Hawkeyes vs. The World: Men's Freestyle Preview

Adjust your schedules accordingly and pack a lunch, folks – because it’s about to be a busy week for Iowa Hawkeyes at the 2025 World Wrestling Championships.

Action gets underway on Saturday (September 13^th) in Zagreb, Croatia, and will run for nine consecutive days across three separate disciplines – Men’s Freestyle, Women’s Freestyle and Greco-Roman.

A total of seven past/present Hawkeyes will be among hundreds of the best wrestlers on planet earth vying for medals. And as a sneak peek at the preview(s) to come – several of them have a great chance to do so.

Three of those Iowa wrestlers – Spencer Lee, Real Woods and Victor Voinovich III – are Men’s Freestyle entries.

Men’s Freestyle is also up first on the schedule – which will stream exclusively on FloWrestling. As such, we’ll examine the potential/paths of their respective tournaments in this first of two World Championship previews.

I’ll publish the second sometime tomorrow – covering a quartet of high-powered Hawkeye women’s entries. So, be sure to stay on the lookout for that as the final days tick down before the opening whistle in Zagreb.

Before we dive too deep into things though, here’s a quick primer on some of the ancillary elements of the week/competition ahead.

Schedule/seeding/repechage

As I mentioned in the intro, the schedule for this event runs from September 13^th through September 21^st.

Zagreb, Croatia – a common host for various international wrestling events – is seven hours ahead of Iowa City, Iowa. That means a lot of early morning action throughout the World Championships – particularly in the qualification rounds.

For the sake of the Hawkeye faithful, I’ll be doing all the conversions to Central Time for you. Unfortunately, there’s not much I can do about the 3:30 a.m. start times…

(Sorry.)

Thankfully, all semifinals and medal matches will take place at a far more reasonable hour for US fans (9:00 a.m. or later).

Here’s a beautiful guide to the entire competition, thanks to the work of USA Wrestling’s Mike Smit (a Hawkeye fan himself):

As he always does, @mikesmit49 has blessed us once again w/ a handy USA Wrestling Senior World Championships guide.

I’ve highlighted all six Hawkeyes who’ll be repping Team 🇺🇸.

**Also note that Victor Voinovich III (not shown here) will compete for Serbia at 70kg on Day 1/2.** pic.twitter.com/K7saNNFBjL

— Tanner Lafever (@TannerLafever) September 10, 2025

Also of importance – especially to novice international wrestling observers – is the process for seeding athletes at the World Championships.

You’ll notice throughout these previews that some of the top contenders at different weight classes are seeded lower in the pecking order, or in some cases not seeded at all. That can happen for a variety of reasons – all related to ranking points.

Per the United World Wrestling (UWW) Rule Book, ranking points can be accrued over a year-long period up to (and including) the previous Senior World Championships/Olympics, and depends on an athlete’s placement either one of those two aforementioned tournaments, plus their Continental Championships and various Ranking Series events.

Points are also weighted toward the most prestigious tournaments – which helped a guy like Spencer Lee earn the #1 seed at 57 kilograms.

Lee earned silver at the Paris Olympics and won a Ranking Series event earlier this year (in Zagreb, Croatia, no less).

However, those ranking points only count toward these 2025 World Championships IF they were earned at the same weight an athlete will be competing this week. That caveat works to the detriment of a couple Hawkeyes we’ll cover in the women’s preview – as well as numerous dangerous wrestlers in the Men’s Freestyle draw.

Any athlete who does not earn a top-eight seed will be randomly drawn into their bracket – meaning there can be championship-caliber matchups as early as Round 1.

(At the time of this publishing, the brackets for each weight have yet to be drawn.)

One final reminder for the tournament ahead: international repechage rules.

Repechage is the international version of ‘consolations’ and differs from the format folks may be used to in America. In international wrestling, the only way a losing athlete can wrestle back for third/bronze is if the athlete who defeated them advances all the way to the final.

Now, to the wrestlers!

Spencer Lee – #1 seed at 57 kilograms (September 14-15)

The Hawkeye golden boy (now a man) is, for the first time, looking to become exactly that at the Senior international level.

I won’t regale you all with the story of Spener Lee’s well-chronicled career – not his legendary prep accolades, his three dominant age-level World titles (2014-16), his wildly successful college years, last summer’s Olympic silver medal nor the injuries and aversity littered throughout it all.

What matters now is the Pennsylvania native is on a run of good health and good form. And he’s looking to make a statement in his long-awaited debut at the Senior World Championships.

