#BudaWrestle2018

Wrestling Releases Fan and Press Guide; Announces Documentary Series ‘Wrestling 360’

Wednesday, October 17, 2018 - 12:47 By Tim Foley

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (October 17) – With the 2018 Wrestling World Championships kicking off in three days, United World Wrestling has released its first Fan and Press Guide and announced its new documentary series, “Wrestling 360'.”

[La version française est disponible ici : Guide Presse & Fans.]

The Fan and Press guide is a full account of the past year in wrestling; providing statistics, results and link-rich text to allow fans and press from around the world to gather a better sense of matchups, rivalries, weight categories, and team races in all three styles.

The Fan and Press Guide is available for download at the World Championship event page, which will also include full, updated entry lists for each of the 90+ nations set to attend the World Championships as well as updated individual and team results, livestreams, and news wraps from the event. 

In another first, United World Wrestling is also offering free photo downloads from the world championships. The open access to United World Wrestling’s images allows fans, press, national federations and the wrestlers to download and share images from their favorite moments during the eight days of the championships. The link also includes access to all the images from the 2017 World Championships in Paris.

In addition to the press and fan-friendly items, United World Wrestling’s media team has released Episode 1 of its documentary series, “Wrestling 360.” The first installment, “From Many, One – United States Men’s Freestyle”, takes viewers inside the minds of the American freestyle wrestling team as they reflect on their 2017 team title and state their intentions to repeat as world champions in 2018.

Episode 2, scheduled to be released at the end of 2018, concentrates on the wrestling culture of Dagestan and includes interviews with Olympic champion Abdulrashid SADUALEV and UFC lightweight champion Khabib NURMAMAGOMEDOV. Dagestan’s rich wrestling culture, and the positive affects it has on the region, was recently documented by the New York Times and AFP.

The 2018 Senior Wrestling World Championships will run from October 20-28 at the Papp Laszlo Arena in Budapest, Hungary. Livestream coverage of the event will be on the United World Wrestling homepage with TV coverage available worldwide.

A detailed schedule of events can be found in the Fan and Press Guide as well as on the event page for the championships.

#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open Flashback: Iran, U.S. opened season with success

Monday, January 19, 2026 - 10:21 By Vinay Siwach

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ZAGREB, Croatia (January 18) -- United World Wrestling's 2026 season will kick off with the Ranking Series in Zagreb February 4. The recent memories of Zagreb may be the September World Championships but the 2025 season also kicked off with the Ranking Series in the Croatian capital.

Iran and the United States had strong performances in the first of the four stops of the Ranking Series, a theme which continued throughout the 2025 season as the U.S. dominated Freestyle while Iran dominated Greco-Roman.

Women's Wrestling participants were less in numbers but still saw U.S. and UWW wrestlers share gold medals.

Here's a trip down memory lane of the 2025 Zagreb Open Ranking Series before the 2026 season kicks off:

WATCH ZAGREB OPEN 2025 TOP BOUTS HERE

Freestyle

A young Iranian team snapped four gold medals in Zagreb with Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) winning gold at 61kg, Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) winning at 65kg, Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI) became champion at 92kg and Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) winning the 125kg gold.

For the U.S., Spencer LEE (USA) kicked off the season with 57kg with gold, Zahid VALENCIA (USA) won at 86kg and Kyle SNYDER (USA) at 97kg. Both Valencia and Snyder went on to win gold at the World Championships later in the season.

Azerbaijan, Slovakia and France won one gold each, with Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) winning at 70kg for Azerbaijan, Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) winning gold at 74kg, and Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) winning at 79kg for France.

Iran dominance began when Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) won gold at 61kg, beating the likes of Nuraddin NUVROZOV (AZE), Nashon GARRETT (USA), Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO) and Ebrahim KHARI (IRI). Javan would later win a silver medal at the World Championships. At 65kg, Ebrahim held his own in a thrilling final against Joseph MCKENNA (USA) to grab the second gold for Iran.

Young superstars Firouzpour and Masoumi put up a show to win gold medals at 92kg and 125kg respectively.

Lee was making a returning to competition six months after winning the silver medal at the Paris Olympics. He won the Zagreb Open gold with rather ease. For the U.S., Valencia saw himself win gold at 86kg outscoring his opponents 35-4 in four bouts. In the final, Valencia defeated world bronze medalist Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE), 8-0.

Snyder opened his season with a 33-1 scoring run in three bouts at 97kg in Zagreb. In the final, he easily defeated Abolfazl BABALOO (IRI).

Heybatov gave early warnings to the 70kg field by winning gold in Zagreb, a run which included wins over Austin GOMEZ (MEX), two back-to-back wins over Iranian wrestlers including a 12-1 one again Sina KHALILI (IRI) in the final. The two would wrestle again towards the end of the year at the U23 World Championships. Heybatov won that final with a 9-4 score.

Two veterans, Salkazanov and Khadjiev, were at their best in the opening Ranking Series tournament. Salkazanov blanked everyone, including winning 4-0 against David CARR (USA) in the final, to win 74kg gold.

Khadjiev had a tougher bat but managed to win the 79kg gold with a 5-3 win over Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) in the final. The French wrestler would later win silver at the European Championships.