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Jax Forrest recently made an emotional confession about overcoming the loss of a close friend as he made it to the US team for the World Wrestling Championships. The teenage wrestler defeated Vito Arujau in a best-of-three challenge at the Final X tournament to qualify for the World Championships.
In a post-match press conference, Forrest opened up on the challenges and his emotional turmoil after losing his close friend, Liz. The wrestler revealed that she had passed away only a few days before the Final X, and the day of the tournament, i.e., June 14, was coincidentally the day of the funeral.
"Yeah, I mean it's everything. It's um, you know, one of my really good friends, Liz, uh, Spotty, she passed away, um, I think on the 10th (June). So it would've been four days before the final X, and you know I was crushed. You know, she was one who was a big Oklahoma State fan," he said [3:10 onwards].
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Jax Forrest showed the interviewers the photo of his friend as he added:
"I'm sure all you guys have seen her face, seen her face, let me show you [shows her photo]. It's crazy, on Final X [June 14], that was the day of her funeral, so you know Dad brought this down for some good luck, and you know it was a really hard time for me."
Jax Forrest will represent the USA in the men's freestyle [61kg] category wrestling at the Senior World Wrestling Championships, which shall be held in Zagreb, Croatia.
Jax Forrest opened up about competing with Vito Arujau ahead of Final X
![Jax Forrest opens up about competing with Vito Arujau [Image Source: Jax Forrest's Instagram]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2025/07/6f2b5-17525486540342-1920.jpg)
Jax Forrest previously mentioned how he would face Vito Arujau ahead of the Final X tournament. In his conversation with Justin Basch for the podcast session of Baschamania held in April 2025, the teenage wrestler mentioned that he would have to give his best if he wanted to make it to the World Championships and avoid a repeat of his performance at the US Open.
"So I kind of like I put in my Instagram caption like, 'I'm just gonna surrender the outcome', and you know, I, that's just literally what it was you know, during the match, and then even after the match. You know, I was telling myself, you know, the first thing I was telling myself was I really didn't. I don't think I wrestled to the best of my ability. Like, my immediate thought was I'm gonna wrestle better [than] Vito to beat Vito," he said [10:15 onwards].
Jax Forrest had won a silver medal at the U17 World Championships held in Rome in 2022. The teenage wrestler had also won a gold medal at the Senior Pan American Championships held a couple of months ago in Monterrey, Mexico.
