MUNICH, Germany (December 11) — Razambek ZHAMALOV (UZB) underwent surgery on his right shoulder yesterday in Munich, Germany, and will miss the first half of the 2025 season.

Zhamalov, the 26-year-old native Russian who garnered Uzbekistan citizenship before the 2024 season, ran through a gauntlet of four former Russians—Magomedkhabib KADIMAGOMEDOV (AIN), Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK), Chermen VALIEV (ALB) and Viktor RASSADIN (TJK)—before pinning Daichi TAKATANI (JPN) in the 74kg Paris 2024 finals, becoming Uzbekistan's first freestyle Olympic champion since Athens 2004.

Zhamalov is in good spirits after the operation and is healing well in Munich. "[My shoulder] doesn't feel too bad, but I'm mentally exhausted from the surgery," said Zhamalov. "The support of my family is giving me strength."

Zhamalov reinjured his shoulder before the Olympics but adapted his style to put less stress on that shoulder. "I [reinjured] my right shoulder before the Olympics, which was already unstable—it would dislocate. But I tried to put less strain on that shoulder during competitions," said Zhamalov.

Looking at the 2025 calendar, and with this being Zhamalov's second surgery on the same shoulder since May 2023, he expects to be out until at least June. "Yes, this is my second surgery on this shoulder so that the rehabilitation will take 5-6 months," said Zhamalov. "I do think about returning to sports and want to come back, but for now, I'm not sure which competitions I'll be able to participate in." 

With the six-month timetable that Zhamalov provided, he's expected to miss the Asian Championships, Zagreb Open, Muhamet Malo, and Mongolian Ranking Series events. However, he has the potential to come back for the Hungarian Ranking Series event in July. If not in Budapest, we could see Zhamalov back for the Senior World Championships on September 13-21 in Zagreb, Croatia, which would be nine months post-op.

While we won't have the chance to see Zhamalov on the mat for a while, here is nearly ten minutes of his highlights.