“I think it’s my time. I think my prime and it’s my era,” said a grinning Zahid Valencia in June, about how he hopes to dominate the 2025 World Championships, slated for next month in Zagreb, Croatia. The Cowboys RTC wrestling star had just taken down the 4x world champ Kyle Dake in the best-of-three series at the Final X, making his confidence look all the more emphatic. However, it looks like the two-time NCAA gold medalist will have to face more challenges heading into the September rumble than he had bargained for.

Valencia will start his quest for the elusive World Championships gold medal in the European city by taking on Kamran Ghasempour, a two-time Senior world champion and a 2x U-23 world champion. Goes without saying, the former Arizona Sun Devil will have his work cut out for him at the top-tier wrestling competition. But it seems like the Iranian heavyweight’s fans are already doing their best to start their mind games to break the Cowboys RTC wrestler’s spirit.

GlobalWrsetOrder took to X on August 21 to share the eyebrow-raising text Valencia recently received via social media. “You got to love Iranian fans,” reads the caption of the post, as the accompanying video clip shows one fan of Ghasempour taking the fight to the 2024 Pan American Championships gold medalist. “My child, you are not going to beat Kamran,” the DM shared an ominous prediction about Zahid’s upcoming bout. “Prepare yourself. Kamran wants to tear you apart,” the message read further.

With that, the sender of the text also drew a sordid conclusion that they believe should make the Cowboys RTC star tremble on his feet. “Kamran Ghasempour is the king of the world,” the DM points out. Well, it’s not like the boastful claim is unfounded. After all, the Iranian wrestler’s accolades speak for themselves.

Along with his junior and senior World Championships feats, Kamran is also a two-time Asian Champion and boasts a thunderous 75-4 senior career record. But hey, the Cowboys RTC’s Zahid Valencia isn’t one to be discounted either. The 28-year-old Bellflower, California, native is also a World Championships medalist (bronze at the 2023 edition of the competition), has six Grand Prix golds, and three US Open golds to his name.

Moreover, since Valencia transferred to the Cowboys RTC last year, he has been training extensively under David Taylor, a Penn State alum and an Olympic gold medalist himself. “I was very happy at ASU, but something needed to change, for sure. The definition of insanity is the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. So I knew I had to get out of my comfort zone, and man, I’ve been so grateful, so blessed,” said Zahid about his move to Stillwater, Oklahoma.

His elated feeling was further amplified by the fact that with the right people from the Cowboys RTC behind him, Valencia managed to take down Kyle Dake (5-3, 4-1) at Final X, a 2x Olympic medalist and a four-time Pan American champion. But then again, Ghasempour is currently ranked #2 in the world in the 86kg weight bracket, after his step down from the 92kg category. But fret not, Valencia won’t be without help in Croatia.

The Cowboys RTC will arrive in Zagreb with all guns blazing

Ever since the “Magic Man” took the job of the Cowboys’ head coach, the country’s wrestling community has been divided. While his former colleagues and peers at Penn State were visibly upset at Taylor accepting the role at an opposing camp, the Olympic champ has remained steadfast on his goal to reinstate Oklahoma to its former glory days. With that in mind, David has been adding the best talent from all over the world to the Cowboys RTC. And all that effort has been showing results.

Oklahoma finished the 2025 NCAA D1 Wrestling Championship in third place, behind Penn State and Nebraska. Just weeks later, three Cowboys wrestlers raised the regional training center’s flag high at the US Open by winning three gold medals at the competition. And now, Taylor will have more reasons to smile as Wyatt Hendrickson will join Zahid Valencia at the 2025 World Championships. “We don’t want to just win nationals, we want to take over the world,” said Hendrickson after defeating Trent Hillger at the Final X in the 125kg class.

But these two Americans won’t be the only representation of Team Taylor in Zagreb. Mirzo Khayitov has also received his ticket to the World Championships and will be competing for Uzbekistan next month. A proud member of the Cowboys RTC, Khayitov’s feat naturally made Taylor gleeful, and the latter even took to social media to note his support for his mentee.

With all these familiar faces around, how well do you think Zahid Valencia will fare at the international wrestling tournament? Tell us in a comment!