In his first competition of the year, Taylor dominated through the Grand Prix of Paris in January, and despite being initially banned by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, he went on to compete at the World Cup on February, at Iran. At the World Cup, he displayed amazing skillset when he dominantly defeated four top-level opponents in impressive fashion; '12 Olympic bronze medalist and two-time European Champion Dato Marsagishvili in the first round (8-3), that year's World Championship bronze medalist Vladislav Valiev (TF 14-4), '12 Olympic Gold medalist Sharif Sharifov (TF 12-2) and '16 Olympic Gold medalist Hassan Yazdani (fall).