Takedown Report

From NCAA to MMA: More college wrestlers are fighting on

PITTSBURGH — This is his home, and these are 18,000 of his friends, so Ben Askren doesn’t hesitate when he sees a pocket of open seats. “Are these taken?” he says to three middle-aged dudes in Iowa State gear.
How the bond between Woodley and Askren changed Missouri wrestling
The strangers immediately recognize Askren — the UFC star and former Missouri All-American wrestler — but they barely look up from the eight matches below. Here at the NCAA wrestling championships in mid-March, Askren is an A-list star, but he’s like a famous person at his own family reunion — so popular and well-known that nobody really bothers him for selfies or introductions. He’s just good ol’ Uncle Ben walking around. The Iowa State fans wave for him to come on in and have a seat. One guy squishes his legs to the side, craning his head past Askren’s body so he doesn’t have to miss a single second of the wrestling below. Askren offers an important window into the latest evolution in the sometimes delicate relationship between wrestling and MMA. It’s long been accepted that there is no better base for MMA success than wrestling, and more specifically, American folkstyle wrestling. Rest of the story at https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/26424694/more-college-wrestlers-fighting-on

September 28, 2019 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized