Landon Robideau weighed in on the takedown review controversy during his bout with Penn State’s PJ Duke at the NCAA Wrestling Championships 2026. He shared the details of their showdown in an interview.
Robideau and Duke locked horns on Day 2 of the wrestling championship in the semifinal round of the 157-pound category. It was a tight matchup between two of the nation’s top freshmen, as the bout saw a scoreless first period. The Oklahoma wrestler gained momentum in the second round, as he secured an escape in eight seconds, taking a 1-0 lead.
The No. 1 seed escaped in the third period to tie the match at 1-1; however, he failed to earn a breakdown before regulation ended. Later in the match, Duke appeared to secure a takedown, but it was overturned by Oklahoma coach David Taylor, who challenged the call. The tiebreaker was eventually won by Robideau with a 3-1 decision.
Following his win over the top seed and securing a place in the finals, the fifth-seeded Robideau explained the takedown review controversy.
“I mean, obviously, we’re wrestling and kind of got in a position. He had a cradle and we do it all the time in practice, try to wave off takedowns, and I was able to kind of keep my foot on the outside, my arm on the outside, and wrestle through that position, get to my base, and they went and reviewed it, no takedown, and then I just kept my mindset straight,” said Robideau.
He added:
“It didn’t really matter. If I had to wrestle, I had to wrestle. If I didn’t, I was done. I’ll go cut weight. It didn’t matter to, matter to me. I want to win, but it didn’t change anything. My mindset didn’t change. I was still focused on the match, and I think just kind of helped me wrestle the rest of the match,” he added.
Landon Robideau Credits His Coach For His Win Over Top Seed PJ Duke
After defeating PJ Duke, who was the favorite to reach the finals, Oklahoma’s Landon Robideau credited his coach, David Taylor, for his victory. Revealing that he was excited to go against Duke, he said that he trusted his coaches and their plans for him.
“I mean, I was just excited to wrestle. I mean, I said from the beginning of the year and especially the last two tournaments that I want to wrestle the best guys in the country, and obviously, PJ is one of the best guys in the country. So I think just from that aspect, I was mentally prepared to go wrestle, and then, like I said, I posted on Instagram, I have the best coaches in the entire world and they put together pretty damn good game plans, and I just got to trust and believe in them and that’s kind of what I did,” said Landon Robideau in his post-match interview.
Landon Robideau made an incredible comeback after his Big 12 Wrestling Championships performance, where he secured a second-place finish in the 157-pound division after losing in the finals to Kaleb Larkin.
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