Dake, Diakomihalis, Dean and Arujau headline Spartan Combat Wrestling I card Friday on FloWrestling
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by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
Graphic from Spartan RTC Twitter.
We are about 24 hours away from Spartan Combat Wrestling I, which will air on FloWrestling on Friday, Jan. 8 at 5:00 p.m. ET. This event, which started coming together only a few days ago, is shaping up to be quite entertaining.
Four top stars from the Spartan Combat RTC are featured on the Main Card, each facing a worthy opponent. The four hammers, all who have excelled for Cornell and for Team USA, are Kyle Dake, Yianni Diakomihalis, Gabe Dean and Vitali Arujau.
There are four featured matches, and a 15-match undercard. A look at the headliners follows:
Main Event bout - Kyle Dake vs. David McFadden
Kyle Dake, two-time World champion and four-time NCAA champion, one of the most talented wrestlers on the planet, has the most achievements of anybody on this card. In case you haven’t noticed, we are now in an Olympic year, and Dake is just four months away from making his run at the Olympics at 74 kg, a weight that has been owned by Jordan Burroughs since 2011. Dake scored a big win over multiple World champion Frank Chamizo in a FloWrestling event during the pandemic. He is entertaining and a huge favorite in this matchup.
His opponent is former Virginia Tech standout David McFadden, who is making his freestyle run as part of the Pennsylvania RTC. McFadden won the U23 Nationals title in November at 79 kg (the same weight where Dake has won two World titles). There is no doubt that McFadden is improving and getting better at his freestyle craft under the tutelage of Olympic champion Brandon Slay and others. But, what can we expect from him now, at this stage of his development, against a living legend? Let’s see.
Main Event bout - Yianni Diakomihalis vs. Anthony Ashnault
Yianni Diakomihalis has gotten so popular in U.S. wrestling circles that he only needs to go by his first name to be recognized. In fact, the Spartan Combat RTC is only putting “Yianni” on the matchup graphic. A two-time NCAA champion for Cornell, Diakomihalis was No. 2 on the Senior National Team at 65 kg in 2019, dropping a Special Wrestle-off to Zain Retherford. In 2020, he took an Olympic redshirt to focus on the Olympics and skipped the college season, which ultimately ended with no NCAA Tournament. This year, the Ivy League cancelled winter sports, so Yianni won’t be on the college mats this year. When he finally gets back to college wrestling in 2022, there will be a NLI rule in place for college athletes, so you can expect him to cash in on his fame. A past Cadet World medalist, his most recent showing was going unbeaten at the RTC Cup.
His challenger Anthony Ashnault is a rising talent in freestyle. They have often competed at the same major event, but not against each other. At the 2019 NCAA Championships in Pittsburgh, Diakomihalis was the NCAA champion at 141, with Ashnault winning his NCAA title for Rutgers at 149. At the Beat the Streets Gala event in Madison Square Garden, Diakomihalis beat Bajrang, while Ashnault dropped a close battle to James Green in another. Ashnault made the Senior National Team at 70 kg, while Diakomihalis earned his spot at 65 kg. Ashnault, a 2020 Pan American champion, has been active lately, including a fourth-place finish at FloWrestling’s 8-Man 150-pound challenge. Both athletes are popular with the fans, and this should be a real fun battle.
Main Event bout - Gabe Dean vs. Mike Macchiavello
The last few months have been interesting for Gabe Dean, a two-time NCAA champion for Cornell who had not been on the national circuit for a while. Dean entered the Senior Nationals in October, calling it a tune-up for the FloWrestling 8-Man 195-Pound Challenge. Dean was excellent in winning the Senior Nationals, and suddenly put himself back into the Olympic conversation. He was dominating his first round bout at the 195-Pound Bracket against Taylor Lujan, but got stepped over on and was suddenly pinned. At a Nittany Lion WC card, he gave World champion David Taylor a real close, competitive match in November. There is no doubt that this guy is for real in international freestyle.
Dean is moving up to face Macchiavello, who won an NCAA title for NC State then jumped in with both feet into the freestyle scene. Macchiavello qualified for the Senior National Team at 92 kg in 2019-20, and had been expanding his international experience leading up to the pandemic shutdown. Macchiavello is big and strong, a 97 kg athlete for the Olympic run, against a tough 86 kg wrestler in Dean. The question will be who controls the action in this match, and if the size difference has any impact or not.
Main Event bout - Vitali Arujau vs. Michael Colaiocco
Vito Arujau has a tremendous freestyle background. His dad is World champion Vougar Orudjov, who is a top coach in New York and has helped guide Vito’s career since he was a kid. Arujau has won Cadet and Junior World silver medals for Team USA. He qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials back in December 2019 at 57 kg, then came back in October 2020 to win a Senior Nationals title. Although not yet an NCAA champion, he will be a force once Cornell is back on the mats competing next year. He has been wrestling often lately, including a strong effort at the RTC Cup, and should be very sharp.
