Saturday morning saw Otto Black (67 kg, NYAC/NTS) engineer a strong run to his bracket’s semifinal round and come just short of advancing to the gold-medal match. He still had an opportunity to compete for bronze, however, but a large early lead on the part of his opponent eventually translated to a loss and his finishing 5th.
The medal rounds on Day 2 at the 2026 Muhamet Malo “Ranking Series” tournament began at 6:00pm local time from Tirana, Albania (12:00pm ET) and streamed live in the US on FLOWrestling.
Earlier today, Black strung together three wins, with each match displaying hallmarks of his impressive development. He had started off by VSU’ing Ankit Ankit (IND) before prevailing over ’24 World silver Yerzhet Zharlykassyn (KAZ), and next he ended matters early in electrifying fashion against Singh Karanjit (IND). The three triumphs put Black in the semifinal opposed by notable Georgian Diego Chkhikvadze, who had defeated Team USA’s Alston Nutter (Army/WCAP) in the round-of-16. Black scored four offensive points in the first period in the semifinal and held that lead into the second period before Chkhikvadze scored a pair of takedowns and managed to escape with a 4-4 criteria decision.
In the bronze round stood ’24 U20 World gold/’25 silver Erzu Zakriev from Russia, who himself had gotten past Nutter prior in the tournament. Unlike Black’s first four bouts on Saturday, this one did not avail offensive points on his behalf. Zakriev responded amid an exchange near the edge to maneuver behind for a takedown and soon followed with a four-point lift that impacted off the boundary. The US corner challenged; the sequence was then reviewed and the scoring was upheld, but with an added point for Zakriev, whose lead had ballooned to 7-0. There were moments in the second period when it appeared that the official(s) might provide Black with a passivity/par terre chance, but they did not, this despite Zakriev’s growing hesitance to meaningfully engage. With the match winding down, Zakriev forced Black out of bounds to collect one more point, thus signaling the end of the match. The bronze went to Zakriev while Black had to settle for 5th.
Elsewhere
As reported earlier on Saturday, the Army tandem of five-time US World rep/two-time Olympian Ildar Hafizov (63 kg) and ’25 World Team member Alston Nutter (67 kg) also had potential opportunities to leave Albania with bronze. Hafizov had lost to Sakit Guliyev (AZE) in the opening round and Guliyev advanced to the final, thereby “pulling” Hafizov into repechage where he faced Bakytzhan Kabdyl (KAZ) and ultimately fell 12-7 following a curious call from the officials late in that match.
Nutter’s draw compelled him to wait for the winner between ’23 World Champion Sebastian Nad (SRB) and Tsuchika Shimoyamada (AUS, formerly of JPN). It was Shimoyamada who emerged victorious in that contest, due in large part to a reverse lift, and so he was assigned to square off against Nutter. True to form, Shimoyamada did open up to score, and he accomplished this by hitting Nutter with a headlock; but Nutter immediately clasped around Shimoyamada’s waist and rolled through to net two points plus position from top par terre. The ’19 Junior bronze and alumnus of NMU promptly locked a high gutwrench and proceeded to turn Shimoyamada the requisite number of times to record the win via stoppage at 13-4. Nutter was then defeated by Chkhivadze and Zakriev, the latter of whom in repechage, respectively.
Day 3
Nine Americans will compete on Sunday led by returning World Team members Max Black (60 kg, NYAC/NTS), Kamal Bey (82 kg, Army/WCAP), and Michial Foy (97 kg, Army/WCAP). Only two of the nine USA athletes will start in the qualification round — multi-time World Teamer Dalton Roberts (60 kg, Army/WCAP) and Foy. A more pronounced overview of the US competitors slated for action on Day 3 can be found here. All of their opening-round pairings are available below today’s results.
2026 Muhamet Malo
February 27-March 1 — Tirana, ALB
TEAM USA DAY 2 RESULTS
63 kg: Ildar Hafizov (Army/WCAP) — 10th
LOSS Sakit Guliyev (AZE) 9-0, TF
LOSS Bakytzhan Kabdyl (KAZ) 12-9
67 kg: Otto Black (NYAC/NTS) — 5th
WON Ankit Ankit (IND) 9-0, TF
WON Yerzhet Zharlykassyn (KAZ) 4-1
WON Singh Karanjit (IND) 8-0, TF
LOSS Diego Chkhikvadze (GEO) 4-4 (criteria)
67 kg: Alston Nutter (Army/WCAP) — 8th
WON Tsuchika Shimoyamada (JPN) 13-4, TF
LOSS Diego Chkhikvadze (GEO) 9-0, TF
LOSS Erzu Zakriev (UWW) 9-0, TF
TEAM USA DAY 1 RESULTS
77 kg: Britton Holmes (Army/WCAP) — 21st
LOSS Kaharman Kissymetov (KAZ) 8-0, TF
87 kg: Payton Jacobson (NYAC/NTS) — 7th
WON Adam Gardziola (POL) via fall
LOSS Islam Aliev (UWW) 5-1
TEAM USA DAY 3 DRAWS
55 kg: Billy Sullivan (Army/WCAP)
vs. Vishvajt More (IND)
*60 kg: Max Black (NYAC/NTS)
vs. Nihat Mammadli (AZE)
60 kg: Dalton Roberts (Army/WCAP)
vs. Kurmanbek Zhaparov (KGZ)
72 kg: Benji Peak (NYAC/Position WC)
vs. Iuri Lomadze (GEO)
*82 kg: Kamal Bey (Army/WCAP)
vs. Marjan Kola (ALB)
82 kg: George Sikes (NYAC)
vs. Prince Prince (IND)
*97 kg: Michial Foy (Army/WCAP)
vs. winner between Artur Sargsyan (RUS/UWW) & Murad Ahmadiyev (AZE)
97 kg: Keith Miley (Arkansas RTC)
vs. Artur Omarov (CZE)
130 kg: Aden Attao (NYAC)
vs. Sulkhan Buidze (GEO)
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