In a relatively limited but growing senior-level career Lee has only lost two contested matches. Both were nailbiters against superstar Japanese foes.

The first I’ve already referenced in the 2024 Paris final. The latter came this past February in a catch weight exhibition bout against 2024 (61-kilogram) World Champion Masanosuke Ono.

On both occasions, Lee harshly critiqued his performance, particularly his ‘failure’ to open up and score points in his customary style. He offered arguably an even more brutal assessment after winning consecutive matches earlier this summer to secure his spot on the World team.

All of it reflects a competitor whose expectations are to be the very best while performing at his very best. Because if he does the latter, history has shown that the former is all but assured to follow.

Spencer Lee heads to Croatia as the biggest gold medal favorite on Team USA and one of biggest favorites of the tournament among all countries – a byproduct of everything he’s already accomplished as well as the belief in his potential to perform even better.

To finally summit that mountaintop as the best in the world, these are some of the guys who figure to stand in his way.

Top eight seeds – 57 kilograms

As well all know, no wrestler is unbeatable, no outcome – especially in a world-class tournament setting – a forgone conclusion.

Having said that, this 33-man field at 57 kilograms should only inspire further confidence in Hawkeye fans that this will be Spencer Lee’s championship moment.

The #2 seed is Gulomjon Abdullaev (Uzbekistan) – a 2024 Olympic bronze medalist. Abdullaev wrestled back to win that first career World/Olympic medal after being trounced in the semifinals by Lee, 14-4.

The #3 seed is Aman Aman (India).

Aman also took home bronze from Paris last summer but has never faced Lee. Known as a high-paced, volume-shooter, the Indian will also give up points against him – a dicey proposition against a foe as dangerous as Lee is both on his feet and especially in par terre.

The #6 seed, Bekzat Almaz Uulu (Kyrgyzstan) was also routed by Lee in Paris (12-2), ultimately finishing fifth.

Rounding out the top-eight seeds on the bottom half of the bracket is #7 Islam Bazarganov (Azerbaijan). Bazarganov finished 12^th (at 61kg) in his lone previous Senior World Championships appearance. However, he did notably ‘hold’ Lee to a 6-2 decision in Zagreb earlier this year in their Ranking Series final.

Regardless, Lee couldn’t face more than one of the aforementioned quartet this week – and it wouldn’t be until the gold medal match.

Among seeded wrestlers on the Hawkeye’s half of the bracket, #8 Munkh Erdene Batkhuyag (Mongolia) – a first-time Senior World teamer – could await in the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, the seeded favorite to face Lee in the semis would be either of two former NCAA champions – #4 Roman Bravo Young (Penn State) or #5 Darian Cruz (Lehigh).

RBY now trains at Oklahoma State while competing for Mexico. He went 0-1 in Paris last summer, then lost to Lee via 6-3 decision this February – a match that Lee controlled throughout, leading 6-0 before giving up a few late points.

Cruz, who now represents Puerto Rico, made it as far as the bronze medal match in Paris, eventually taking fifth. Six years ago, at the US Senior Nationals, Lee dominated the Lehigh grad to the tune of a 10-0 technical fall.

Best of the rest – 57 kilograms

As I mentioned earlier, unseeded ‘landmines’ will litter the field in many a weight class this week.

And while 57kg is no exception, I think the danger is largely relative as it pertains to Spencer Lee.

Two other wrestlers with prior World medals on their resumes have yet to mentioned, so I’ll do so now.

The first is Arsen Harutyunyan (Armenia), who won bronze from 2021-23 – the first two years at 61kg.

While he was merely 7^th at the Olympics in Paris, he does own a pair of U23 World titles at 61kg (2021-22), not to mention a 7-5 loss to multi-time World/Olympic champion Zavur Uguev (Russia) at the European Championships earlier this year (also at 61kg).

If the weight cut down to 57kg doesn’t prove to be too much of an issue, Harutyunyan is the most credentialed (and possibly) dangerous wrestler in this field besides Lee. And they could meet up at any point throughout the tournament.

Aryan Tsiutryn (UWW/Belarus) also won World bronze back in 2021 and could be another name to look out for.

Perhaps the biggest wildcard of all, however, is Norh Korea’s Chong Song Han – who had no record of competing internationally until this past March. There, he won the 2025 Asian Championships with relative comfort over a decent field. Keep an eye on his draw as well.

And finally, traditional powers Russia and Iran are sending unproven entries, but warrant a mention, nonetheless.