Another Ivy League star is Michael Colaiocco of Penn, who had a strong showing in placing second at the U23 Nationals at 61 kg. He had a quarterfinal win at U23s over Greco-Roman star Taylor LaMont of Utah Vallley (who was also going freestyle), then beat Iowa star Austin DeSanto in the semifinals. Since then, he was a winner by technical fall in the Battle on the Banks card in New Jersey last week. Although not internationally decorated like Arujau, he can scrap and has excellent technique, something that he will need against a slick freestyler like Arujau.
The undercard is loaded with athletes affiliated with Cornell or the Spartan Combat RTC in some way. Two All-Americans from the Big Red room, Ben Darmstadt and Max Dean, have secured matches.
People are looking forward to the battle between Anthony Artalona, an EIWA champion at Penn and top freestyle star in Fargo while a Florida high schooler, against Josh Saunders, a Missouri high school star who trained at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in the EAP program, and signed with Cornell.
One of the other stars of the Spartan Combat RTC, 2020 Senior Nationals runner-up Evan Henderson, will be on the undercard also, wrestling Hai Siu, who wrestled in college in Div. III for Greensboro, where he was an NCAA qualifier. At the Senior Nationals, Henderson beat Jaydin Eierman in the semifinals and lost a tough finals match to OW Andrew Alirez.
SPARTAN COMBAT WRESTLING I
Friday, January 8, 5:00 p.m. ET
Main Card
Kyle Dake vs. David McFadden
Yianni Diakomihalis vs. Anthony Ashnault
Gabe Dean vs. Mike Macchiavello
Vitali Arujau vs. Michael Colaiocco
Undercard
Ben Darmstadt vs. Khalil Shakur
Ryan Miller vs. Benny Gomez
Dom LaJoie vs. Dominic Chavez
Daniel Koll vs. Khalid Blankly
Anthony Artalona vs. Josh Saunders
Neil Antrassian vs. Chris Foca
Maximus Hale vs. Jon Loew
Ben Goldin vs. Lewis Fernandes
Colton Yapoujian vs. Jackson Dean
Julian Ramirez vs. Sam Erwin
Hunter Richard vs. Matt Jenkins
Jacob Cardenas vs. Khalil Belk
Evan Henderson vs. Hai Siu
Scottie Boykin vs. Brandon Williams
Max Dean vs. Khalil Shakur
We are about 24 hours away from Spartan Combat Wrestling I, which will air on FloWrestling on Friday, Jan. 8 at 5:00 p.m. ET. This event, which started coming together only a few days ago, is shaping up to be quite entertaining.
Four top stars from the Spartan Combat RTC are featured on the Main Card, each facing a worthy opponent. The four hammers, all who have excelled for Cornell and for Team USA, are Kyle Dake, Yianni Diakomihalis, Gabe Dean and Vitali Arujau.
There are four featured matches, and a 15-match undercard. A look at the headliners follows:
Main Event bout - Kyle Dake vs. David McFadden
Kyle Dake, two-time World champion and four-time NCAA champion, one of the most talented wrestlers on the planet, has the most achievements of anybody on this card. In case you haven’t noticed, we are now in an Olympic year, and Dake is just four months away from making his run at the Olympics at 74 kg, a weight that has been owned by Jordan Burroughs since 2011. Dake scored a big win over multiple World champion Frank Chamizo in a FloWrestling event during the pandemic. He is entertaining and a huge favorite in this matchup.
His opponent is former Virginia Tech standout David McFadden, who is making his freestyle run as part of the Pennsylvania RTC. McFadden won the U23 Nationals title in November at 79 kg (the same weight where Dake has won two World titles). There is no doubt that McFadden is improving and getting better at his freestyle craft under the tutelage of Olympic champion Brandon Slay and others. But, what can we expect from him now, at this stage of his development, against a living legend? Let’s see.
Main Event bout - Yianni Diakomihalis vs. Anthony Ashnault
Yianni Diakomihalis has gotten so popular in U.S. wrestling circles that he only needs to go by his first name to be recognized. In fact, the Spartan Combat RTC is only putting “Yianni” on the matchup graphic. A two-time NCAA champion for Cornell, Diakomihalis was No. 2 on the Senior National Team at 65 kg in 2019, dropping a Special Wrestle-off to Zain Retherford. In 2020, he took an Olympic redshirt to focus on the Olympics and skipped the college season, which ultimately ended with no NCAA Tournament. This year, the Ivy League cancelled winter sports, so Yianni won’t be on the college mats this year. When he finally gets back to college wrestling in 2022, there will be a NLI rule in place for college athletes, so you can expect him to cash in on his fame. A past Cadet World medalist, his most recent showing was going unbeaten at the RTC Cup.
