J'den Cox of the USA celebrates with the American flag after winning his second World gold medal. Photo by Sandy Slater.

NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan – 2018 World champion J’den Cox (Colorado Springs, Colo./Titan Mercury WC/OTC) made it two in a row, claiming the World title once again at 92 kg/202.5 lbs at the 2019 World Wrestling Championships

Cox had the only two takedowns in the gold-medal finals, beating two-time World bronze medalist Alireza Mohammad Karimimachiani of Iran, 4-0 on Saturday night. Cox scored both of his takedowns in the first period, then controlled the action in a scoreless second period.

Cox defeated Karimimachiani, 5-2, in the 2018 World Championships semifinals on his way to his first World title in Budapest, Hungary.

While his offense was sharp, it was his defense that was amazing the entire tournament. Cox did not allow a single point in his four matches, outscoring his opponents 26-0 over the two days.

Cox has won a World or Olympic medal for the fourth straight year. In addition to his 2018 World gold, Cox was a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist and 2017 World bronze medalist.

On Friday, Cox shut out 2017 U23 World bronze medalist Irakli Mtsituri of Georgia, 3-0 in the semifinals. He was in command in two Friday morning matches, securing an 11-0 technical fall over Mohamad Fardj of Algeria and shutting out Nurgali Nurgaipuly of Kazakhstan, 8-0.

Cox is a native of Columbia, Mo., where he was a three-time NCAA champion and four-time All-American for Missouri. He is currently a U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center resident athlete in Colorado Springs, Colo.

2012 Olympic champion and four-time World champion Jordan Burroughs (Lincoln, Neb. /Sunkist Kids/Nebraska WTC) won a World bronze medal at 74 kg/163 lbs., with a dominant 10-0 technical fall over Mao Okui of Japan.

Burroughs scored a takedown and a gut wrench to jump to a 4-0 lead, and added another takedown to head to the break with a 6-0 lead. In the second period, Burroughs powered to another takedown and added a turn to finish off the match.

Burroughs has now won eight career World or Olympic medals for the United States, a 2012 Olympic gold, four World golds (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017) and three World bronze medals (2014, 2018, 2019). If you count Senior World Championship medals, Burroughs now has seven of them.

By reaching the semifinals, Burroughs qualified the USA to compete at the 2020 Olympic Games at 74 kg. Those who place in the top in their weight class at an Olympic weight class qualified their nation for the 2020 Tokyo Games.

In the semifinals on Friday, Burroughs lost an intense 4-3 decision to World champion Zaurbek Sidakov of Russia, with Sidakov’s winning point coming on a step out with less than two seconds in the match. It was the second year in a row that Sidakov defeated Burroughs at the World Championships. Sidakov went on to claim the World title for the second year in a row, defeating Italy’s Frank Chamizo in the finals.

Burroughs powered to the semifinals with three wins Friday morning. He opened with a wild 11-10 decision over Azmat Nurykau of Belarus. In his second bout, Burroughs battled back to defeat Murad Kuramagomedov of Hungary, 6-4. His quarterfinal was a strong 8-1 win over 2018 Junior World Khadzimurad Gadzhiev of Azerbaijan.

Burroughs hails from Sicklerville, N.J., and won two NCAA titles and a Hodge Trophy for the University of Nebraska.

Two U.S. wrestlers in the second group of men’s freestyle athletes did not compete on Saturday after losses on Friday which knocked them out of the tournament, James Green (Lincoln, Neb./Sunkist Kids/Nebraska WTC) at 70 kg/154 lbs. and Nick Gwiazdowski (Raleigh, N.C./Titan Mercury WC/Wolfpack RTC) at 125 kg/275 lbs. Both are two-time World medalists.

After the completion of the first six weight classes, Russia leads the standings with 115 points, followed by Kazakhstan with 75 points and Iran with 51 points. The United States is in sixth with 40 points. In the final four weight classes on Sunday, the USA has Kyle Dake in the 79 kg gold-medal bout, Kyle Snyder in the 97 kg bronze-medal bout and Tyler Graff in the 61 kg repechage, with a chance to improve its team finish.

There is a different schedule for Sunday’s competition. The repechage beings at 3:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon. The finals are scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Sunday night. All the action is live on TrackWrestling

Fans interested in seeing the Grappling World Championships can enjoy the start of the No-Gi competition, which is set for Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. in the same arena as the wrestling event. That will be streamed live by FloGrappling.

Nur-Sultan is 10 hours ahead of the U.S. Eastern time zone.

