Welcome to the Sunday Match Vault! I am of the strong belief that wrestling is a doing sport much more than it is a watching sport. It’s a sport of creativity and problem solving and craft-honing and above all, it’s just fun to do. If you are presently foregoing an opportunity to be actually wrestling and are instead reading this article, then I urge you to turn off whatever screen you are looking at and go participate.
That said, watching wrestling can be very entertaining. At the end of the day it’s an art, and art should be appreciated, and can even help to inspire your own works. This goes without saying, but there are so many good matches every year. So many that we tend to only really shine a spotlight on the matches with the most on the line. This can lead to prioritizing the stakes and results over the actual techniques, exchanges, and storylines. The goal of these articles is to take a dive into some matches you might not have seen or have forgotten because they didn’t happen in the finals of some big tournament. Take a read through and watch the match, and analyze it from your own viewpoint as well.
I’ve always been fascinated with the Cuban wrestling team.
They are famously under-resourced, but still manage to produce world-caliber wrestlers year after year. There’s a special kind of grit you can see when watching the Cuban team wrestle, as if there’s a lot more on the line than just a win in a wrestling match, and no one exemplifies this grit better than Yowlys Bonne.
Coming into the 2018 Freestyle World Championships, Bonne was 34 years old and had a pair of world bronze medals hanging in his trophy case. He would go on to win his first and only world championship that year, punctuated with an iconic win over future world champ Rashidov of Russia in the finals. His 5 point throw with one second left in the first period of that final would become one of the most memorable moments of that tournament.
It’s not that match, however, that I want to talk about. In the quarterfinals, Bonne squared off against Mohammadbagher Yakhkeshi of Iran and they put on a masterclass of entertaining ebbs and flows. They spend the first minute locked up, pushing hard for mat position, neither really firing off a committed attack. Yakhkeshi keeps Bonne mostly towards the edge of the mat until about a minute and a half in when Bonne hits a slide by, nearly getting a takedown and ultimately forcing Yakhkeshi out of bounds for 1 point. Two minutes in, Bonne shoots a single and immediately comes up to a body lock with Yakhkeshi going down to a quad pod position, fighting off the takedown. Bonne tries forcing a knee down by dropping pressure on his calf but Yakhkeshi defends. Bonne builds up some rotational and bouncing momentum and swings to the side to try to lock up a cradle, doesn’t get the lock, but Yakhkeshi bails and Bonne collects 2 for the takedown. Bonne wraps his far arm around Yakhkeshi’s waist with his body off to the opposite side, gets a crotch lock and scores a 2 point exposure with a crotch lift. He tries for another to no avail. The first period ends 5-0 in favor of Bonne.
This is where things get interesting. Bonne comes back from the break looking a little tired and the period kicks off with Yakhkeshi getting back to controlling the center of the mat. Bonne takes a couple of half-committed shots and tries that same slide by on the edge, but this time gets pushed out of bounds to put Yakhkeshi on the scoreboard. Now Bonne’s fatigue starts showing more clearly. He takes a second with his hands on his knees then slowly walks back in bounds, where Yakhkeshi is waiting, already trying to encroach past the center of the mat. Next sequence, the ref stops the action for laced fingers and Bonne grimaces and takes a few seconds to shake his hands out. Yakhkeshi gets right back on the offensive, fending off Bonne’s half shots, and pushing him literally millimeters from the edge of the mat.
Bonne’s awareness here is incredible. Watching this sequence I had to go frame by frame to understand what happened. Yakhkeshi pushes into him to try for a stepout and Bonne manages to keep his foot in bounds. His left hand hits out of bounds, followed by the heads of both wrestlers as Bonne hips into Yakhkeshi with his inside leg between Yakhkeshi’s. This propels Yakhkeshi up into the air and his momentum brings him out of bounds. In the video there is only a single frame in which you can see Yakhkeshi’s foot land out of bounds with his other knee an inch off the mat to prevent them from being grounded. One point for Bonne.
Now the wheels really start to fall off. Bonne is already on the retreat before the whistle even blows and Yakhkeshi scores a pushout without much resistance and follows it up with another shortly after that. 6-3 with 1:22 to go. Bonne takes more than 10 seconds to get back to the center. He fires off a half-hearted single and immediately gives up on it as Yakhkeshi goes behind for an easy 2. Bonne nearly gives up a gut wrench here but manages to fend it off and takes another 10 seconds resting on the center of the mat. Another diving shot for Bonne, another easy takedown with Yakhkeshi and Yakhkeshi now has the lead 7-6 with exactly a minute to go. The ref blows it dead and Bonne takes 15 seconds resting on the mat and biting at the tape on his fingers. Bonne retreats and Yakhkeshi shoots a single and lifts him out of bounds for another point. 8-6 Yakhkeshi with 37 seconds to go.
Yakhkeshi, still on the offensive, snatches an easy single and has Bonne’s leg up high in the air with 24 seconds left. Bonne jumps and dives for Yakhkeshi’s far leg and lands contorted on his belly holding the right leg at the knee. Yakheshi pushes at Bonne’s knees, leaving him completely flattened out, locked around Yakhkeshi’s leg at the crotch with 13 seconds left. Bonne releases the hold and gets a lock around Yakhkeshi’s back and builds up to his knees with 10 seconds left. Bonne is pulling the lock into him with every ounce of strength he has left, and as their chests get closer and closer together, their bodies lift off the mat until both are standing with Bonne still squeezing hard with his body lock. With 4.3 seconds left Bonne laces his leg in for an inside trip and brings Yakhkeshi straight down to his back for 4 to regain the lead 10-8. Points are awarded with 2.5 seconds left and Bonne returns to the grave from which he rose. He lets go of any wrestling hold and just lays on top of Yakhkeshi, possibly falling asleep for the remaining seconds.
Yakhkeshi pushes on Bonne’s face to get him off of him and Bonne gives an annoyed half-push back. Bonne sits there emotionless, until the ref helps him up to shake hands and Yakhkeshi shrugs in disbelief.
Pure. Cuban. Grit.