The fight between Rustam Babaev against Tim Bresnan has a story, and it is completely ambiguous. Despite the victory of Rustam, the fans of each athlete remained unconvinced. Tim’s fans believe that Rustam was too cheating, in fact he was weaker, because more often the fight took place on Tim’s part of table and that only due to chance the outcome of the match ended not in Tim’s favor. To which fans of Rustam rightly answer that Tim has never been able to reach Rustam’s hand to the pillow, and that he received so many fouls that ultimately led to defeat, this is only a problem for Bresnan himself.

But these are things of the past. What are the chances of these athletes today, what are their strengths and weaknesses?

It is obvious that in the deep hook Rustam has a tangible advantage. But Tim’s wrist stretch is so strong that in the past armfight he prevented the Ukrainian armwrestler from falling into the hook. In response to the stretch, Babaev can oppose a faster start, which will allow him to get even if not in a deep hook (after all, Tim does not start with a relaxed hand and so he would not completely lose pronation) then at least in a convenient, attacking position. In this position, Rustam would have a slightly twisted wrist, an excellent working angle, the grip will be slightly shifted from the center to the Ukrainian’s pillow, and the opponent’s hand will be slightly supinated, which will prevent the American from using toproll.

But what will happen after the start depends entirely on the training of athletes. If Rustam can add both in the wrist and the working angle in the power indicators, he will be able to win by realizing the starting advantage, more likely not due to the fact that it will be easy to finish off the opponent, but due to the fact that he will restrain Bresnan’s attacks and carry out after them counterattack to victory. At the same time, if Tim did not stand still, thanks to his advantage in anthropometry, he could attacking Rustam’s wrist from this defensive position, lead the fight to the center and win. Well, if suddenly the rivals are again in approximately the same condition, then it is obvious that the victory will be won by the one who will more calmly approach the fight and make sure that he does not get fouls.

Our forecast for the match is 4-2 in favor of Rustam Babaev, because, as practice shows, even in case of equal power indicators he can make Tim get technical defeats. In fact, Rustam only needs to be able to stop Tim's hand. But will Rustam have such an opportunity? We will see very soon in the second stage of the Top-8.