WORLD WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, September 21

Group 2 Men’s freestyle results

70 kg/154 lbs.
Gold - David Baev (Russia)
Silver - Nurkozha Kaipanov (Kazakhstan)
Bronze - Magomedmurad Gadzhiev (Poland)
Bronze - Yones Aliakbar Emamichoghaei (Iran)
5th - Zurabi Iakobishvili (Georgia)
5th - Nicolae Cojocaru (Great Britain)
7th - Kojiro Shiga (Japan)
8th - Ikhtiyor Navruzov (Uzbekistan)
9th - Ali Pasha Umarpashaev (Bulgaria)
10th - Elaman Dogdurbek Uulu (Kyrgyzstan)
Gold –Baev tech. fall Kaipanov, 14-2
Bronze - Gadzhiev dec. Iakobishvili, 3-2
Bronze - Emamichoghaei pin Cojucaru, 1:13

74 kg/163 lbs.
Gold - Zaurbek Sidakov (Russia)
Silver - Frank Chamizo Marquez (Italy)
Bronze - Jordan Burroughs (USA)
Bronze - Zelimkhan Khadjiev (France)
5th - Daniyar Kaisanov (Kazakhstan)
5th - Mao Okui (Japan)
7th - Kamil Rybikci (Poland)
8th - Khadzhimurad Gadzhhiyev (Azerbaijan)
9th - Murad Kuramagomedov (Hungary)
10th - Seungchul Lee (Korea)
Gold – Sidakov dec. Chamizo
Bronze – Burroughs tech fall Okui, 10-0
Bronze – Khadjiev dec. Kaisanov, 4-3

92 kg/202.5 lbs.
Gold - J'den Cox (USA)
Silver - Alireza Karimimachiani (Iran)
Bronze - Irakli Mtsituri (Georgia)
Bronze - Alikhan Zhabrailov (Russia)
5th - Nurgali Nurgaipuly (Kazakhstan)
5th - Georgii Rubaev (Moldova)
7th - Parveen (India)
8th - Suleyman Karadeniz (Turkey)
9th - Liubomyr Sagaliuk (Ukraine)
10th - Takuma Otsu (Japan)
Gold – Cox dec. Karimimachiani, 4-0
Bronze – Mtsitsuri dec. Nurgaipuly, 2-1
Bronze – Zhabrailov dec. Rubaev, 3-2

125 kg/275 lbs.
Gold - Geno Petriashvili (Georgia)
Silver- Taha Akgul (Turkey)
Bronze - Oleksandr Khotsianivskyi (Ukraine)
Bronze - Khasanboy Rakhimov (Uzbekistan)
5th - Badzha Khutaba (Syria)
5th - Zhiwei Deng (China)
7th - Egzon Shala (Kosovo)
8th - Yadollah Mohebi (Iran)
9th - Jamaladdin Magomedov (Azerbaijan)
10th - Alan Khugaev (Russia)
Gold – Petriashvili dec. Akgul, 6-6
Bronze – Khotsianivskyi dec. Khutaba, 5-1
Bronze – Rakhimov dec. Deng, 6-1

U.S. Men's Group 2 freestyle performances

70 kg/154 lbs. - James Green, Lincoln, Neb. (Sunkist Kids/Nebraska WTC), dnp/13th
WIN Vincent De Marinis (Canada), tech. fall 10-0
LOSS Magomedmurad Gadzhiev (Poland), 4-3

74 kg/163 lbs. - Jordan Burroughs, Lincoln, Neb. (Sunkist Kids/Nebraska WTC), bronze medal
WIN Azmat Nurykau (Belarus), 11-10
WIN Murad Kuramagomedov (Hungary), 6-4
WIN Khadzimurad Gadzhiyev (Azerbaijan), 8-1
LOSS Zaurbek Sidakov (Russia), 4-3
WIN Mao Okui (Japan), 10-0

92 kg/202.5 lbs. - J’den Cox, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Titan Mercury WC/OTC), gold medal
WIN Mohamad Fardj (Algeria), tech. fall 11-0
WIN Nurgali Nurgaipuly (Kazakhstan), 8-0
WIN Irakli Mtsituri (Georgia), 3-0
WIN Alireza Mohammad Karimimachiani, 4-0

125 kg/275 lbs. - Nick Gwiazdowski, Raleigh, N.C. (Titan Mercury WC/Wolfpack RTC), dnp/19th
LOSS Yadollah Mohebi (Iran), 5-2