER) vs. Aliabbas RZAZADE (AZE)

 

GOLD: 61kg - Andrii DZHELEP (UKR) vs. Recep TOPAL (TUR)

 

GOLD: 70kg - Joshgun AZIMOV (AZE) vs. Murad EVLOEV (AZE)

#WrestleRome

#TBT: Dake dominates Demirtas in debut down at 74kg

By Eric Olanowski

ROME, Italy (June 15) --- Kyle DAKE ?? dominated Olympic bronze medalist Soner DEMIRTAS ?? en route to the #WrestleRome 2020 Matteo Pellicone 74kg gold medal.

Dake won two world titles at 79kg before moving down to 74kg for a run at a Tokyo Olympic medal, making his debut in Rome at the Pellicone. His opening outing was successful in terms of medal color, but as expected, there were a few wrinkles that the eventual Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist needed to iron out.

Dake said, “I’m a little disappointed in the earlier rounds, but I went out with a bang.”

In his first three matches, Dake scored 18 points, yet he only scored two takedowns. “I was just slapping at the legs and I needed to recognize that sooner,” said Dake. “The first couple of matches I was just trying new stuff and it wasn’t working so I went back to my old stuff.”

Dake’s plan for the Pellicone finals was to get back to his "old stuff," which meant he needed to, “Get through a guy. Go through him, go take him down, turn him, turn him, turn him and get off the mat.”

That’s exactly what Dake did in the gold-medal match, as he demolished world and Olympic bronze medalist Soner Demirtas in 35 seconds.

Dake led 7-0, 16 seconds into the first period, and after his Turkish opponent was hit with a fleeing-the-hold call, the American went back on top in par terre. A pair of gut wrenches less than 20 seconds later gave Dake the 11-0 technical superiority victory and the Ranking Series gold.

This year's Matteo Pellcione Ranking Series event kicks off next Wednesday (June 22-25) at Italy’s Pala Pellicone Olympic Training Center.  Catch all the action live on www.uww.org.