Arujau, Forrest to meet at 61 kg in men’s freestyle at 2025 Final X in Newark, N.J.

Get ready for fireworks in the men’s freestyle 61 kg series at 2025 Final X. Two-time World medalist Vito Arujau is set to battle high school phenom Jax Forrest for a spot on Team USA on June 14 at Prudential Center.

Arujau and Forrest both display a unique brand of offense that often results in exciting exchanges on the mat and points in bunches. The two have not competed against one another on the Senior level. Both did enter the 2024 World Team Trials with Arujau winning the event and Forrest coming in third place.

61 kg has been Arujau’s weight domestically the past two years. He brought home a Senior World title in 2023 and backed it up with a bronze-medal outing last year in Tirana, Albania. Arujau is a two-time age-group World silver medalist and two-time Senior Pan American champion. He automatically qualified for Final X by earning a medal at the 2024 Senior World Championships.

Forrest won a silver medal at the 2022 U17 World Championships and has been on the cusp of making several age-group World Teams since. He turned heads on the Senior level last year by winning a stout bracket at the Last Chance Olympic Trials Qualifier and finishing in fourth place at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at 57 kg. The 18-year-old Forrest qualified for Final X by earning top prize at last month’s U.S. Open in Las Vegas.

Although he is young in years, Forrest’s wins speak volumes. The up-and-comer has collected Senior level wins over U.S. World Team member Seth Gross, Final X champion Nahshon Garrett and Senior level standouts Nathan Tomasello, Liam Cronin and Daniel DeShazer. Gross, Garrett and Tomasello are all NCAA champions.

Arujau was a two-time NCAA champion, four-time NCAA All-American and two-time EIWA champion for Cornell University from 2019 to 2024. Forrest has committed to Oklahoma State University and will be a freshman for the Cowboys next fall.

Final X will determine the 2025 U.S. World Team in two international disciplines—men’s freestyle and women’s freestyle. In total, 20 weight classes will be contested, 10 in each discipline. The top two U.S. athletes in each weight classes will wrestle a best-of-three series at Final X to determine the U.S. representative at the 2025 Senior World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.

This June will mark Arujau’s third Final X appearance. He finished as runner-up to Thomas Gilman at 57 kg in 2022 before moving up to 61 kg a year later where he defeated Nahshon Garrett in two straight matches. Forrest has not competed at Final X previously.

Final X will serve as the Beat the Streets New York Annual Benefit, the 15^th BTSNY Annual Benefit to date. These unique electrifying events help BTSNY raise more than $1 million each year to support local youth wrestling programs which empower young people in New York City. The BTSNY Annual Benefit after-party will follow the conclusion of Final X.

Arujau holds a 2-0 record at Beat the Streets events. His lone appearance came at Final X in 2023, which was also held at Prudential Center. Forrest has not competed at a prior Beat the Streets event.

Benefit tickets and sponsorship packages (Final X plus exclusive after party celebration access), that also provide the best wrestling-event seats, are available at give.btsny.org/2025FinalX. Proceeds from Benefit tickets and sponsorship packages will directly help BTSNY serve NYC youth. For more information on ticket packages, email BTSNY Executive Director Brendan Buckley at bbuckley@btsny.org. 

Event-only tickets for Final X without access to the BTSNY after-party celebration are available on Ticketmaster.

FloWrestling will serve as the host broadcast partner for Final X. Fans can watch the event live or on-demand at FloWrestling.com.

Online results for Final X will be available on USA Bracketing, USA Wrestling’s new best-in-class event management software.

Final X will be held in two sessions on Saturday, June 14. Session I, which starts at 2 p.m. (ET), will feature round one in each best-of-three series. Session II, which starts at 5 p.m. (ET), will continue with round two and if-necessary round three matches. Match order for each session will be provided at a later date.

For more information about Final X, please visit themat.com.