His challenger Anthony Ashnault is a rising talent in freestyle. They have often competed at the same major event, but not against each other. At the 2019 NCAA Championships in Pittsburgh, Diakomihalis was the NCAA champion at 141, with Ashnault winning his NCAA title for Rutgers at 149. At the Beat the Streets Gala event in Madison Square Garden, Diakomihalis beat Bajrang, while Ashnault dropped a close battle to James Green in another. Ashnault made the Senior National Team at 70 kg, while Diakomihalis earned his spot at 65 kg. Ashnault, a 2020 Pan American champion, has been active lately, including a fourth-place finish at FloWrestling’s 8-Man 150-pound challenge. Both athletes are popular with the fans, and this should be a real fun battle.
Main Event bout - Gabe Dean vs. Mike Macchiavello
The last few months have been interesting for Gabe Dean, a two-time NCAA champion for Cornell who had not been on the national circuit for a while. Dean entered the Senior Nationals in October, calling it a tune-up for the FloWrestling 8-Man 195-Pound Challenge. Dean was excellent in winning the Senior Nationals, and suddenly put himself back into the Olympic conversation. He was dominating his first round bout at the 195-Pound Bracket against Taylor Lujan, but got stepped over on and was suddenly pinned. At a Nittany Lion WC card, he gave World champion David Taylor a real close, competitive match in November. There is no doubt that this guy is for real in international freestyle.
Dean is moving up to face Macchiavello, who won an NCAA title for NC State then jumped in with both feet into the freestyle scene. Macchiavello qualified for the Senior National Team at 92 kg in 2019-20, and had been expanding his international experience leading up to the pandemic shutdown. Macchiavello is big and strong, a 97 kg athlete for the Olympic run, against a tough 86 kg wrestler in Dean. The question will be who controls the action in this match, and if the size difference has any impact or not.
Main Event bout - Vitali Arujau vs. Michael Colaiocco
Vito Arujau has a tremendous freestyle background. His dad is World champion Vougar Orudjov, who is a top coach in New York and has helped guide Vito’s career since he was a kid. Arujau has won Cadet and Junior World silver medals for Team USA. He qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials back in December 2019 at 57 kg, then came back in October 2020 to win a Senior Nationals title. Although not yet an NCAA champion, he will be a force once Cornell is back on the mats competing next year. He has been wrestling often lately, including a strong effort at the RTC Cup, and should be very sharp.
Another Ivy League star is Michael Colaiocco of Penn, who had a strong showing in placing second at the U23 Nationals at 61 kg. He had a quarterfinal win at U23s over Greco-Roman star Taylor LaMont of Utah Vallley (who was also going freestyle), then beat Iowa star Austin DeSanto in the semifinals. Since then, he was a winner by technical fall in the Battle on the Banks card in New Jersey last week. Although not internationally decorated like Arujau, he can scrap and has excellent technique, something that he will need against a slick freestyler like Arujau.
The undercard is loaded with athletes affiliated with Cornell or the Spartan Combat RTC in some way. Two All-Americans from the Big Red room, Ben Darmstadt and Max Dean, have secured matches.
People are looking forward to the battle between Anthony Artalona, an EIWA champion at Penn and top freestyle star in Fargo while a Florida high schooler, against Josh Saunders, a Missouri high school star who trained at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in the EAP program, and signed with Cornell.
One of the other stars of the Spartan Combat RTC, 2020 Senior Nationals runner-up Evan Henderson, will be on the undercard also, wrestling Hai Siu, who wrestled in college in Div. III for Greensboro, where he was an NCAA qualifier. At the Senior Nationals, Henderson beat Jaydin Eierman in the semifinals and lost a tough finals match to OW Andrew Alirez.
SPARTAN COMBAT WRESTLING I
Friday, January 8, 5:00 p.m. ET
Main Card
Kyle Dake vs. David McFadden
Yianni Diakomihalis vs. Anthony Ashnault
Gabe Dean vs. Mike Macchiavello
Vitali Arujau vs. Michael Colaiocco
Undercard
Ben Darmstadt vs. Khalil Shakur
Ryan Miller vs. Benny Gomez
Dom LaJoie vs. Dominic Chavez
Daniel Koll vs. Khalid Blankly
Anthony Artalona vs. Josh Saunders
Neil Antrassian vs. Chris Foca
Maximus Hale vs. Jon Loew
Ben Goldin vs. Lewis Fernandes
Colton Yapoujian vs. Jackson Dean
Julian Ramirez vs. Sam Erwin
Hunter Richard vs. Matt Jenkins
Jacob Cardenas vs. Khalil Belk
Evan Henderson vs. Hai Siu
Scottie Boykin vs. Brandon Williams
Max Dean vs. Khalil Shakur
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