"Some Wear Singlets" - The Battle at 74kg
Jordan Burroughs
Every collegiate wrestling season sees new young wrestlers with great talent, but being the best wrestler in America is very different from being the best wrestler in the world. Also, the transition from collegiate folkstyle wrestling to the international freestyle is not always smooth. Cael Sanderson for example, the only wrestler to not lose a single match throughout his entire collegiate career (a record of 159-0) struggled to the make the adjustment. In 2000 Cael Sanderson failed to make the US Olympic team and failed to medal in the 2003 World Cup, but went on to win gold in the 2004 Olympics.
Jordan Burroughs is the best wrestler in the world at the 74kg (163 lbs) weight class. Fifty-six wins and no losses in international competition, Jordan Burroughs has won every international tournament and match he has competed in since he graduated from the University of Nebraska in 2009. Burroughs is a huge celebrity in countries like Iran and Russia where the sport of wrestling is more popular than in America. Opan Sat from Russia, ranked number one in the world at the 60 kg weight class, is seen snapping a picture of Jordan from a distance while Jordan is being interviewed in this video. In the same interview, Jordan compares participating in the World Cup of Wrestling in Iran to Justin Bieber walking through a high school: “Men were just crowding me, they just wanted to touch me, autographs, pictures, hugs, everything. It was sick and awesome. I loved it.” News coverage here.
Burroughs didn’t start his college career as a champion. Burroughs earned a starting spot on Nebraska's team halfway through his first season and only won one match at the NCAA championship tournament that year. As a sophomore, Burroughs finished 3rd and subsequently won the tournament as a junior and senior. Burroughs won the Hodge Trophy in 2011, his senior year, for the most dominant college wrestler (the wrestling equivalent to the Heisman Trophy).
After winning his 3rd US Open title in 2013:
Interviewer: Why was it important for you to be here - you didn't need to?
Burroughs: The fans, you see the fanfare...we don't get a chance to wrestle on American soil very often so anytime fans get a chance to see us compete I'm all for it. People wonder why the sport of wrestling isn't as big as it needs to be, but we only compete on US soil about once or twice a year.
Interviewer: Jordan, you've done a lot of this in a very short period of time, it's only been a couple years. Does it blow your mind how fast all of this is happening?
Burroughs: Oh yeah, I'm blessed, I'm just extremely blessed. I pray everyday, give thanks everyday to God for putting me in this position. I'm surrounded by a core group of people who are amazing – amazing coaches amazing family and all I had to do is work hard, so it's been a blessing for me.
The website flowrestling.org has lots of footage capturing Burroughs' physical abilities and charismatic personality off the mat: Burroughs in a rope climbing competition, Burroughs kicking a 30 yard field goal, Burroughs in a backflip contest, etc. In this video, Burroughs easily rips a phone book in half.
From this 2010 interview:
Mark Bader: Do you get nervous before you wrestle?
Burroughs: Sometimes - it depends on who I'm wrestling. You know, when you have a tough guy and it's going to be a one point, two point match I'm always nervous. I listen to my ipod right before the match, but once I step on the line and the ref blows the whistle, I go into a time warp so once I actually get to wrestling everything is different – I just get going and I'm not nervous anymore.
Bader: Do you think much or do you mostly react out there?
Burroughs: I just go. Anyone who wrestled can tell you – you know you've wrestled - when you're out there on the mat, time stops and you're in a completely different zone...
On the mat, Burroughs is famous for his double leg takedown:
The double leg takedown is similar to a football tackle. The attacking wrestler lowers his or her level to lunge at an opponent’s legs and then forces their way forward and up into the opponent's body. Successfully taking down a strong opponent is about creating an instantaneous vulnerability in which one's opponent is off balance or out of position and then capitalizing on that moment with perfect timing. In his matches, Jordan Burroughs creates a tremendous amount of motion, circling, pushing his opponent away, pulling on a head or arm and faking his shot to create an angle. Much of a wrestling match is usually spent in a sort of dance between two standing wrestlers who are looking to find an opening on their opponent.
Among his many notable international wins is this one against reining world champion Denis Tsargush of Russia in the second round of the 2011 World Championships in Turkey.
