2024 International Wrestling Rankings
Pound-For-Pound - Zaurbek Sidakov
Zaurbek Sidakov stays at the top spot in the pound-for-pound rankings despite not wrestling in the Olympics. Sidakov initially said he was considering transitioning to MMA but we're going to leave him in the rankings until he officially announces his retirement or plans to continue competing.
Akhmed Tazhudinov moves up to #2 after winning the Olympics at 97 kg highlighted by wins over Kyle Snyder and Amirali Azarpira. Tazhudinov is the only 2023 world champ to win an Olympic gold medal in Paris and his two wins over Snyder and one over Sadulaev is enough to propel him up the pound-for-pound rankings.
Olympic champions Rei Higuchi, Razambek Zhamalov, Kotaro Kiyooka, Geno Petriashvili all jump to the #4-7 spots after winning gold. Higuchi has been the most consistent of that bunch winning world gold in 2022 (at 61 kg), silver in 2023 (at 57 kg), and gold this year. Zhamalov's last loss to Zaurbek Sidakov (2-2) at 2021 Russian Nationals and before that lost to Frank Chamizo and Tajmuraz Salkazanov at the 2021 European Championships. However, Zhamalov was injured and didn't compete most of 2022 and 2023.
Kotaro Kiyooka took the most recent loss of the bunch to Haji Aliyev in June at a Ranking Series event. Because of that recent loss, Kiyooka falls in behind Zhamalov. Petriashvili is the last of the bunch because of his loss in June to Yusup Batirmurzaev. Beyond that, Petriashvili has suffered multiple losses to both Amir Zare and Taha Akgul over the past few years keeping him from moving higher in the rankings.
86 kg Olympic champion Magomed Ramazanov comes in at #13 in the pound-for-pound. He's kept from rising higher due to his losses this year to Osman Gocen and Osman Nurmagomedov.
Though Yazdani lost to Ramazanov and Dake lost to Takatani, they stay ranked above those respective wrestlers in the pound-for-pound due to having much better career resume's.
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