Russia’s Ibragimov edges U.S. star McKenna at PWL event

Reigning European champion Ibragim Ibragimov of Russia emerged with a 4-0 win over U.S. National Team member Joey McKenna on Sunday evening at an overseas PWL men’s freestyle event.

Ibragimov executed in the critical moments of the contest, specifically in the first period. He scored a shuck-by takedown in the first 25 seconds and finished a quad-pod sequence as time expired in the period. A lost challenge from McKenna’s corner gave Ibragimov a 4-0 lead going into the break. The score held to the final whistle.

It is the second win by Ibragimov over one of America’s best. He previously defeated McKenna, 6-4, at the 2022 Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix, which is one of the toughest international tournaments held each year. 

In 2025, McKenna won the U.S. Open and finished as runner-up to eventual World medalist Real Woods at Final X. He also earned a pair of international medals in the past year—silvers at the Pan American Championships and Zagreb Open. He is a two-time age-group World medalist and two-time Senior Pan American champion. Ibragimov is a two-time U23 World champion and was fifth at the 2025 Worlds in Zagreb, Croatia.

The other featured match of the PWL event went down to the wire. 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Magomedkhan Magomedov of Azerbaijan won a back-and-forth, 6-4, decision against 2023 Senior World champion Rizabek Aitmukhan of Kazakhstan. Five takedowns were put on the board, three by Magomedov to Aitmukhan’s two.

An archived stream of the two matches is available to watch for free online at pwlworld.tv.