Ed Ruth, one of the most decorated college wrestlers in U.S. history, will pursue a career in professional MMA. The three-time national wrestling champion said he intends to make his MMA debut in early 2017 after the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. “Once the Olympics are over, I want to go straight into […]
Ed Ruth, one of the most decorated college wrestlers in U.S. history, will pursue a career in professional MMA. The three-time national wrestling champion said he intends to make his MMA debut in early 2017 after the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. “Once the Olympics are over, I want to go straight into […]
At the risk of upsetting another French brick shithouse, Riner’s anti-MMA stance reeks of ignorance. So in honour of UFC 170, I’m going to highlight four Olympians who have a good chance of crossing over. These athletes have either expressed an interest in MMA, supported it, or have an uncanny parallel with another well-known fighter. Lets run them down…
Outside of the Olympic games there isn’t a professional avenue for judo players, but MMA provides that opportunity, giving former judokas a chance to use their skill set to compete and make a living. Travis Stevens could be the next crossover star from the world of judo — joining the ranks of Rousey, Hector Lombard, and Yoshiro Akiyama — and he’s already considering MMA as a future career.
The 27-year-old American made his first Olympic appearance at the 2008 Beijing Games (where he placed 9th), and fell short of the podium again in London in 2012, losing out in the bronze medal match. Failing to capture an Olympic medal in two attempts puts Stevens in an awkward position. Does he jump into MMA now or wait around for the next Olympic games?
Stevens is not only a top ten Judoka in his weight division he also regularly trains under Renzo Gracie at his academy in New York, and more impressively is a black-belt in jiu-jitsu under grappling guru John Danaher. A double black belt is a testament to Stevens’ incredible ground game, which provides the perfect base to enter MMA.
(The bronze-medalist judoka and silver-medalist freestyle wrestler both have a shot at UFC gold this weekend. Photo via Esther Lin/MMAFighting)
At the risk of upsetting another French brick shithouse, Riner’s anti-MMA stance reeks of ignorance. So in honour of UFC 170, I’m going to highlight four Olympians who have a good chance of crossing over. These athletes have either expressed an interest in MMA, supported it, or have an uncanny parallel with another well-known fighter. Lets run them down…
Outside of the Olympic games there isn’t a professional avenue for judo players, but MMA provides that opportunity, giving former judokas a chance to use their skill set to compete and make a living. Travis Stevens could be the next crossover star from the world of judo — joining the ranks of Rousey, Hector Lombard, and Yoshiro Akiyama — and he’s already considering MMA as a future career.
The 27-year-old American made his first Olympic appearance at the 2008 Beijing Games (where he placed 9th in the 81kg division), and fell short of the podium again in London in 2012, losing out in the bronze medal match. Failing to capture an Olympic medal in two attempts puts Stevens in an awkward position. Does he jump into MMA now or wait around for the next Olympic games?
Stevens is not only a top ten Judoka in his weight division he also regularly trains under Renzo Gracie at his academy in New York, and more impressively is a black-belt in jiu-jitsu under grappling guru John Danaher. A double black belt is a testament to Stevens’ incredible ground game, which provides the perfect base to enter MMA.
The Irish boxing starlet has won a long list of medals in her boxing career competing at 60kg, culminating in her gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. Traditionally for male athletes, winning a medal in the Olympics is a foundation to enter the professional ranks, with many of the top boxing promoters snapping up successful Olympians. However, the women’s boxing scene isn’t thriving, which makes a transition to MMA much more enticing.
There is a ton of buzz surrounding former boxing star turned hot MMA prospect Holly Holm, who has made short work with all her opponents in MMA, albeit against some questionable opponents. Taylor is still fairly young at the age of 27, so she has time to work on the ground mechanics before shifting to MMA. Already carrying a huge following in her home country, Taylor would be a welcome addition to the 135-pound division.
MMA is littered with many collegiate, regional, national, you-name-it wrestling stars. Most of the best wrestlers have come out of the amateur wrestling scene in the U.S., which has served as a conveyor belt in feeding the best talent to MMA. There are only a handful of Olympic-caliber wrestlers in the sport, but freestyle wrestler Varner could potentially be another one. Varner hasn’t indicated whether he will enter the MMA bubble, but unlike his teammate Jordan Burroughs, he hasn’t dismissed it. The California native is a fan of the UFC, naming fellow wrestler Dan Henderson as his favorite fighter.
