Wondering if there are fans here, it´s big in the former soviet republics and there are several North American stars. Top 8 tournament just finished with the victory of Levan Saginashvili, but a huge champ Denis Cyplenkov didn´t compete this year after suffering some serious health issues. Total monsters, I´m bemused at how they compete so hard considering how painful a casual armwrestling round already is. Good news is older guys are able to compete at high level.
North american matches might en more entertaining to english speaking viewers, Devon Larrat playing mind games with his opponents gets intense :
Levan is a beast... probably stronger than Cyplen. Wonder how we would have fared against Brzenk at his peak (G.O.A.T in my book).
Unfortunate we might not see Levan/Cyplenkov, it doesn´t look a sure bet Denis will come back at top level. As of Brzenk yeah, he was most famous when I still had no idea what professional arm wrestling was, but even by russians he seems to be considered one of the greatest ever (i think Cyplenkov did say that in an interview) Destriero, in case you are not aware already, Devon Larrat shot many videos with Jujimufu recently, he always comes up as friendly and funny/slightly crazy guy, although he does his best to piss off his opponents big time during competitions. Jujimufu seems to be doing a lot for arm wrestling popularity in the US atm.
I started following the sport last year, after Devon Larratt had several appearances on the Jujimufu YouTube. Dude seems super cool and down to earth. More than just an arm wrestler too haha
Indeed, some funny videos, quite a difference with Levan Saginashvili in personality (and most likely strength) Talking of Levan, in a recent interview he states that he is willing to fight any of the top North American arm wrestlers, but not in their home turf, he said north american and eastern European arm wrestling are different and he doesn´t like the Western style and referring. Anyone could explain what the differences are ? I see longer matches in WAL but than it seems easier to watch full matches from WAL than from former Russian republics.
Good news, Brzenk is expected in next year Top 8, 95kg category (@ around 7mn30 mark) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2YrR0LG2gM