Khadzhimurat Soltanovich Gatsalov (russian: Хаджимурат Солтанович Гацалов, born December 11, 1982, in Chikola,

North Ossetia–Alania The Republic of North Ossetia–Alania; os, Республикӕ Цӕгат Ирыстон — Алани, ''Respublikæ Cægat Iryston — Alani'', ) is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. Its population acco ...

) is a Russian wrestler. As of February 2020, he represents

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

. He won the gold medal in the freestyle 96 kg class in the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, he beat future UFC Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier in the semi-finals. He won five world medals in the 96 kg class at the

FILA Wrestling World Championships The World Wrestling Championships are the Amateur Wrestling World Championships organized by United World Wrestling. The Men's Greco-Roman Wrestling tournament began in 1904, and the Men's Freestyle Wrestling tournament began in 1951. The Women's ...

. In 2013, he moved up to the 120 kg class and won a gold medal at the

. He started his senior level competitive career at 84 kg in 2002 before moving up to 96 kg and 120 kg. Khadzhimurat is a devout Sunni Muslim In 2014, Gatsalov became Cormier's training partner ahead of Cormier's fight against Jon Jones at

UFC 182 ''UFC 182: Jones vs. Cormier'' was a mixed martial arts event held on January 3, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Background The event was headlined by a Light Heavyweight Championship bout between the champion at that ...

.UFC Presents, Bad Blood: Jones vs. Cormier
/ref>

References

External links

* 1982 births Living people Russian male sport wrestlers Olympic wrestlers of Russia Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Russia Olympic medalists in wrestling European Games competitors for Russia Wrestlers at the 2015 European Games World Wrestling Championships medalists Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics People from Irafsky District Russian people of Ossetian descent Sportspeople from North Ossetia–Alania World Wrestling Champions {{Russia-wrestling-bio-stub