Five Iranians shortlisted for 2025 Most Dominant Wrestler
Five Iranians are among the nominees for the UWW Most Dominant Wrestler of 2025.
United World Wrestling has unveiled the 10-man shortlist for the year’s most successful wrestlers across two divisions, with Rahman Amouzad and Amirhossein Zare’ listed in freestyle, while Saeid Esmaeili, Mohammad-Hadi Saravi, and Gholamreza Farrokhi are named in Greco-Roman.
A silver medalist at the Paris Olympics last year, Amouzad made amends for his final setback in the French capital against Kotaro Kiyooka by defeating the Japanese wrestler in emphatic fashion, securing a superiority victory in the first period of the 65kg showdown at September’s World Championships in Zagreb – Amouzad’s second world title after his 2022 triumph.
Ruthless Rahman then picked up where he had left off in Croatia, cruising to the final of November’s Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh without conceding a single point, before demolishing Tajikistan’s Abdulmazhid Kudiev (12-2) to claim his second major gold of the international season.
Zare’, meanwhile, bounced back from his Olympic final heartbreak against his familiar Georgian foe Geno Petriashvili to reestablish his dominance in the superheavyweight division.
Chasing his third world 125kg gold in four years, Zare – a Ranking Series champion in February – overpowered Olympic bronze medalist Giorgi Meshvildishvili of Azerbaijan 5-0 in the final to capture the ultimate prize in Zagreb.
He was also in a league of his own in Riyadh, capping his run with a 10-0 victory over Bahrain’s Russian-born Shamil Sharipov in the final.
Joining the two Iranians in the five-man freestyle list are American duo Zahid Valencia and Kyle Snyder – world champions in the 86kg and 97kg classes, respectively – as well as Russian 61kg standout Zaur Uguev, who claimed the gold in Zagreb as a neutral athlete with an 11-2 win over Iran’s Ahmad Mohammadnejad Javan in the final.
Meanwhile, reigning Olympic champions Esmaeili and Saravi also received recognition for their continued success in 2025, while Farrokhi introduced himself as one of the brightest rising stars in Greco-Roman wrestling.
Esmaeili began the international season with a gold-winning campaign at March’s Asian Championships in Amman, and then marked his World Championships debut in style by edging Azerbaijan’s Hasrat Jafarov 1-0 in the 67kg final.
The pair met again for gold in Riyadh two months later, where Esmaeili came within two seconds of suffering only the second defeat of his senior international career – and his first since June 2024 – before producing a trademark four-pointer to defeat Jafarov 8-3 in a thrilling showdown.
Saravi proved to be the wrestler to beat in the 97kg division, securing his third Asian gold and second world title before rounding out the season with a comfortable title run at the Islamic Solidarity Games, courtesy of a 5-1 win over world bronze medalist Murad Ahmadiyev of Azerbaijan in the final.
Farrokhi, who won the 82kg gold at February’s Ranking Series curtain-raiser, also enjoyed a dominant debut at the World Championships on his return to the Croatian capital, defeating Georgian Gela Bolkvadze 4-0 in the final.
He then moved up to the 87kg class for October’s U23 World Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia, where the 22-year-old prodigy secured five superiority victories on his way to the gold medal, including a 10-0 demolition of Ukraine’s Ivan Chmyr in the final.
Farrokhi took his 2025 tally to four golds in Riyadh after beating Kazakhstan’s Islam Yevloyev 6-0 in the 87kg final.
Armenia’s Malkhas Amoyan was also nominated in Greco-Roman after winning the European and world titles in the 77kg class, with Uzbekistan’s Aytjan Khalmakhanov completing the list.
Khalmakhanov dominated the 63kg weight class in 2025, claiming the world senior and under-20 titles as well as the Asian gold, though he was clearly second-best against Esmaeili when the two met at the Islamic Solidarity Games, suffering a 9-0 defeat in the semifinals before finishing with a consolation 67kg bronze.
The 2025 season was certainly one to remember for Iranian wrestling, as the country completed a historic clean sweep of the team titles at the World Championships, while also lifting the Greco-Roman trophies at the U17, U20, and U23 Worlds.