Andrew Howe, a senior from Wisconsin, was Burroughs primary competition for the United States World team in 2012. Howe took second at the NCAA tournament in 2009, won the tournament and 2010 and took third in 2011. Howe was the only college wrestler who was able to keep a match close with Burroughs in Burroughs' senior year at Nebraska. Howe likes to wrestle from a tie, bang and pull on his opponents head, and wrestler from a front headlock position where he'll spin behind and score. At the 2012 World Team Trials, Andrew Howe faced off against Burroughs in a best of three format to wrestle on the US National team and the London Olympic Games. The first match between Burroughs and Howe was close and exciting with constant attacking from both wrestlers and great scrambles. Howe accumulated four takedowns on Burroughs in that match but it wasn't enough to win. Howe suffered a knee injury in that match and was unable to return to the mat for a second.
Kyle Dake
The year that Burroughs entered the international wrestling scene was Kyle Dake's first year at Cornell University. Dake would go on to graduate Cornell in 2013 a Hodge Trophy winner and 2013 Sport's Illustrated Male college athlete of the year. Kyle Dake is the third wrestler of all time to win four NCAA championships in four years (Cael Sanderson and Pat Smith being the other two) and was the first wrestler to win four NCAA championships at four different weight classes. (Incidentally, he was also the first to win three NCAA championships at three different weight classes.) While still a senior at Cornell, Kyle Dake was Jordan Burroughs training partner for the 2012 Olympics in London.
Former NCAA National Champion Jordan Leen of Cornell on Kyle Dake (interviewed by ESPN during the broadcast of the 2010 championship tournament): “When he came in this year, he walked into the room expecting to beat everyone. He expected to beat me - he expects to beat anyone that he wrestles, so when he doesn't he doesn't understand why and he takes it personally.”
Dake wrestled at 141 pounds in his first season at Cornell and looked significantly bigger than his opponent Montell Marion in the NCAA Championship finals that year. Dake attacked in the first period but was unable to finish anything on Marion. Then, halfway through the first period Marion hit a beautiful inside trip which put Dake to his back and in danger of getting pinned. Dake defended by sitting to his butt and executing a spin-move where he basically slid out between Marion's legs to score in highlight-reel flurry of action. Dake rode Marion for the whole second period. In the third period, Marion went to work to try to dig himself out of a 5 – 1 hole. The third period was all attacks by Marion and defense by Dake who was visibly fatigued. Marion got in deep on a shot on three separate occasions: Dake defended the first attack from his butt, Marion scored on the second attack, and the third attack was cut short by the buzzer at the end of match. Dake won his first national title 6 - 3.
Over the years at Cornell Dake grew and moved up through weight class after weight class while always managing to look bigger and stronger than his opponents. As a sophomore, Dake dominated Frank Molinaro for his second NCAA championship, winning 8 – 1 and amassing an absurd six minutes and seventeen seconds of riding time. By his junior year he was wrestling on a completely different level, giving up only one takedown on the season, outscoring his opponents 48-3 and giving up only one point for stalling in his championship match against Derek St. John of Iowa. At this point, Dake was notorious for his monstrous mat returns and throws and his amazing shot defense. More than others, Dake is strategic and patient in his wrestling; he can attack when he needs to and he can wait for his opponent to make the first mistake. Most wrestlers chose the down position when given the choice in a folkstyle match, but not when wrestling Kyle Dake. Never choose the down position against Kyle Dake.
Kyle Dake scoring on a reversal and mat return against Tyler Caldwell. Dake is in the red singlet, Caldwell is in the orange singlet:
From this interview with Kyle Dake:
Luke Thomas: So I cover MMA for a living. People are dying to know, do you have any interest at all in MMA? What do you feel about it?
Dake: Not really for me. I've invested a couple hundred thousand at Cornell so...
Thomas: You would never consider it?
Dake: Well I might consider it if I had to, but right now I'm just going to focus on wrestling and if I have to, use my school work.
Thomas: Biggest take away from training with Burroughs is what?
Dake: He's a goer and he loves to win, so I have to step up my game if I want to compete.
Dake graduated from Cornell with degrees in economics and behavioral psychology.
