How Tyler Kasak Upset Jacori Teemer (#1)

Tyler Kasak took over the #1 ranking last weekend by upsetting the previous #1 Jacori Teemer, in a very solid match. I’m super hyped for this, had to make the video, if you’ve saw the other video I made about Ty’s journey through NCAA’s last year you’ll know why.

The first period was pretty tame, as matches like this tend to be. Hand-fighting, some pokes, nothing crazy.

Teemer gets first choice in the second and defers, which is strange, cause usually you pick bottom immediately so you can get first point and get choice in overtime if it comes to that, maybe he doesn’t subscribe to that idea or is just not super confident in his ability to get out on bottom. Kasak takes down, Teemer doesn’t try to ride him out at all, pretty much just lets him go immediately, giving Tyler the 1-0 lead.

25 seconds into the period. Tyler goes from a righty collar to a lefty low leg. This kind of a shot from this tie-up has become super popular in recent years, Teemer’s left foot was pretty far forward so it was an easy thing to poke at without giving up much risk. If he doesn’t land the shot on the ankle it’s very easy to come back up to the tie-ups and then continue looking for attacks. Ty doesn’t have to though, he gets a piece of it so lets go of the tie up and commits to the shot. Normally when someone gets a low leg it’s important to start defending right away, especially if you’re not in a position to sprawl and kick your foot back. You fall forward, wrap around the waist, look for ankles to funk, or wrap around the body for a bodylock if your opponent goes out the back door. You would try to trap an arm and then get out to the trapped arm side, or maybe look win-dixie or funk if all of that falls apart. Doing this just gives you options, but Teemer doesn’t. He tries to stay square but Tyler does a good job rotating and keeping an angle. Teemer tries to kick away and get free, which I don’t recommend. Doing this in neutral always runs the risk of your opponent keeping the ankle and getting an easy takedown. We saw that little blunder happen to Luke Lilledahl when he lost to Peterson at Rutgers, a rookie mistake in my opinion, something that is pretty easily corrected.

Tyler has the angle, close to collecting both ankles, and so Teemer kicks back over the body. You would do this so you can reset the position a bit and initiate the scramble by again, folding yourself over the top of your opponent and looking for ankles and other options, but Teemer’s weight is just too far backwards, so we can’t tell if he’s even going for this kind of thing or if he’s just trying to use athleticism to get himself free. Try not to run away from situations, try to turn and fight. Either way, Tyler keeps the ankle to his chest, head in the leg above the knee, keeps pressure on the leg, and wraps the left side for the easy double and the takedown. At this point it’s really difficult to defend, this is similar to a low leg, head in the knee, tripod, circle to a double, which is incredibly difficult to scramble against and a finish I would lean on more often than not. Tyler finished his shots twice like this when he wrestled Ridge Lovett at NCAAs last year, it’s just super hard to stop. If this was freestyle it would be leg lace heaven by the way. Tyler is up 4-0.

25 seconds to go, Tyler has a claw ride and a leg pry, this is sketchy here due to Teemer’s position, in this half stand-up, if you keep driving pressure forward you could easily slip off, so it’s honestly better if you release pressure, switch sides a little, maybe pull backwards into a crab ride if you’re comfortable. At worst your opponent gets to a stand-up as you release pressure and you deal with that, which isn’t a huge deal. Lift or give up an escape, either way there’s not much damage done.

Teemer tries a granby roll from here, which looks more like a side flip. Tyler loses track of it and almost gives up a reversal, probably because he hits his head pretty hard on the mat due to the granby. I really don’t recommend trying to granby when someone has a claw on the near side, you’re putting yourself on your own back at this point, if Tyler had a better grip, or circled his hips to the left as Teemer tried to flip over, he could have easily put him on his back.

10 seconds left in the period, Teemer chases and tries multiple attacks, though Tyler never seems to be in too much danger. Ty almost gets a takedown here, Teemer gets a left collar tie and digs for a knee pick on the right, which Tyler easily uses the underhook to deflect, throw the arm over, and almost gets a takedown. Reaching like this is super dangerous, I do not recommend doing that, it’s really easy for a technical wrestler to use the collar tie arm against you. Teemer’s technique and decision making in this match so far have been pretty subpar.

Teemer chooses bottom, Tyler rides him out for a minute, locking up riding time, so technically it’s currently 5-2 after Teemer escapes.

No score for the rest of the period, so nothing too crazy. At the end Teemer gets a front headlock and goes for an inside trip, but Tyler catches the leg and lifts Teemer up, and so gives us that iconic moment you saw in all of the social media. Tyler lets the time run out and gets the victory, while holding Teemer up like this. Normally I don’t recommend you do this, finish the takedown, but this kind of a takedown and/or situation can get hectic very quickly on the way down to the mat, so it’s just best that he holds position and gets his win. And an awesome win this is, making Tyler Kasak the #1 wrestler in the country at 157. And so now I have a #1 ranked wrestler in the country in college who I trained as a youngster. That’s really cool. So proud of him, he continues to improve and make waves. As his mom says, Keep at it Kasak.