J'den Cox

J'den Michael Tbory Cox (/ˈdʒeɪdən/ JAY-dən, born March 3, 1995) is an American retired freestyle wrestler and folkstyle wrestler who competed at 92 kilograms. In freestyle, Cox was a two-time World Champion (bronze medalist in 2021) 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. During college, Cox wrestled for the Missouri Tigers, and was a three-time NCAA Division I national champion and four-time Mid-American Conference champion, becoming one of the most accomplished Tigers in the program's history.

Early life

Cox was born and raised in Columbia, Missouri and began wrestling at the age of four. The first youth state tournament Cox entered is the last state tournament at any level he did not win. Cox began training with Mike Eierman (Jaydin Eierman's father) in 2006 and continued training with Eierman until his move to the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2018.

Cox attended Hickman High School, where he was an all–state linebacker in addition to a standout high school wrestler. He was a four–time Missouri state champion, and one of the first wrestlers in Missouri to win titles at four different weight classes. A rivalry developed between Cox and fellow future multiple-time World Champion Kyle Snyder. Cox defeated Snyder in the Greco-Roman final while losing to Snyder in pool competition in freestyle. In 2012, Cox won a Junior National Championship in freestyle and took third in Greco-Roman.

College career

Cox stayed at home in Columbia and wrestled collegiately for the Missouri Tigers. Cox bypassed a redshirt year and wrestled right away for the Tigers at 197 lbs. in the 2013–14 season. He was a MAC champion and entered the 2014 NCAA Championships as the #2 seed. Cox defeated Nick Heflin of Ohio State in final to become a national champion. At the time Cox became just the 14th true freshman national champion in NCAA Division 1 history. Cox finished the season with a 38–2 record and was recognized as both the 2014 MAC Wrestler of the Year and Freshman of the Year. Cox was a MAC champion for the fourth time and was honored as the MAC Wrestler of the Year for the third time. In 2015, he placed fourth at the US Senior Nationals, falling to eventual 2015 World Champion Kyle Snyder by one point throughout the bracket.

2016 As a 2016 NCAA champion, Cox qualified to compete at the 2016 US Olympic Team Trials, and chose to trim down to 86 kilograms. Despite being the ninth seed, Cox was able to upset multiple high–level opponents to make the best–of–three, beating '11 NCAA runner–up from Oklahoma State Clayton Foster, '09 World Championship runner–up Jake Herbert and two–time US Open and NCAA champion Keith Gavin to reach the finale. There, he defeated four–time NCAA champion Kyle Dake, who was bumping up from 74 kilograms, two matches to one to claim the 2016 US Olympic Team spot.

However, the weight had not been qualified for the Summer Olympics for the United States, which meant Cox would have overcome a field at one of the qualification tournaments to qualify. Cox did just that when he comfortably won gold at the 2016 World Olympic Qualification Tournament I, his first tournament overseas. After defeating '12 University World Champion from Iran Meisam Mostafa-Jokar at Beat the Streets, Cox competed for Team USA at the 2016 World Cup, beating two–time Commonwealth champion Pawan Kumar, returning World Championship bronze medalist from Iran Alireza Karimi and 2016 European Championship runner–up Aleksander Gostiev, before being defeated himself by '12 Olympic bronze medalist from Georgia Dato Marsagishvili, helping Team USA reach fourth place. To warm up for the Summer Olympics, Cox placed third at the Grand Prix of Germany, suffering his lone loss to World and reigning Olympic champion from Azerbaijan Sharif Sharifov.

At the Summer Olympics, Cox claimed victories over Amarhajy Mahamedau and Alireza Karimi before suffering a loss to '09 Junior World Champion Selim Yaşar 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 Cox. This result drove Cox to becoming a bronze medalist at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

2017 After collegiate graduation, the three–time NCAA champion went on to defend his US World Team spot against reigning US National champion and eventual '18 World Champion David Taylor at the 2017 US World Team Trials in June. After losing the first match, Cox rallied to defeat Taylor twice in a row despite a knee injury to retain the spot, although controversially due to his excessive sweat and alleged passivity. At the 2017 World Championships, he most notably went on to defeat '12 Junior World Championship runner–up Ahmed Dudarov and Dan Kolov International champion Zbigniew Baranowski before losing to Boris Makoev, coming back and defeating 2010 World Champion Mihail Ganev for bronze.

2018–2019 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. He then went 1–2 at the World Cup, helping Team USA reach the team championship for the first time in 15 years. Cox then went on to claim the US National Championship and retain the US World Team spot at Final X. Before the World Championships, Cox went 0–1 at the Yasar Dogu.

Despite his low international success at the new weight class earlier in the year, Cox went on to claim his first World Championship for the United States, defeating two–time European Continental champion from Georgia Dato Marsagishvili, three–time Olympian from Moldova Nicolai Ceban, '18 Asian Games gold medalist from Iran Alireza Karimi and '16 European Championship runner–up from Belarus Ivan Yankouski.

The returning World Champion, 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. Cox then went on to defend his US World Team spot once again, headlining Final X Rutgers, where he shut down reigning US National champion, recently graduated three–time NCAA champion and Dan Hodge Trophy winner Bo Nickal twice in a row. He then swept past the prestigious Yasar Dogu field with all technical falls to claim the championship.