David Taylor
Dake's 2011-2012 record breaking season wrestling as a junior at 157 pounds, shared the spotlight with another electrifying wrestler. David Taylor of Penn State was a phenomenal high school wrestler, winning four Ohio State Championships and countless accolades (all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA). Taylor is one of the most dynamic and versatile college wrestlers of recent memory. Taylor usually doesn't look stronger than his opponent but the speed of his movements and his ability to string together one attack after another allows him to wrestle at a completely different pace. In addition to his mat work and pinning ability, Taylor has a huge arsenal of takedowns and his ankle pick from a flurry of attacks inspires awe.
In 2010 - 2011, Taylor had an undefeated regular season as a freshman at Penn State and came in second at the NCAA tournament. Taylor lost his championship match that year in a major upset to the senior Bubba Jenkins. Jenkins wrapped up a cradle on Taylor after Taylor fell out of position while in deep on a shot and was winning the match 1-0. As a sophomore Taylor moved up to the 165 lbs weight class and no one could touch him. Taylor was a first team Academic All-American and went undefeated the whole season. He pinned his way to the NCAA tournament finals and then tech-falled his opponent Brandon Hatchett of Lehigh by taking a 15 point lead in the match and finishing nine takedowns. By the third period Hatchett was looking immobile and miserable as Taylor repeatedly took him down and let him up again, basically toying with him without breaking a sweat (Taylor is in the blue Penn State singlet).
The superduck takedown is widely considered to be one of the most slick and beautiful takedowns that a wrestler can execute. When executed cleanly, the misdirection allows the attacking wrestler to score a takedown while barely touching his opponent. At the 7:48 mark (about ten seconds into the third period) Taylor takes down Hatchett on the edge. At 7:57, Taylor lets Hatchett back up again. At 7:58 Hatchet turns to face Taylor. At 7:59 Taylor hits a beautiful superduck takedown on the edge - and the whole crowd "ooohs" in amazement. Taylor would win the Hodge Trophy that year.
Dake and Taylor, wrestling at two different weight classes with two completely different styles, were the two most dominant wrestlers of the 2011-2012 season by far. Dake and Taylor were also childhood friends and the two families met in various major tournaments. From this Wrestling Insider Magazine article about the family's relationship:
“When Kyle’s family would come to Ohio for the holidays, we’d meet Doug and Kyle somewhere up the road and bring Kyle home and let him stay with us four or five days, where they would train together at the house... It would kill me to have them wrestle now but they will some day,” added Dave Taylor, the father of the Penn State sophomore who finished second nationally last March. “But I’m sure it would be a lot easier than when they were kids.
David Taylor on the left, Kyle Dake on the right.
Kyle Dake and David Taylor both participated in the 2012 Olympic Trials that ended in Jordan Burroughs defeating Andrew Howe for a spot on the US Olympic team. Although it wasn't yet clear that Kyle Dake was going to move up a weight class for the collegiate season, both Dake and Taylor wrestled at 74kg in this tournament and faced off against each other after both wrestlers had already lost a match (Taylor lost to Howe and Dake lost to Trent Paulson). Dake beat Taylor handily in that match by a second period pin. There was some speculation that Taylor was wrestling hurt during the Olympic Trials Tournament but this is impossible to know because wrestlers never admit when they're injured and never make excuses for their losses. After that match Dake was asked if this would influence his decision to move up to 165 next year where he would face Taylor:
Even if we never wrestled or if I lost to him it wouldn't have mattered. I just got to do whatever my coaches want me to do, whatever is good for the Cornell team.Later that same summer Dake was asked to talk about the difference between the international freestyle wrestling and the collegiate folkstyle wrestling and to predict how the match between him and Taylor would have happened if it was a collegiate match. Dake looked uncomfortable with the question and offered: "I mean...it's hard to project, we're both pretty different wrestlers when it comes to folkstyle...um...but I mean...it's hard to project really."