Ali Hossein Momeni (Iran) won U23 World bronze last fall, and Musa Mekhtikhanov (UWW/Russia) is the 2025 Russian champion at 57kg.

Spencer Lee could face several, or none of these guys this week. But as with the top eight seeds, I’ll take his best over every single one of them.

Real Woods – unseeded at 65 kilograms (September 15-16)

Unlike his former Iowa teammate, this World Championships appearance did not feel preordained for Real Woods.

His freestyle career was almost nonexistent prior to the past year. But after graduating from Iowa and diving into the discipline full time his growth has been rapid.

Woods – who now trains in Ann Arbor with the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club – began his journey to his first-ever World Team back in April at the US Open.

There, a pair of heartbreaking, last-second losses led to a fourth-place finish that wasn’t necessarily indicative of his overall performance.

A few weeks later, at the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament, he’d run the gauntlet to punch his ticket to Final X – including some last-second heroics of his own.

Now just a best-of-three series win from earning his spot on Team USA, Woods swept seasoned senior-level foe Joey McKenna:

All of that has set the table for the week ahead in Croatia.

Woods enters unseeded into an always difficult 65-kilogram bracket – but also as an unknown entity to most of his potential opponents.

And even despite his relative inexperience at the senior level, over the past eight months Woods has amassed seven different wins over opponents (both international and domestic) who’ve previously won age-level World medals in their careers.

Several of those wins came in dominant fashion, too. So don’t underestimate his chances of making a run this week – depending on his draw.

Because although simply making Team USA confirms a certain degree of World-level proficiency, even some of America’s elite competitors have struggled to medal at this weight (and its rough equivalent) over the years – earning just one World Championship medal dating back to 2007.

Not only that, but the field that awaits this Hawkeye at this tournament is no joke.

Top eight seeds – 65 kilograms

The standouts at 65kg are the top two seeds, #1 Rahman Amouzad (Iran) and #2 Kotaro Kiyooka (Japan).

They met in the Olympic final last summer, with Kiyooka surprisingly emerging victorious despite entering the tournament with no previous Senior World/Olympic experience.

Amouzad is far more seasoned in comparison – even at just 23 years old. The Iranian will be wrestling in his fourth consecutive Senior World Championships. His 2022 appearance ended with gold, as he defeated American Yianni Diakomihalis in a wild 13-8 final.

Amouzad is also one of the rare athletes in this field who has experience against Real Woods. The two met back in February at a Ranking Series event in Albania, with Amouzad running away with an 11-2 decision.

#3 Vazen Tevanyan – a two-time Olympian from Armenia – earned World bronze in 2023 and was third at this year’s European Championships.

The next most credentialed foe at 65kg will be a familiar name to Iowa fans – Puerto Rico’s Sebastian Rivera.

The former Northwestern standout is the #6 seed this week and has placed no lower than seventh in three prior trips to the World Championships – including silver in 2023. He also earned a bronze medal in Paris.

Beyond those four, the remaining seeded athletes are far less proven at the senior level.

Only #4 Ali Rahimzada (Azerbaijan) and #5 Khamzat Arsamerzouev (France) have previously competed at Senior Worlds. But they’ve finished 17^th, 32^nd and seventh across three total appearances.

Rounding out the top eight are #7 Ibragim Ibragimov (UWW) and #8 Sujeet Sujeet (India).

Sujeet is a two-time age-level World medalist, but it’s Ibragimov who really stands out – having dominated to back-to-back U23 World titles (2023-24) before winning the Senior European Championships this past April.

Expect Woods to face one of these eight wrestlers in the early going.

Best of the rest – 65 kilograms

65 kilograms is one of the rare weights where most of the obvious top contenders are seeded entering this tournament.

In fact, other than Tajikistan’s Abdulmazhid Kudiev – 2024 World bronze at 70kg – Real Woods may well be the most dangerous of the unseeded entries.

Maxim Sacultan (Moldova) finished fifth as recently as 2023 but also went 0-2 at the Olympics last summer. Multiple other athletes enter with World/Olympic experience as well, though none of it earth-shattering in terms of their performance at those events.

One final name to watch is a wrestler with strong ties to the Hawkeye state – Northern Iowa grad Colin Realbuto.

Realbuto – who represents Italy internationally – was a three-time NCAA qualifier for the Panthers, closing his UNI career with a 78-46 overall record and a 2025 Big 12 runner-up performance at 149 pounds.

