The 2026 was ground-breaking. In the Openweight division, the 4 semi-finalists were ONLY around 200 pounds each! A full-house (4,500 fans) witnessed some shocking upsets, amazing comebacks, and lots of drama in this 26th annual competition!
OPENWEIGHT HISTORY
In the past 25 years, the lightest Openweight Champion was Estonian Aap Uspenski (231 lbs) in 2002. App dominated a field of 49 competitors, including many, many World Sumo Champion medalists.
In 2026, though, not only was the Openweight Champion only 208 lbs (Edobor Konyeha), but ALL the Openweight semi-finalists were “tiny” – including Namig Sadigov (187 lbs), Maxim Lugansky (209 lbs), and Jackson Grady (186 lbs)! Literally, most of the smaller competitors defeated almost all of the larger opponents in the early rounds, so that there were actually ZERO heavyweights among the quarter-finalists!
PRO SUMO ZORIG
With 7 years of Pro Sumo experience, Zorig entered the US Sumo Open for the first time, weighing in at only 257 lbs, to make him the lightest heavyweight competitor. Recovering from illness, and with almost no training, he had dropped 50 pounds, but somehow managed to win the Heavyweight gold medal. Going into the last few matches, he had fewer wins than Angel (who earned silver). Angel lost a key match to Josh, which led to a tie-break playoff match between Angel and Zorig. With a victory there, Zorig clinched the title.
UNDEFEATED in LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
At his second US Sumo Open, the perennial Venezuelan Champion, Wlater, repeated his prior performance, with a perfect record for a gold medal. Top American contenders, Emilio and Jimmy, finished in the next two positions.
MIDDLEWEIGHT DRAMA
There was lots of excitement in this weight class, with 3 previous US Sumo Open Champions (Edobor, Nomin, and Maxim) all went head-to-head. At the end of the round-robin, the three men tied for 3rd held a play-off, with Edobor defeating both Danny and Brandon, for the bronze medal. There were also two men tied for first, so Maxim (Russia) and Nomin (Mongolia) went into a tie-break match for gold, which 6’5”Maxim won against the 5’5” Nomin.
LIGHTWEIGHT LEGION
The field was packed, so the prelim rounds whittled 15 contenders down to 8 quarter-finaiists. Among them, only foreigners advanced to the semis. Mongolia Khanaa, who barely made it to the quarters, via a 3-way tie-break, went undefeated after that, to win gold. Two Canadian semi-finalists, Hugo and former Azerbaijani Namig faced off, with Namig moving on. The prior year’s Ichinojo Prize winner, Makhmud (Uzbekistan) got bronze, while perennial medlaist, Seymur (Azerbaijan) won his pool, but faced the eventual gold medalist Khanaa in the quarters, and was not able to medal this time.
ICHINOJO
The Ichinojo Prize, presented by the legendary, former sekiwake, went to Jackson Grady, thanks to his stellar performance in the openweight class. As a lightweight, he took down heavyweight silver medalist Angel, followed by his fellow lightweight Hugo, and then another tough opponent, David, before he lost to the openweight gold medalist in the semis!
THANK YOU!
After 26 consecutive years of US Sumo Opens, we want to thank the 1,000+ athletes, the 55,000+ fans, and all the officials, staff, media, sponsors, and supporters, who have helped with sumo’s growth. Get ready for another packed house in 2027 . . .