TEHRAN – Hassan Yazdani defeated his American rival David Taylor 6-2 in the final bout of 86kg in the 2021 World Wrestling Championships underway in Oslo, Norway on Sunday.

It was their fourth meeting.

Yazdani and Taylor first met at the 2017 Wrestling World Cup in Kermanshah, Iran. Despite Yazdani getting out to a 3-0 lead, Taylor stormed back and was ahead 8-4 before eventually pinned Yazdani.

In the 2018 World Championships, Yazdani was up 6-2 before Taylor came back to win 11-6.

And in the 2020 Olympic Games final, Yazdani was ahead 3-2 with only 18 seconds left in the match before Taylor scored the winning takedown.

Yazdani, nicknamed the Greatest, finally defeated the Magic Man in their fourth match and won Iran’s first gold medal in the 2021 World Wrestling Championship.

Reporting by Masoud Hossein/Photo by Martin Gabor