Sept 8 World Championship Previews

Jordan Burroughs ranks as one of the most experienced and successful men’s freestyle wrestlers at the UWW World Championships. The native of New Jersey and former two-time NCAA champ and Hodge Trophy winner from Nebraska has an opportunity to win a sixth World/Olympic title this month at the 2019 UWW Worlds in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

Burroughs will be joined by 29 other Americans — competing in three styles — including Raymond Bunker in Greco-Roman … and Alli Ragan in women’s freestyle. This will be Bunker’s first-ever World-level tournament, while Ragan — one of three women representing the Hawkeye Wrestling Club at the Worlds — has won two World silver medals.

Check out previews of these three Americans who will compete at the 2019 UWW World Championships, Sept. 14-22, in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Click here or call 888-305-0606 to subscribe to WIN Magazine and get all the great and historic moments of the World Championships delivered to your mailbox in the Commemorative editions.

Men’s Freestyle

74 K /163 pounds

Jordan Burroughs

Competing Sept. 20-21

Jordan Burroughs (right) earned a spot on his seventh all-time World Team by beating Isaiah Martinez for a second straight year at Final X Lincoln. (Tim Tushla photo)

Bio:Age 31 (born July 8, 1988); native of Sicklerville, N.J.; resident of Lincoln, Neb.; Sunkist Kids WC/Nebraska RTC; 2-time champ, 3-time AA at Nebraska (2007-11), 2011 Hodge Trophy winner.

International Experience: Will look to tie John Smith’s record of six World/Olympic championships; has competed in every Worlds/Olympics at 74k since 2011; overall Worlds record 29-2 with six medals; gold in 2011 (5-0), 2013 (5-0); 2015 (6-0); 2017 (6-0); bronze in 2014 (4-1) and 2018 (4-1); overall Olympics record 5-2 with one medal; gold in 2012 (4-0) and dnp in ’16.

2019 Final X: defeated former two-time NCAA champ from Illinois, Isaiah Martinez, in best-of-three matches, 5-4, 5-5, 7-1, in Lincoln, Neb., for second straight year.

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW:1. Frank Chamizo (Italy), ’17 World gold; 2. Jordan Burroughs, United States; 3. Zaurbek Sidakov (Russia), ’18 World gold; 4. Avtandil Kentchadze (Georgia), ’18 World silver.

Greco-Roman

72 K / 158.5 pounds

Raymond Bunker

Competing Sept. 14-15

Raymond Bunker (left) is one of two Marines to compete on the Greco-Roman World Team this year. (Tim Tushla photo)

Bio:Age 25 (born April 26, 1994); native of Bensonville, Ill.; resident of Camp LeJeune, N.C., U.S. Marine Corps; attended Harper Junior College

International Experience:First Senior World tournament

2019 Final X:defeated Alex Mossing (Air Force RTC) in best-of-three matches, 3-1, 7-0, in Lincoln, Neb.

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW: 1. Aik Mnatsakanian (Bulgaria), ’18 World bronze; 2. Balint Korpasi (Hungary), ‘18 World silver, ’17 World bronze, ’16 World gold; 3. Abulazid Mantsigov (Russia), ’18 World fifth place; 4. Hujun Zhang (China), ’19 Asian silver.

Women’s Freestyle

59 K / 130 pounds

Alli Ragan

Sept. 18-19

Bio:Age 27 (born June 16, 1992); native of Carbondale, Ill.; resident of Iowa City, Iowa; Sunkist Kids WC/Hawkeye WC; 2-time WCWA champ from King U.

Alli Ragan (right) was forced to miss last year’s Worlds because of an injury. (Tim Tushla photo)

International Experience: competed in five Senior Worlds; overall record of 11-6 with two medals; ninth in 2013 (1-1), fifth in 2014 (2-2); dnp in 2015 (1-1), silver medal in 2016 (4-1), and silver in 2017 (3-1); competed in two Junior Worlds, bronze in both 2011 and ‘12; 2013 World Univ. Games (silver).

2019 Final X:defeated Lauren Louive (Hawkeye WC) in best-of-three matches, 10-0, 10-0, in Lincoln, Neb.

Projected Top 4 Seeds by UWW: 1. Yuzuka Inagaki (Japan), ’19 Junior Worlds gold; 2. Linda Morais (Canada), ’16 World bronze; 3. Shoovdor Baatarjav (Mongolia), ’18 World bronze; 4. Xingru Pei (China), ’18 World bronze.

Below are WIN’s daily previews of USA at the Worlds. Click on the date to read the previews of the wrestlers located on that date.