If Dake stayed at 157 or if Taylor moved weights either up or down, the two greats would have avoided facing each other and both Dake and Taylor would probably have had another undefeated season of uncontested domination. When the 2012-2013 season began, Dake had officially decided to move up to 165 generating much anticipation for this “match up of the century.” The unstoppable force and the immovable object were poised to face-off for up to three folkstyle matches over the course of the college wrestling season. For many of the sport's fans, Dake and Taylor were the only two wrestlers at 165 that mattered. The first of Dake – Taylor matches was an exhibition match at the NWCA All-Star classic which kicks off the regular season each year. The MMA blog Bloody Elbow published a post titled "The Biggest College Wrestling Match Maybe Ever: Kyle Dake vs. David Taylor" describing NWCA All-Star classic event:
There were ten enthralling matches in the main dual, but one in particular demanded the attention of the wrestling public. At 165 pounds, the wrestling match of the century was taking place between David Taylor and Kyle Dake...This is a true "planets aligning" situation as generational talents, such as these two, rarely lock horns as collegians. The eyes of the wrestling world were justly fixated on the mat in our nation's capital.
Both athletes wrestled conservatively for this first match, careful not to make a mistake. Dake, looking bigger and stronger than the lanky Taylor went to a front-headlock position for much of the match. Dake scored first with an escape from the bottom position underneath Taylor, then David Taylor got in on a deep shot and a vicious scramble ensued but was cut short by the end of the second period. In the third period Dake executed a huge backlift and mat return landing Taylor on his head, but Taylor used the opportunity to escape from Dake and knotted up the score at one apiece. There were no takedowns for the duration of the match, and it went into two over times before finally being resolved in favor of Dake who was able to escape from underneath Taylor. This match foreshadowed how closely matched these two champions were and how exciting subsequent matches would be.
The match of the century part II happened at the championship of the Southern Scuffle tournament and was a heart-pounding followup to their first encounter. Flowrestling's coverage of this match began with the camera trained on a pacing Dake while Mark Bader read twitter predictions about this match from behind the camera. Four seconds into the match Dake got in on a deep double leg shot from his knees and lifted Taylor off the mat, slamming him back down. A scramble ensued ending in both wrestlers doing a full split while each locking up the ankle of his opponent and the ref called a stalemate and brought them back to their feet – no score.
In the third period Taylor scored a two point reversal giving him a 2 to 1 lead. With one minute left in the third period the ref called a highly controversial two point reversal in favor of Dake as the two wrestlers rolled far out of bounds. Taylor was now underneath Dake and had 39 seconds to escape for one point which would tie up the match and take it into overtime. With four seconds left in the match Taylor hit a perfect standing granby (basically a somersault from standing to get away from someone holding your waist) and was literally inches away from his escape, but time expired with Taylor on top of Dake and Dake holding on to Taylor's leg with just fingers. A mix of cheering and booing for the ref ensued. Joe Williamson interviewed Penn State coach Cael Sanderson after the match:
Joe Williamson: Any comments on the second match between Kyle Dake and David Taylor?
Cael Sanderson: Well you got it on film, so... [long pause]
Williamson: (changing the subject) Alright, so where do you guys have to -
Sanderson: But yeah, that's a great match. They are two of the greatest wrestlers in the history of college wrestling so it's good stuff.
In February 2013 the International Olympic Committee recommended that Wrestling be removed from the 2020 Olympic games sending waves of panic through the wrestling community. As a result, a multi-national movement began to campaign on behalf of the sport of wrestling and adjust its rules to broaden its appeal and generate more excitement for the sport of wrestling. Part of this concerted effort was felt in the more theatrical atmosphere generated at the NCAA Championship tournament in March that year.
March 23rd 2013, NCAA Championship Tournament, Iowa Events Center - a tremendous amount of hype was generated for the seemingly inevitable third and final matchup between Dake and Taylor. As expected, Taylor and Dake plowed their way to the championship with ease, with Taylor pinning every one of his opponents in the first period. The championship was set with Dake on a 76-match win streak looking to make wrestling history and the only person in recent memory with any chance of beating him. The NCAA adopted a “main-event” style format for this match. Instead of wrestling the championship matches in weight class order as usual, Dake and Taylor were slated for the night's finale and they were called out into a darkened arena to the dramatic announcement of their name, with theme songs blaring, spotlights and smoke machines. Flowrestling has "pre-match" footage of both wrestlers waiting for the end of the match before theirs – something that can happen at anytime and without warning. Anyone who has ever wrestled can recognize the extreme nerves and anxiety felt by both these wrestlers before the match of their lives. Both pace back and forth anxiously. Dake is bouncing around and shaking his arms and moving his head from side-to-side by the entrance to the arena deep in his own thoughts, surrounded by cameras and his coaching staff. An occasional hint of an excited smile can be seen on his face. At 2:15 into the video Dake starts singing along to his song "All I do is Win" by DJ Khaled.
