2026 Men's Freestyle International Wrestling Rankings

70 kg - Ernazar Akmataliev

Ernazar Akmataliev takes over the top spot at 70 kg after former #1 Tulga Tumur-Ochir lost to Akaki Kemertelidze and Akmataliev defeated Zain Retherford. Despite the loss to Kemertelidze, Tumur-Ochir holds at #5 because of his wins this year over Sina Khalili, Abhimanyou Mandwal, and Magomed-Emi Eltemirov.

Ibagrim Ibragimov comes into the rankings at 70 kg at #4 after winning Russian Nationals while defeating Aznaur Tavaev, Maksim Li, Magomed-Emi Eltemirov, Magomed Adaev, and Inar Ketiya. 

Aznaur Tavaev moves up to #6 for his win over David Baev at Russian Nationals. Beyond the loss to Tavaev, Baev also lost to Konstantin Kaprynov. Though the win over Baev was significant, Kaprynov fails to move higher because of losses to Viktor Rassadin and Aysen Potapov.

Ridge Lovett jumps to #12 after defeating Akaki Kemertelidze and Kanan Heybatov to win gold at the 2026 Polyák Imre, Varga János & Kozma István Memorial. Lovett's loss this year to Maiis Aliyev keeps him from moving up higher. 

While Kemertelidze defeated Tumur-Ochir, his losses in the past year to Vasile Diacon and Sina Khalili keep him from moving up further in the rankings. 

As always, we’d love to hear your feedback - if you have thoughts, send them over by email to Jonathan.Kozak@flosports.tv or @KozakJon on X.