Marcus Glenn Blaze(born November 23, 2006) is an American freestyle and folkstyle wrestler who competes at 61 kilograms and 133 pounds. In freestyle, he was the 2025 U20 World champion, upgrading a bronze medal from the 2024 edition, and the U17 World champion in 2023. Blaze was an NCAA Division I All-American for the Penn State Nittany Lions in 2026.

Career

High school

2022–2023

Originally from Michigan, Blaze started wrestling at an early age alongside his brother Joey before moving to Perrysburg, Ohio. A four-time OHSAA state champion out of Perrysburg High School, Blaze is one of the top-ranked high school wrestlers in his weight class.

In 2023, he defeated top-ranked in NCAA Division I Matt Ramos during a college open while a high school junior. In the U17 freestyle age group, Blaze claimed a U.S. national championship and a world championship at 55 kilograms in 2023.

2024

Making his senior level debut, Blaze competed at the US Olympic Team Trials at 57 kilograms in April 2024, as a high school junior. After a first-round loss to two-time NCAA champion Nick Suriano, he came back to defeat NCAA champion Nico Megaludis and U20 World finalist Luke Lilledahl before receiving a forfeit to make the third-place match, where he defeated U17 World finalist Jax Forrest to make the US National team.

Back to the age group, now in his first year of U20, Blaze made the US World Team at 61 kilograms in August and earned a bronze medal from the U20 World Championships in September, only losing to eventual 2024 world champion Masanosuke Ono from Japan.

A week after his bronze-medal performance, Blaze went back to the senior level to compete at the US World Team Trials. Storming to the finals, he took out 2018 NCAA champion Seth Gross, 2016 NCAA champion Nahshon Garrett, and 2021 world silver medalist Daton Fix to make the best-of-three. In the finals, he was defeated back to back by reigning world champion Vito Arujau, earning second.

2025

In April, Blaze placed third at the US Open National Championships, notably defeating NCAA champion Nathan Tomasello and three-time All-American Michael McGee, though falling to NCAA champion Seth Gross.

In May, Blaze bumped up to 65 kilograms to compete at the US World Team Trials, where he was victorious in four out of five matches, notably defeating U17 World champion Bo Bassett and falling to two-time NCAA champion Jesse Mendez. In June, he defeated Brock Hardy in a true-third match at Final X to earn a spot on the US National Team.

Freestyle record

Senior Freestyle Matches
Res.RecordOpponentScoreDateEventLocation
2025 U23 World Championships 17th at 65 kg
Loss17–6Kyrgyzstan Bilol Sharip Uulu2–4October 26, 20252025 U23 World ChampionshipsSerbia Novi Sad, Serbia
2025 US World Team Trials at 65 kg
Win17–5United States Brock Hardy8–2June 14, 20252025 Final XUnited States Newark, New Jersey
Win16–5United States Carter Young4–0May 16–17, 20252025 US World Team Trials ChallengeUnited States Louisville, Kentucky
Win15–5United States Bo Bassett5–1
Win14–5United States Aden Valencia2–1
Loss13–5United States Jesse Mendez1–4
Win13–4United States Carter Young9–4
2025 US Open at 61 kg
Win12–4United States Ben Davino7–0April 25–26, 20252025 US Open National ChampionshipsUnited States Las Vegas, Nevada
Win11–4United States Michael McGeeTF 10–0
Loss10–4United States Seth GrossFall
Win10–3United States Nathan Tomasello2–1
Win9–3United States Fernando BarretoTF 11–1
Win8–3United States Juan DiazTF 10–0
2024 US World Team Trials at 61 kg
Loss7–3United States Vito Arujau1–3September 14–15, 20242024 US World Team TrialsUnited States Omaha, Nebraska
Loss7–2United States Vito Arujau1–2
Win7–1United States Daton Fix2—2
Win6–1United States Nahshon Garrett5–0
Win5–1United States Seth Gross7–5
Win4–1United States Kyle Burwick6–2
2024 US Olympic Team Trials at 57 kg
Win3–1United States Jax Forrest8–1April 19–20, 20242024 US Olympic Team TrialsUnited States State College, Pennsylvania
WinUnited States Daton FixFF
Win2–1United States Luke Lilledahl5–1
Win1–1United States Nico Megaludis2–2
Loss0–1United States Nick Suriano2–4

External links