However, the weight had not been qualified for the Summer Olympics for the USA, which meant Cox would have overcome a field at one of the qualification tournaments to qualify. Cox did just that when he comfortably won gold at the 2016 World Olympic Qualification Tournament I, his first tournament overseas. After defeating '12 University World Champion from Iran Meisam Mostafa-Jokar at Beat the Streets, Cox competed for Team USA at the 2016 World Cup, beating two–time Commonwealth champion Pawan Kumar, returning World Championship bronze medalist from Iran Alireza Karimi and 2016 European Championship runner–up Aleksander Gostiev, before being defeated himself by '12 Olympic bronze medalist from Georgia Dato Marsagishvili, helping Team USA reach fourth place. To warm up for the Summer Olympics, Cox placed third at the Grand Prix of Germany, suffering his lone loss to World and reigning Olympic champion from Azerbaijan Sharif Sharifov.