[19] During his junior year he won the Cliff Keen title (with wins over returning AA J.P. O'Connor of Harvard and defending NCAA champion Jordan Leen of Cornell), where he was named the Outstanding Wrestler.

Burroughs started his comeback senior season strong with a Harold Nichols Classic and Midlands Championships with a win over returning NCAA champion Andrew Howe in the finals, receiving the Dan Gable Most Outstanding Wrestler award due to his performance in the tournament.

[36] Burroughs started off his legendary year by winning the Dave Schultz Memorial International on February 1–4, where he defeated the likes of Tyler Caldwell and Trent Paulson.

He collected notable wins for his resume after beating the likes of Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov, Sosuke Takatani, Sadegh Goudarzi and Davit Khutsishvili, to claim gold.

[42] At the 2012 Summer Olympics of London on August 10, Burroughs opened up with a dominant 4–0, 6–0 performance over Francisco Soler from Puerto Rico and followed up with a 2–1, 1–1 score over Matt Gentry from Canada, to advance to the semifinals.

[43][44][45] The newly crowned Olympic champion, Burroughs won his second World Cup on February 21–22, defeating Sosuke Takatani, Ezzatollah Akbari, and Ali Shabanau.

[50][51] Burroughs made his second US World Team on June 21–23, when he defeated recent graduate and four-time NCAA champion Kyle Dake twice, remaining un-scored (7–0) in the first match and going to overtime (8–6) in the second.

[57] Burroughs travelled to Turkey to compete at the Yasar Dogu on February 15–16, where he won over Rashid Kurbanov (6–0) and Pürevjavyn Önörbat (TF 10–0) before his legendary 70-match win streak and undefeated 70–0 record since crossing over to freestyle full-time were broken by Nick Marable, in a 4–4 loss.

[63] At the US World Team Trials of May 31–June 1, Burroughs defeated Taylor for the third and fourth times in his senior career to secure the spot, the first a fairly dominant performance by the Olympic gold medalist (6–2) and the second as close as the US Open's match between the two (6–5).

[64] To warm up, Burroughs competed in Mexico City and claimed a Pan American title on July 15–17, while defeating the accomplished Liván López from Cuba in the finals.

[65][66] At the World Championships of September 8–14, Burroughs advanced to the semifinals without much problem, beating four-time African Champion Augusto Midana (spraining his MCL throughout the match) and Rashid Kurbanov, who would go on to win the Asian Games Gold medal 20 days later.

Despite initial success in the tournament, he was unable to secure his fourth consecutive World/Olympic title, as he was downed by Denis Tsargush 2–9, but captured the bronze medal by pinning Rustam Dudaiev from Ukraine.

He powered through Cuba's Liván López, Russia's Iakubali Shikhdzhamalov, Mongolia's Pürevjavyn Önörbat and Iran's Morteza Rezaei Ghaleh to claim his fourth straight World Cup.

[71] At the US World Team Trials of June 12–14, Burroughs defeated the challenger Kyle Dake twice, winning by decision in the first match (6–3) and dismantling the later 15' US National champion with a technical fall (14–4).

[72] To warm up, Burroughs won his second Pan American Games title on July 18, defeating Liván López (for the third time in his career), Jevon Balfour and Yoan Blanco.

[74] To start off the Olympic year, Burroughs won his second Yasar Dogu gold medal February 4–6, racking up notable wins over Soner Demirtaş and Zelimkhan Khadjiev.

[83] At the consolation semifinals, Burroughs was defeated in an impressive fashion, as Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (whom he had comfortably beaten a month prior) was able to pick up the win by technical fall over the American.

[87] At the tournament, he outscored his opponents 32 points to 2 up until the finals, where he was able to edge long-time rival Kyle Dake with a 2–2 criteria win to claim his fourth US Open title.

[91][92] He travelled to Madrid to compete at the Spain Grand Prix on July 15–16, where he picked up four victories and notable ones over Taimuraz Friev and Jevon Balfour, winning all of his matches with the same score, 10–0.

[97] He then faced Frank Chamizo for the first time, going to a close and exciting come-from-behind 6–5 decision win,[98] giving birth to one of the best rivalries in recent wrestling history.

[103] In a high-scoring match packed with action, Burroughs found himself defeated by the Italian via criteria, 10–10 to make the series a tie and claim his first silver medal in his entire freestyle career since crossing over.

He then picked up a solid win to make his way into the semifinals, where he was once again stopped by Zaurbek Sidakov by one point scored in the last second in a 3–4 match, forcing him to compete for the bronze medal.

[125] However, it was announced on January 8 that Taylor was unable to travel to Austin, Texas due to COVID-19 restrictions and the bout was subsequently postponed for four days later and changed its location for Lincoln, Nebraska, thus moving to a different card also named FloWrestling: Burroughs vs.

[136] Burroughs showed immense longevity in his career while displaying his signature double leg throughout the tournament, dropping All-Americans Hayden Hidlay and Chance Marsteller as well as three-time NCAA champion Jason Nolf, advancing to the finals.

[137] In a best-of-three series, Burroughs downed another three-time NCAA champion in Alex Dieringer twice in a row in frenetic bouts, getting back on the top of the podium for the first time since March 2020.

[138] During his second match with Dieringer, Burroughs suffered a torn calf muscle, and he was told by the doctors that he would need eight weeks to recover, but still represented the United States at the 2021 World Championships from October 3 to 4 in Oslo, Norway, less than a month later.

[139][140] To make his first World Championship final since 2017, Burroughs won four matches during the first date, including a close bout with two-time U23 European champion Radik Valiev.

[141] He topped Mohammad Nokhodi from Iran in the finals in order to capture the gold at the new weight class and become a five-time World Champion, cementing his legacy as one of the most accomplished American wrestlers of all time.

[151] In March, Burroughs made his first appearance of the year and swept the Yasar Dogu International field with four wins over foreign opponents to claim the gold medal.

[161] Burroughs has cross-trained with several high-profile figures from the MMA community over the years and has often been linked with making a move to the sport, but publicly explained on an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience that he had decided against doing so on account of his wife, Lauren, and a general concern for maintaining his health.