If his gold medal from the 2012 London Games wasn’t enough to prove how legitimate his wrestling credentials are, the 96kg competitor is also coached by Cael Sanderson who is one of, if not the greatest amateur wrestler to come out of the States. Like Stevens and Taylor, Varner is still relatively young at the age of 27 and could mold his MMA career on fellow Olympian Daniel Cormier. Cormier turned professional at the age of twenty-nine, and was also a small heavyweight who eventually dropped down to 205 pounds. With Varner’s elite-of-the-elite wrestling pedigree, a move to MMA could garner him just as much success as past Olympians who have competed in the sport.
Another gold medalist at the London Olympics, the British Taekwondo practitioner became a overnight superstar with her performances en route to a gold medal in the 57kg division. The Korean martial art isn’t as common as other disciplines among MMA practitioners, but two fighters who have embraced it are decorated lightweight stars Anthony Pettis and Benson Henderson.
If Jones decided to transition into MMA, a few years of practicing the ground game would be a must, but being only 20 years old she has time on her side. As the UFC was ramping up for last year’s Fight Night in Manchester, Jones met and trained with WMMA pioneer Rosi Sexton, who became the first female British UFC fighter and was involved in the first UFC women’s bout in Europe. Now that Sexton has left the promotion, could Jones step in as the next British WMMA star?
UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture believes we aren’t that far away from seeing some form of mixed martial arts in the Olympic Games. Speaking briefly with TMZ Sports, The Natural explained that somewhere between 34 and 39 countries have signed a petition to include a new combat sport in the Olympics. Couture was leaving […]
UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture believes we aren’t that far away from seeing some form of mixed martial arts in the Olympic Games. Speaking briefly with TMZ Sports, The Natural explained that somewhere between 34 and 39 countries have signed a petition to include a new combat sport in the Olympics. Couture was leaving […]
(We did it, Daniel. | Photo via Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)
So, that was a close one. After temporarily dropping wrestling as an Olympic sport, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has reconsidered and voted to keep the ancient grappling art in the lineup of events, at least for the 2020 and 2024 games.
Last February, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to drop wrestling beginning with the 2020 Olympics, and people went nuts. But thanks in part to a massive online effort to save it, wrestling was given a second consideration, along with sports vying to become Olympic sports for the first time, and was voted back into the games on a secret ballot in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Saturday.
“Wrestling had been dropped from the 2020 Olympic programme in February after the IOC assessed the performance of all 26 sports at London 2012,” the BBC reports.
“The sport — one of the original disciplines at the Ancient Olympics — had been due to end its Olympic participation at Rio 2016 following its dismissal by the IOC earlier this year…Wrestling — which was the favourite — received a majority of 49 votes, while a combined baseball/softball bid got 24 votes and squash 22.
(We did it, Daniel. | Photo via Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)
So, that was a close one. After temporarily dropping wrestling as an Olympic sport, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has reconsidered and voted to keep the ancient grappling art in the lineup of events, at least for the 2020 and 2024 games.
Last February, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to drop wrestling beginning with the 2020 Olympics, and people went nuts. But thanks in part to a massive online effort to save it, wrestling was given a second consideration, along with sports vying to become Olympic sports for the first time, and was voted back into the games on a secret ballot in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Saturday.
“Wrestling had been dropped from the 2020 Olympic programme in February after the IOC assessed the performance of all 26 sports at London 2012,” the BBC reports.
“The sport — one of the original disciplines at the Ancient Olympics — had been due to end its Olympic participation at Rio 2016 following its dismissal by the IOC earlier this year…Wrestling — which was the favourite — received a majority of 49 votes, while a combined baseball/softball bid got 24 votes and squash 22.
“Wrestling’s triumph in the vote follows a number of sweeping reforms made following its exclusion, including overhauling its rules, administration, gender equality and operations.”
The International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) has vowed to make changes to amateur wrestling that they believe will stylize the grappling sport and make it more marketable. According to a report at MMA Junkie, beginning at the 2015 world wrestling championships in Las Vegas, FILA will begin to unveil these upgrades at their tournaments.
Basically, they want to package wrestling like MMA and boxing. Possible changes include staged weigh-ins, walk out music, change of mat color, improved lighting and visual effects for telecasts, video screen replays and the allowance of punches and chokes. The last part we just made up but the rest is true.
Will adjustments in wardrobe and match presentation change wrestling’s marketability? Who knows, but at least the sport that the Olympic Games is essentially based on is back in the Olympics.
