Jordan Burroughs will miss this weekend’s Freestyle Wrestling World Cup in Inglewood, Calif., as his wife, Lauren, is due to have the couple’s second child any day now.
“I have continued my training for the event and was ready to wrestle,” Burroughs said in a press release. “Realistically, it is difficult to be prepared this way, but I did what was necessary to compete at my best. I anticipated coming to Los Angeles until the last minute. ... I wanted to be there for the birth and to make sure Lauren was home and doing well before I went to wrestle. I can’t consciously, as a father and a husband, leave my wife before the birth or when she is still in the hospital. I want to be there for her. It was an extremely tough decision for me. It was a family priority decision.”
The 2012 Olympic champion Burroughs was to headline the event that included the other five members of the U.S. Olympic men’s freestyle team for Rio -- Daniel Dennis, Frank Molinaro, J’Den Cox, Kyle Snyder and Tervel Dlagnev.
Dlagnev will also not compete, USA Wrestling said Friday.
The other nations competing are Azerbaijan, Georgia, India, Iran, Mongolia, Russia and Turkey.
NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra will air live coverage of the World Cup on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, featuring the U.S. against Iran, and further coverage of medal matches at midnight ET.