Former NCAA Division I collegiate wrestler and former ADCC world submission champion Jeff Monson has fought MMA professionally for nearly sixteen years now. He’s fought some of the best in the world, put together incredibly win streaks and even challenged for the UFC heavyweight belt.
And yes, the forty two year-old is still fighting. Up until Thursday night, in fact, “The Snowman” was riding a seven fight unbeaten streak. That streak ended at the hands of Alexey Olenik in the Ukraine when Monson lost via submission for the first time since April of 1999 to David Dodd.
Monson tapped out in the second round against Olenik to a rear naked choke but the damage was really done on the feet. From the get-go, Monson got tagged over and again by the longer Olenik.
In the first round, the American was dropped with a left. He was unable to secure a take down despite many attempts and at the end of the first period, found himself on his back. For some reason, the round was allowed to continue for a good twenty seconds past it’s five minute allotment, during which time, Monson ate about ten punches from his back and had his guard passed.
When the time keeper came back from his sandwich break, Monson was bloodied and had trouble standing. The second round didn’t go any better for the wrestler who, again, was unable to score any take downs and was ultimately dropped one more by punches before being finished on the ground.
Monson is a competition addict, having fought sixty five professional MMA bouts with countless grappling competitions in between. Do you think it is time for the veteran to stop taking punishment, nation? Or, did he just run into a bad match up this week?