Jordan Burroughs Wins American Record 7th World/Olympic Title

Well there you have it folks.

Jordan Burroughs is officially the greatest American wrestler of all time. There’s no more disputing that.

After going 4-0 on Thursday in Belgrade, Serbia, Burroughs won his seventh World or Olympic title in Friday’s final. That’s more than any American in history. Let that sink in for a second.

With his newest gold medal, Burroughs now has 10 total World or Olympic medals and is an undefeated 10-0 in medal matches.

Burroughs went 5-0 at Worlds over the past two days, improving his career senior-level freestyle record to 223-15. He’s 26-1 since moving up from 74 kg to 79.

In the final, Burroughs again beat Iran’s Mohammad Nokhodilarimi, who he beat 5-1 in last year’s World final. Burroughs has now beaten an Iranian in a World/Olympic final five times.

In the match, Burroughs kind of started off slow but was using a lot of fakes, level changes, was clearing ties and pushing his opponent around the mat. He also exhibited some stellar defense on the edge, avoiding danger multiple times by staying in bounds.

For what it’s worth, Burroughs had a tough time getting through on his double-leg attempts, as Nokhodilarimi caught the shot with his famous Iranian underhook multiple times. With just over a minute left in the first period, Burroughs went on the activity clock and eventually gave up the point, giving Nokhodilarimi a 1-0 lead heading into the break.

In the second period, Burroughs upped his output considerably. He started the period by putting his head down and driving the young Iranian out of bounds for a step-out point and a 1-1 criteria lead. Just seconds later, Burroughs shot in for a blast double that put him up 3-1 (see below).

Nokhodilarimi was largely able to fend off Burroughs’ attacks with his underhook, but he was unable to get any offense going against the constantly moving American. Nokhodilarimi was put on the activity clock with just over a minute remaining and wasn’t able to score, giving Burroughs the point and a 4-1 lead.

With one second left and the match sewn up, Nokhodilarimi was able to get Burroughs out of bounds to cut the lead to 4-2, but it meant nothing as the final buzzer sounded, giving Burroughs the 4-2 win and a big dose of legacy.

Below, you can see a highlight video of his match.