Dake Granted Delayed Wrestle Off for 2019 World Team
The world team roster for all weight classes and styles have been determined for the 2019 World Championships in Kazakhstan this September except for one: 79kg. Due to an injury, returning world champion Kyle Dake was unable to compete at either of the Final X wrestle offs that were held at Rutgers in New Jersey or University of Nebraska in Lincoln. USA Wrestling granted a delayed wrestle off to Dake which will take place in Austin Texas on August 17th.
Dake will face a familiar opponent in Alex Dieringer. Dieringer is three time NCAA champ from Oklahoma State University and has competed some outside of the United States, but has yet to win a spot on the US National Team. He earned his place to wrestle off against Dake by winning this year’s World Team Trials.
Dake was also highly accomplished in college winning four NCAA titles at four different weight classes from Cornell. He is also the 2018 World Cup champion and the 2018 World Champion at 79 kg. Dake had an automatic spot at the Final X wrestle off due to his world title from last year.
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This should be a very exciting match up between these wrestlers. Both are offensive minded and like to push for action on the mat. When you compare the two, Dieringer appears to have the size and strength advantage, but Dake has better scramble abilities and is a bit more explosive. Dake and Dieringer have wrestled before in freestyle with Dake emerging as the victor.
If Dake can get past Dieringer and win second world championship, it will set up 2020 to be a very interesting year for USA wrestling. 79kg is not an olympic weight class and Dake will have to decide to drop down to 74kg and face off against one of the greatest, if not the greatest American wrestler of all times Jordan Burroughs, or Dake will have to try to bump up to face off against J’den Cox.
The match up between Dake and Dieringer should be very exciting as both of these wrestlers would have a good chance of winning gold in at the world championships this year. Dake is ranked number one in the world at 79kg and Dieringer is ranked third. Let's hope that Dake is healthy and ready to compete in Austin on August 17th.
If you would like to learn technique from Kyle Dake, be sure to check out his video series titled “Defense Wins Championships by Kyle Dake”. In this four part series, he covers everything from stance to single leg defense to front headlock defense and much more. Be sure to take advantage of these videos to learn from one of the greatest college wrestlers of all times and current world champion.