Taylor is wearing shorts and large headphones and his movements are punctuated by an occasional sucking in of a deep nervous breath or a sudden shout of excitement. Thirty seconds into the video Taylor takes off his headphones and starts to do light drilling from the standing position with assistant coach Casey Cunningham who is wearing dress shoes, a tucked in dress shirt, dress pants and a tie. When finally called out to the arena, his coaches lag behind as ESPN cameras hound him and Taylor bounces on his toes and yells excitedly.
Both wrestlers looked better than ever before. Taylor scored first with a cross ankle-pick and shoved Dake out of bounds - the first takedown ever between these two in a folkstyle match (Taylor is in the blue).
Taylor got in deep on other occasions but couldn't finish. Just as Taylor figured out how to wrestle with Dake from standing, Dake figured out how to beat Taylor in scramble situations:
Taylor was trailing 4-2 late in the third period and struggled to get out from underneath Dake. With just 23 seconds left in the match Taylor executed a beautiful escape from his feet and the two scrambled out of bounds making the score 5-3 with Taylor getting one point for the escape and Dake getting a point for having ridden Taylor for more than one minute. With 19 seconds left and a fresh start on the center of the mat Taylor needed a takedown to tie the match. Taylor started attacking ferociously and Dake backed away to the edge of the mat. Taylor took a shot with eight seconds on the clock and got in deep on Dake and likely would have scored if the Dake hadn't backed all the way out of bounds. Dake's backing up resulted in Taylor being awarded another point making the score 5-4. With three seconds on the clock the two wrestlers lined up in the center of the mat. On the whistle Taylor took two steps forward, Dake took two steps backward and then Taylor stopped wrestling and bent down to take off his ankle bands conceding the bout.
The International Scene
The international wrestling season starts one month after the end of the collegiate wrestling season, so the following sequence of events happened quickly.
April 20th 2013, US Open, Las Vegas, Nevada - Dake sat out of this tournament, possibly because of end of the semester school obligations. Taylor had a stellar performance, crushing his way to a championship match against Jordan Burroughs. No one but Burroughs was able to score a single point against Taylor. At one point, the second seed Nick Marable had the leg of a hopping David Taylor raised well over his own shoulder and Taylor made defending the attack and scoring his own takedown look effortless. Burroughs always seemed to be one move ahead of Taylor and beat Taylor 3 - 1 in the first period and 1 - 0 in the second period. Taylor scored a single one point push-out against Burroughs but no more. When Burrough's hand was raised, Taylor was bleeding heavily from underneath his right eye after having been head-butted from a Burroughs double leg.
May 15th, Grand Central Station, New York City – At Rumble on the Rails, some of the best American wrestling talent faced off against the Russians and the Iranians in Grand Central Station. Taylor won his match against Dzhukaev of Russia with a second period pin. Burroughs beat Saba Ktubetzhty of Russia in a battle that cost him a tooth. And Kyle Dake was the only American wrestler to win a match against the Iranian national team.
Burroughs and Taylor warming up for the event:
June 7th - new rules for freestyle wrestling are approved by a FILA congress in Moscow to encourage faster pace wrestling matches. The new rules make freestyle wrestling more similar to collegiate folkstyle wresting with a cumulative score over two three minute periods, two points awarded for a takedown and overtime periods in the case of a tie.
June 21st, World Team Trials, Stillwater, Oklahoma – In the battle to represent the United States on the world stage, Taylor's only loss came to Kyle Dake in a match that came down to a takedown attempt by Taylor in the final seconds of the match. In the wrestle-backs Taylor faced off against Andrew Howe for the “true-third” finish and quickly ended the match with a 7-0 tech fall in 50 seconds. As per custom, Burroughs got to sit out of the World Team Trials to face off against one opponent - the winner of the Challenger Tournament in a best-of-three match format. Dake won the Challenger Tournament beating David Taylor, Trent Paulson and Andrew Howe. The match between Dake and Howe was tied at 2-2 after six minutes of regulation wrestling and the two went on to wrestle for another 5 minutes and 45 seconds of over time before Dake scored off of a shot by Howe. Joe Williamson interviewed Dake before his next match against Burroughs:
Joe Williamson: You're in a position now to take down an Olympic champ, is that something you've thought about?