At the World Championships, the defending champion was able to retain his spot on top of the podium and claim his second World Championship, most notably defeating Irakli Mtsituri and Alireza Karimi.

2020–2021 To start off the 2020 Summer Olympic year, Cox moved up to 97 kilograms to fit the weight class requirements for the Olympics. In his first tournament, he most notably downed '15 Pan American Games champion (86kg) Reineris Salas and returning Junior World Championship runner–up Yonger Bastida to claim gold at the Cerro Pelado International. Cox was then scheduled to compete at the US Olympic Team Trials, however, the COVID-19 outbreak postponed both the US Team Trials and the Summer Olympics for a year later.

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. Cox was then expected to compete at the rescheduled US Olympic Team Trials, as the favorite to challenge reigning Olympic champion Kyle Snyder in the best–of–three. However, it was announced on the day of the event that Cox had missed weight, therefore he had been removed from competition. Days later, more detail was given to the public, and it was explained that Cox had arrived to the weight-ins on time, but once he had stepped on the scale and successfully made the weight limit of 97 kg, it had been thirteen minutes past the 8:00 AM deadline, therefore, it was ruled as invalid by USA Wrestling. Cox explained that he was misinformed of the weight-ins schedule by his coach Kevin Jackson, who is part of USA Wrestling.

Cox protested the decision and him and his coach Kevin Jackson decided to appeal, however, nothing came to fruition. A month later, Cox dropped the appeal and announced he had moved past the incident, stating; After the incidents, Cox moved back down to 92 kilograms and competed at the Poland Open on June 9. In an upset, Cox was defeated in the semifinals by a regional circuit wrestler from Ukraine, and forfeited his next bout.

Cox came back and competed at the 2021 US World Team Trials as the top-seed on September 11–12, intending to represent the country at the World Championships for the third straight time. He was once again 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, 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. The former champion defeated Ukraine in the bronze medal match to claim third place instead.

2022 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 Cox, which took place on March 16, 2022, in a best of three format. Cox was defeated in two straight bouts via decision.

2024 On April 19, 2024 Cox competed in the United States Olympic Team Trials for the 2024 Paris Olympics. He won his quarterfinal match over Christian Carrol by a 1-1 criteria decision. In the semifinals, he lost to Kollin Moore by a 2-2 criteria decision. Following the match, Cox left his wrestling shoes in the center of the mat to indicate that he was retiring from wrestling competition.

Personal life

J'den is the son of Michael and Cathy Cox, both musicians. Cathy has long been associated with Mizzou athletics herself: she regularly performs the national anthem at Tiger basketball games. He has two older brothers Zach and Drae, and a younger sister Chai. Cox posts videos teaching basic elements of sign language on social media, and Nike apparel supporting him includes the spelling of “Cox” in sign language.

Freestyle record

Res. Record Opponent Score Date Event Location

Win 88–19

Stillwater, Oklahoma Loss 87–19

Win 87–18

Win 86–18

Win 85–18

Win 84–18

Loss 83–18

Detroit, Michigan Loss 83–17

Win 83–16

Loss 82–16

Win 82–15

Win 81–15

Win 80–15

Win 79–15

Win 78–15

Win 77–15

Win 76–15

Loss 75–15

Warsaw, Poland Win 75–14

Win 74–14

Concord, North Carolina Win 73–14

Win 72–14

Win 71–14

Win 70-14

Lincoln, Nebraska Win 69-14

Austin, Texas

Win 68-14

Win 67-14

Win 66-14

Win 65-14

Win 64-14

Win 63-14

Win 62-14

Win 61-14

Win 60-14

Win 59-14

Win 58-14

Win 57-14

New Brunswick, New Jersey Win 56-14

Win 55-14

New York City, New York

Win 54-14

Buenos Aires, Argentina Win 53-14

Win 52-14

Win 51-14

Win 50-14

Win 49-14

Loss 48-14

Istanbul, Turkey

Win 48-13

Win 47-13

Win 46-13

New York City, New York

Win 45-13

Las Vegas, Nevada Win 44-13

Win 43-13

Win 42-13

Loss 41-13

Loss 41-12

Win 41-11

Loss 40-11

Kyiv, Ukraine Win 40-10

Win 39-10

Win 38-10

Win 37-10

Loss 36-10

Win 36-9

Win 35-9

Win 34-9

Win 33-9

Lincoln, Nebraska Win 32-9

Loss 31-9

Win 31-8

Loss 30-8

Win 30-7

Win 29-7

Win 28-7

Win 27-7

Loss 26-7

Win 26-6

Loss 25-6

Win 25-5

Win 24-5

Win 23-5

Win 22-5

New York City, New York

Win 21-5

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Win 20-5

Win 19-5

Win 18-5

Win 17-5

Win 16-5

Iowa City, Iowa Loss 15-5

Win 15-4

Win 14-4

Win 13-4

Win 12-4

Win 11-4

Loss 10-4

Win 10-3

Win 9-3

Win 8-3

Loss 7-3

Loss 7-2

Win 7-1

Win 6-1

Win 5-1

Loss 4-1

Win 4-0

Win 3-0

Win 2-0

Win 1-0