Victor Voinovich III – unseeded at 70 kilograms (September 13-14)

The third and final Hawkeye men’s entry will not be wrestling for the Stars and Stripes.

Instead, fifth-year senior Victor Voinovich III (listed as Viktor Stiven Voinovic internationally) will represent Serbia, just as he’s done on several occasions in recent years.

As with Lee/Woods, this will be Voinovich’s debut at a Senior World Championship event.

Prior to 2025, he’d previously competed for Serbia at various age-level tournaments. But this year, Voinovich has gotten a taste of the senior scene – going 1-3 across a quartet of matches spanning the European Championships plus a July Ranking Series event in Hungary.

Two of those losses came against former World champions – including one I’ll touch on more in a bit. The other was against a rising young Iranian star who is not in this field.

Point being, it hasn’t exactly been easy sledding for the Iowa senior.

Voinovich also missed the entire 2024-25 college season due to injury, so this ongoing foray into freestyle has occurred simultaneously to his recovery period.

Not only will the World Championships serve as a barometer for Voinovich against the best in the world, but it could also hint at the level Iowa fans can expect to see upon his return to the folkstyle scene (at either 149 or 157 pounds) this season.

Top eight seeds – 70 kilograms

This weight classes is pretty ruthless at the top, with #1 Yoshinosuke Aoyagi (Japan) and #3 Nurkozha Kaipanov (Kazakhstan) having met in the 2024 gold medal bout.

Even though Kaipanov won that match (as well as this year’s Asian Championships), he’s still ‘only’ the #3 seed.

Georgian Akaki Kemertelidze (fifth in 2024, bronze at the European Championships) slots in at the #2 seed. Meanwhile, #4 Kanan Heybatov (Azerbaijan) finished eighth at this weight a year ago and earned bronze at Euros in April.

(Heybatov beat Penn State superstar Mitchell Mesenbrink en route to U20 gold back in 2022.)

At #5 is 2023 World bronze medalist Arman Andreasyan (Armenia), the 2025 European runner up and 2024 champ. He’s followed by former Cylcone/Badger/Wolverine Austin Gomez – who now competes internationally for Mexico.

The sixth-seeded Gomez went 0-1 at the Paris Olympics down at 65kg, but the 2024 NCAA runner up has been impressive over the past year after bumping up to 70 kilos.

And that brings us a pair of wrestlers with whom Voinovich has some recent history.

In his opening bout at the European Championships, the Hawkeye bested #7 Vasile Diacon (Moldova) via 10-6 decision. Later that same tournament, after falling to the repechage, Voinovich faced the #8 seed at these World Championships – Hungary’s Iszmail Muszukajev.

Voinovich hung tough in a 4-2 defeat to the 2023 World champion (at 65kg).

If that effort can translate to Worlds this week, there shouldn’t be many matches Voinovich walks into feeling intimidated.

Best of the rest – 70 kilograms

Things don’t really get any easier once you move beyond the eight seeded wrestlers at 70kg.

In fact, four different World/Olympic medalists will be randomly drawn into the field somewhere and present a huge headache for whomever the face.

• Islam Dudaev (Albania) – 2024 Olympic bronze (65kg)
• Amirmohammad Yazdani (Iran) – 2023 World silver, 2021 World silver (65kg)
• Ernazar Akmataliev (Kyrgyzstan) – 2022 World bronze, 2021 World silver
• Tulga Tumur Ochir (Mongolia) – 2021 World bronze (65kg)

Barring incredible luck, Voinovich is going to run up against an elite opponent at some point in the early rounds.

The length of his stay in Croatia will likely depend on his ability to either A) spring a major upset (or 2-3), or B) lose to the ‘right’ foe who advances all the way to the final, thus pulling him into repechage for a chance to wrestle back on Day 2.

Short time

A reminder that each of these three Hawkeyes will begin their World Championship run(s) at 3:30 a.m. (Central Time) on three consecutive days – Voinovich on the 13^th, Lee on the 14^th and Woods on the 15^th.

Should they reach the gold medal match – or lose to an opponent who does – they’ll wrestle again the following day.

I’ll have as much live coverage on social media as I can possibly manage during the week ahead. Additionally, I’ll be posting regular updates on Hawkeye Report in both the Wrestling Forum and the Swarm Lounge.

Hopefully I’ve done my job getting you all prepped and ready for the incredible week of wrestling that awaits us.

Thank you as always for reading and be sure to also check out my Women’s Freestyle preview for the Hawkeyes – which should publish sometime before/around lunchtime on Friday.

‘Till next time.