35 Facts About J'den Cox

J'den Michael Tbory Cox is an American retired freestyle wrestler and folkstyle wrestler who competed at 92 kilograms.

In freestyle, Cox was a two-time World Champion at 92 kilos, and while competing at 86 kilos, he claimed a bronze medal from the 2016 Summer Olympics and a 2017 World Championship bronze medal.

J'den Cox was born and raised in Columbia, Missouri and began wrestling at the age of four.

The first youth state tournament J'den Cox entered is the last state tournament at any level he did not win.

J'den Cox began training with Mike Eierman in 2006 and continued training with Eierman until his move to the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2018.

J'den Cox defeated Snyder in the Greco-Roman final while losing to Snyder in pool competition in freestyle.

In 2012, J'den Cox won a Junior National Championship in freestyle and took third in Greco-Roman.

J'den Cox was ranked the third-overall recruit in the 2013 class by FloWrestling and sixth overall by InterMat.

J'den Cox stayed at home in Columbia and wrestled collegiately for the Missouri Tigers.

J'den Cox defeated Nick Heflin of Ohio State in final to become a national champion.

At the time J'den Cox became just the 14th true freshman national champion in NCAA Division 1 history.

J'den Cox suffered his first loss of the year in the semifinal to Kyle Snyder and suffered another loss to Morgan McIntosh in consolations before finishing 5th.

J'den Cox joined Ben Askren as the only other two-time national champion in school history.

In 2017, J'den Cox finished off his collegiate career with another national championship.

J'den Cox was a MAC champion for the fourth time and was honored as the MAC Wrestler of the Year for the third time.

J'den Cox was the first three-time national champion in program history.

J'den Cox was an accomplished freestyle wrestler growing up, claiming multiple US National Championships, despite never competing overseas.

However, the weight had not been qualified for the Summer Olympics for the United States, which meant J'den Cox would have overcome a field at one of the qualification tournaments to qualify.

J'den Cox did just that when he comfortably won gold at the 2016 World Olympic Qualification Tournament I, his first tournament overseas.

At the Summer Olympics, J'den Cox claimed victories over Amarhajy Mahamedau and Alireza Karimi before suffering a loss to '09 Junior World Champion Selim Yasar in the semifinals, getting knocked off to the consolation bracket, where he posted a victory over reigning Pan American Games champion Reineris Salas, in a match were the Cuban refused to continue after suffering a takedown from J'den Cox.

J'den Cox made his return by moving up to 92 kilograms in February 2018, claiming a silver medal from the Ukrainian Open after losing to World and Olympic champion Sharif Sharifov in the finale.

The returning World Champion, J'den Cox claimed his first Pan American Continental Championship in his first tournament of the year, helping the US reach gold in all of the 10 freestyle categories in the competition.

J'den Cox then swept past the prestigious Yasar Dogu field with all technical falls to claim the championship.

J'den Cox was then scheduled to compete at the US Olympic Team Trials the COVID-19 outbreak postponed both the US Team Trials and the Summer Olympics for a year later.

J'den Cox did not come back to action until a year later when he competed at a series of FloWrestling events, compiling six more wins in total during January and February 2021.

However, it was announced on the day of the event that J'den Cox had missed weight, therefore he had been removed from competition.

J'den Cox explained that he was misinformed of the weight-ins schedule by his coach Kevin Jackson, who is part of USA Wrestling.

J'den Cox protested the decision and him and his coach Kevin Jackson decided to appeal nothing came to fruition.

J'den Cox was able to show off his signature movements and went unscored throughout his championship run, downing NCAA champions Drew Foster and Myles Martin, as well as powerhouse Kollin Moore.

At the 2021 World Championships, J'den Cox ran through his first three opponents on the first date, before being downed in a frenetic match by two-time U23 World Champion Kamran Ghasempour in the semifinals.

In late 2021, it was announced that the brand RUDIS would organize an event headlined by a super match between Olympic, World and NCAA champion Kyle Snyder and J'den Cox, which took place on March 16,2022, in a best of three format.

J'den Cox has two older brothers Zach and Drae, and a younger sister Chai.

J'den Cox's uncle Phil Arnold was a two-time Missouri state champion for Hickman High School.

J'den Cox has lost most of the hearing in his left ear and some of the hearing in his right.

J'den Cox took classes on sign language in both high school and college and one day would like to teach those who are hearing impaired.