CLARION, Pa. — Division I All-American and Clarion Alumnus Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (’12), made a huge statement at the FILA World Championships over the last few days, earning a bronze medal at the 2014 FILA World Championships hosted in his hometown of Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and wrestling for Uzbekistan — his native country.Wrestling in the freestyle category and at 70kg, Bekzod won his bronze medal match by defeating Zalimkhan Yusupov (Tajikistan) 7-3.
Abdurakhmonov opened the World Championships with an 11-0 win over Zsombor Gulyas of Hungary, then defeated Mostafa Hosseinkhani of Iran 3-3 criteria. In the quarterfinals he lost to Silver medalist Yakup Gor of Turkey 4-1, bounced back to defeat Ayad Ibrahim (Egypt) 10-0 and then defeated Yusupov for the Bronze.
Bekzod wrestled at Clarion University at 165-pounds in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons. As a senior in 2012, he posted a record of 36-5, was EWL and PSAC Champion and posted a 5-1 record at the NCAA Division I Nationals to finish in third place. His only loss was to Penn State’s David Taylor. He defeated Kyle Blevins of Appalachian State 6-2 for third place and helped Clarion to an 18th place team finish.
Bekzod finished his career with a record of 74-17 at Clarion.
Bekzod was 38-12 at Clarion his junior season including a 3-2 record at nationals, losing in the All-America round. He was third at EWL’s and a PSAC Champion in 2011.
CLARION NOTES: Bekzod has also recently started an MMA career and has a record of 6-0. The wrestler made his MMA debut in 2013. He has won six-straight fights with finishes in each fight. In his most recent outing, he scored a first-round technical knockout of Marcel Goncalves at Victory 6 “Battle Royale.” Abdurakhmonov trains with Team Sityodtong with current UFC fighters Rob Font and Tateki Matsuda.
