Malkhas Amoyan named 2025 Greco-Roman Comeback Wrestlers of the Year

The 2025 Greco-Roman Comeback Wrestlers of the Year award winner is Armenia’s Malkhas Amoyan, the United World Wrestling (UWW) reported on Friday.

Like Maroulis’ four-year battle to get back to the top, Amoyan found himself fighting an uphill battle to regain world gold since his last title-winning run in Oslo in 2021. But after moving up from 72kg to 77kg, he struggled He fell one match short of his goal at the World Championships in 2022 and 23, and again at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games where he settled for three straight bronze medalists.

But 2025 was different, as the 26-year-old put on arguably the greatest Greco-Roman performance of the Zagreb World Championships, capping off his run to a second world title with an unexpected 9-1 thumping of reigning Olympic gold medalist Nao Kusaka of Japana.

“I became a world champion back in 2021 [at 72kg], but I really wanted to become world champion at 77kg,” Amoyan said. “For two years, I struggled with injuries, and nothing was going as it should. Thankfully, at this World Championships I was prepared — mentally, physically, and functionally — and by God’s grace I managed to triumph and become a two-time world champion.”