Seven months after the International Olympic Committee decided that wrestling should be removed from the Games starting in 2020, the sport was voted back in during a meeting held in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Sunday. The vote was held by the committee to allow one final sport to be included in the 2020 Games. Wrestling […]
Seven months after the International Olympic Committee decided that wrestling should be removed from the Games starting in 2020, the sport was voted back in during a meeting held in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Sunday. The vote was held by the committee to allow one final sport to be included in the 2020 Games. Wrestling […]
The mixed martial arts career of Henry Cejudo is off to a promising start, to say the least. Already holding the honor of being the youngest American wrestler to ever take gold in the Olympics, Cejudo made the switch to MMA last March and has already reeled off four first round finishes in the time since. And while his opponents haven’t exactly been the caliber of, say, Ronda Rousey’s first few, comparisons between the two are being made nonetheless.
And now, it appears the bantamweight prospect will be thrust back into the limelight once again (albeit a much dimmer one), as word broke yesterday that the Olympian has signed with well known Texas-based promotion Legacy FC. In addition, Cejudo is primed to make his debut on Oct. 11 against 4-1 Ryan “Riptide” Hollis at the Allen Event Center in Allen, Texas. The event will air live on AXS TV.
The four time high school state wrestling champion spoke elatedly with MMAJunkie:
It was very important to me to join a professional organization that will allow me the opportunity to continue to grow as an MMA athlete. It was equally important for me to partner with an organization that has an established track record of helping fighters grow into world-class athletes and champions. I want to fight for a credible organization and face high-caliber opponents. Legacy is that organization and has made that commitment to me.
After the jump: Cejudo’s aforementioned victory over Matsunaga in the Beijing games, a brief glimpse at Cejudo’s MMA skills via some Spanish news site and a video of Hollis’ most recent performance.
The mixed martial arts career of Henry Cejudo is off to a promising start, to say the least. Already holding the honor of being the youngest American wrestler to ever take gold in the Olympics, Cejudo made the switch to MMA last March and has already reeled off four first round finishes in the time since. And while his opponents haven’t exactly been the caliber of, say, Ronda Rousey’s first few, comparisons between the two are being made nonetheless.
And now, it appears the bantamweight prospect will be thrust back into the limelight once again (albeit a much dimmer one), as word broke yesterday that the Olympian has signed with well known Texas-based promotion Legacy FC. In addition, Cejudo is primed to make his debut on Oct. 11 against 4-1 Ryan “Riptide” Hollis at the Allen Event Center in Allen, Texas. The event will air live on AXS TV.
The four time high school state wrestling champion spoke elatedly with MMAJunkie:
It was very important to me to join a professional organization that will allow me the opportunity to continue to grow as an MMA athlete. It was equally important for me to partner with an organization that has an established track record of helping fighters grow into world-class athletes and champions. I want to fight for a credible organization and face high-caliber opponents. Legacy is that organization and has made that commitment to me.
After the jump: Cejudo’s aforementioned victory over Matsunaga in the Beijing games, a brief glimpse at Cejudo’s MMA skills via some Spanish news site and a video of Hollis’ most recent performance.
After defeating Japan’s Tomohiro Matsunaga to secure the gold in the Beijing 2008 games, Cejudo failed to make the cut in 2012. As a result, he ceremoniously took off his shoes, unceremoniously threw them into the crowd and retired from the sport. Because, let’s be honest, how embarrassing would it be if someone made the universal gesture for retirement only to accept a fight a few weeks later?
In any case, Cejudo announced that he was making the transition to MMA earlier this year. It would appear that he is a fast learner.
Being that his first four opponents hold a combined record of something between Kenneth Allen and Jason Reinhart in the UFC, it’s nice to see that Legacy will be giving Cejudo no easy test in Hollis for his promotional debut. Then again, Hollis is a natural flyweight whose 4 victories (2 TKO, 2 Sub) have come over similarly outmatched opponents. Opponents like the 8-12 Randy Villareal, who Hollis recently defeated via upkick KO at Big Dawg Promotions (*shudder*) in March. A video of said KO is below.
An impressive KO for sure, and one made all the more impressive by the fact that Villareal was apparently “being a butthead the whole time before the fight!” so sayeth the Youtube uploader. Surely Ruben, Chief of the Villareal tribe, will not stand for this act of disrespect.
Does anyone see Cejudo using his grappling background to notch another quick victory, or will Hollis prove too much for the Olympian in his (semi) mainstream debut? While you discuss that, make sure to also harass Sherdog — who mislabelled the above KO as the result of a “Punch” — via the social networking site of your choice until they give Hollis his due credit.
