16 Facts About Zahid Valencia

Zahid Valencia was born on May 11,1997 and is an American freestyle wrestler and graduated folkstyle wrestler who competes at 86 kilograms.

When he graduated, Zahid Valencia was awarded the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award, was named the 2015 Junior Hodge Trophy winner, and was rated one of the top five recruits by multiple outlets.

Zahid Valencia had one of the most dominant freshman campaigns in the history of the school.

Once the season was over, Zahid Valencia was named the Pac-12 Wrestler and Freshman of the Year, and the Sun Devil Most Outstanding Wrestler.

At the NCAA championships, Zahid Valencia reached the semifinals with two pins and a major decision, where he defeated returning All-American Myles Amine by decision to make the finals.

At the Pac-12 Championships, Zahid Valencia recorded two dominant technical falls to claim his third straight title and was named the OW.

Zahid Valencia competed at the 2016 Beat the Streets dual against Mojtaba Goleij, where he was defeated.

Zahid Valencia was a two-time Fargo national champion at the cadet level.

Zahid Valencia made his senior-level debut at the Grand Prix of Spain on July 11,2015, where he placed second after victories over international opponents.

Zahid Valencia came back later at the Bill Farrell Memorial International, but was unable to place, going out with three victories and two losses.

Zahid Valencia came back to the freestyle scene in big fashion after his '18 NCAA championship run at the US World Team Trials of May 2018.

In December 2019, Zahid Valencia moved up from 79 kilos to 86 kilos and claimed his first US National title at the Senior Nationals of Fort Worth, Texas.

Zahid Valencia came back a month later at the 2020 Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series of January, in Italy.

Zahid Valencia racked up wins over '18 World Championship runner-up Fatih Erdin and avenged his losses to Alex Dieringer to claim the title.

Zahid Valencia headlined FloWrestling: Burroughs vs Zahid Valencia on November 14,2020, against '12 Olympic Gold medalist and four-time World Champion Jordan Burroughs, at a catchweight of 185 pounds.

At the weigh-ins, Burroughs weighed 178.2 pounds, while Zahid Valencia marked 184.1 pounds on the scale.