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Iranian wrestler Alireza Noei moved to Brazil for Olympic dream, but found MMA instead

Wrestling is one of the main sports in Iran, so earning a spot in the Olympics is far from easy. When the opportunity came for Alireza Noei to seize a spot on the Brazilian national team at the 2016 Games, he didn’t think twice.

Noei flew to Brazil, aiming to work his way up in wrestling tournaments while waiting for his paperwork to be done. He said the Brazilian wrestling federation promised to help get it sorted. Unfortunately, that didn’t pan out.

“It’s hard to do it through Iran, and people told me if I trained really hard I would be able to compete for Brazil,” Noei told MMA Fighting.