J'den Cox's run since winning NCAAs has been incredible. The Missouri sophomore made the team out of the No. 9 seed at 86kg, and went through Clayton Foster, Jake Herbert and Kyle Dake (twice). Two weeks later, J'den took his first trip overseas to qualify his spot for the Olympics. Not only did J'den get the job done—he won the tournament in Mongolia.

Every tournament has bred more questions about how high J'den can climb in Rio. This Thursday, at Beat The Streets, he'll face his toughest opponent yet.

Meisam Mostafa Joukar is currently ranked 10th in the ASICS International rankings. Armed with a great combination of brick-wall positioning and efficient, powerful leg attacks, he looks like an incredibly difficult matchup for J'den. You can watch a fair amount of film on the Iranian, and you won't find many instances of opponents getting to his legs. The only instance I found was when Clayton Foster got a quick elbow control inside reach single to Joukar's left leg. Joukar gave up the takedown, then scored the next 12 to win 12-2.


He prefers a double leg first, and does a great job of penetrating deep, then lifting. From there, he looks for four, if possible. He can attack both sides with single legs as well as a high crotch. Much of what Joukar does works off of collar and inside control—his go-to tie-up. He ties up, gets low and snaps hard. He does a great job knocking guys out of position with hard snaps and pulls. From there, based on the reaction, he'll fire off a leg attack. Many guys are so exhausted by his pace and positioning late, that it will turn into easy go-behinds off of his snaps.

Watching this guy wrestle, I can't help but say out loud, "Well, that's not J'den." When I say that, I mean the things Joukar thrives on: fast pace, collar-tie attacks and power doubles will not be so easily ascertained. If J'den can avoid these ties, he can work from space to get to his single to Joukar's right leg. J'den also has some of the freakiest flexibility and scrambling skills that we've seen. Joukar doesn't show a lot of interest in long, extended finishes, so if J'den can take it there, it could present problems.

Here's an example of a guy who was able to scramble out of a Joukar single (5:07):


I also think Joukar will hassle J'den by controlling the center of the mat. J'den struggled to hold center against an undersized (though positionally immaculate) Kyle Dake.




Joukar is big and strong for the weight, and he presents positional challenges. J'den will need to work from space, but do it in a way that doesn't make him vulnerable for cheap step-out points. In par terre, J'den is still a question. Joukar likes to go figure four to a gut to the right. He'll need the takedown first to get there, but it's tough to think someone like Joukar won't get at least one. We'll see where J'den's defense is from bottom if that happens.

Joukar will likely be on the outside looking in at the Rio Olympics. He'll be behind Alireza Karimi, the reigning world bronze medalist, and in my opinion, the second-best 86kg in the world. If Joukar made it to the Olympics, I think he has the goods to medal. Seeing how J'den stacks up could tell us about where he could end up in Rio. Right now, J'den's the underdog in my mind. But doesn't matter much to J'den, who was an underdog at the Olympic Trials and Mongolia.

This match and Andy Bisek's bout against Olympic champion Kim Hyeon Woo of Korea will be two of the biggest matches on the Beat The Streets card. Personally, I cannot wait for either.

FloWrestling's broadcast will begin at 3:45 PM EST on Thursday, May 19 with matches that highlight wrestlers from the Beat the Streets program. At 4:45pm, the New York City PSAL Girls Dual Meet Championships will take place, with Iran taking on the United States following at 6pm EST. During the Iran vs USA match, BTSNY will present their annual outstanding awards to student athletes from the BTS program.