Dake: This is what I've been training for. I haven't been training to try to beat Paulson, I haven't been training to try to beat Taylor or Howe I've been training to beat Burroughs and that's what I'm going to do tonight.
In a different pre-match interview Dake was asked about how he was going to beat the best wrestler in the world and without skipping a beat responded: “I'm the best wrestler in the world.”
You have to go far back into Burroughs' college career to find the last time he lost and it's hard to imagine him ever losing. Wrestlers as strong as Burroughs seem as invincible as a comic book superhero. In Flowresting's pre-match analysis Joe Williamson comments: “I didn't think that Dake could roll with Howe – he gets the win and all of the sudden I start questioning what I think.”
The two matches between Burroughs and Dake that day at the World Team Trials raised more questions than they answered about who is and will be the best wrestler at 74kg in America. Burroughs was fresh for the match and Dake was exhausted after having wrestled a long and grueling day which is comparable to wrestling while injured. In the first match, Burroughs took Dake down on demand and won with a 7-0 tech fall just two minutes into the first period. This match could not be more of a statement from the reigning World Champion and Olympian to this young and confident challenger. Kyle Dake's second match against Burroughs was an inspiring display of courage and grit. After getting steamrolled by his opponent in their first meeting, Dake made adjustments to his game such that this second match was tied 6-6 at the end of regulation and went into overtime – about the closest thing to a loss Burroughs has seen thus far at the senior level. Burroughs won the match but Dake showed the world something they had never seen before - Burroughs being picked up and thrown hard for three points.
Looking Ahead
What happens next? There can be no doubt that the great battles between Dake and Taylor transformed what could have been a “laid-back” senior year to a year of tremendous growth for both wrestlers. Dake-Howe in 2013 was completely different from Dake-Howe in 2012 and similarly, Taylor wrestled in the 2013 US Open and World Team Trials on a completely new level. Like the Dake-Taylor collegiate rivalry, a Dake-Burroughs rivalry is sure to sharpen to the skills of both competitors for the duration of their international careers. When, if ever, will Taylor get the victory over Dake which has been so elusive until now? Will Dake jump past Burroughs and arrive as a dominant force on the stage of international wrestling or will Burroughs do to Dake what Dake has done to Taylor and always stay one inch out of reach? Taylor has one more year of college wrestling ahead of him and his dominance seems all but guaranteed, but in the sport of wrestling nothing is guaranteed.
Taylor was interviewed after the tournament:
Interviewer: After winning what were your feelings?
Taylor: It’s a grueling weight class, everyone knows how tough the weight class is. I was in on a shot to be in the final - I didn’t finish, I had to battle back through. It’s not easy when you lose these tournaments, when you win there's a lot longer rest. But there’s also a lot of relief, I’m on the national team as a college guy, I beat some good guys, I wrestled everyone in my weight class so I know where I am and I know what I got to improve on.
Interviewer: If I can take you back to your match against Dake earlier, is there anything you would have done different?
Taylor: I wrestled a good match, I was in on a shot to win, like I said – um, I didn’t finish. But, … [here Taylor's voice gets shaky and he pauses shaking his headed, apparently fighting back tears]…it’s been eating at me all day but I can’t change anything. I thought I wrestled a good match and gave myself an opportunity to win and that’s all you can really ask for.From Jordan Burroughs' blog:
"You may not be the best in the world, but I guarantee that you will have no regrets.” Those words ring in my head each time I step on the mat. There are no promises in wrestling, or in life for the matter...Success is what you make it. Take comfort in knowing that if you gave your all and still didn't win, it wasn't meant to be. If you do win, recognize that hard work helped get you there. Win or lose, your family will still be your family. Your friends will still be your friends. Anyone who matters, will still be by your side just because you had the courage to go out and fight. The courage to put your foot on the line, under the lights, with no helmet, no teammates, and no pads. Not all superheroes wear capes. Some wear singlets.
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