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Mixing Wrestling and Martial Arts: Former College Wrestlers Good Fit For Fast-Growing Sport of MMA
3/30/2007 2:30:00 PM
Former Minnesota wrestler Greg Nelson and former Augsburg wrestler Ryan Huerta talk about how wrestlers are able to make a smooth transition into the ever-growing sport of mixed martial arts
By Jeremy O’Kasick - TWM Freelance Writer
It must seem like life and wrestling have come full circle for Greg Nelson at the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy.
A martial arts instructor in innumerable disciplines, Nelson wrestled for the Minnesota Gophers in the mid-1980s under former head coach, the late Wally Johnson. After his final collegiate season on the mat, however, he began intensive training in martial arts, launching a career that would earn him a black belt in Brazilian ju-jitsu, high rankings in numerous disciplines that range from Muy Thai to combat submission wrestling, as well as numerous gold medals in international ju-jitsu and grappling competitions. He established the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy in 1992, and several of his students have gone on to international championships in Muy Thai, ju-jitsu, and MMA competitions. (Most notably, Sean “The Shark” Sherk, also a former wrestler, won the UFC lightweight championship.)
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So focused in advancing himself and his students in martial arts, Nelson said he didn’t involve himself in wrestling and his alma mater as did other former college grapplers. But now, some 25 years later, Minnesota grapplers are coming back to him.
“Now that Marty (Morgan) and Brock (Lesnar) are here, I think they will be like a funnel for more wrestlers to train here,” said Nelson, who not only is well-respected around the world, but has battled – and beaten – cancer twice in his life. “(MMA) is going to change wrestling. Wrestlers are going to be versed in a variety of skills and styles. It’s going to be exciting.”
Over the past 15 years, wrestlers have already been one of the major defining forces for MMA competition. Four out of the eight current champions in the two largest international fight leagues, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Pride Fighting, have extensive wrestling backgrounds. A short, and nowhere nearly complete, list of some former Division I wrestlers who have gone on to be pioneers and champions in MMA is staggering (alma maters and some notable amateur wrestling honors in parentheses):
* Chuck Liddell (Cal Poly)
* Tito Ortiz (Cal State Bakersfield)
* Randy Couture (Oklahoma State, Pan-Am Greco-Roman Champ, Olympic alternate)
* Don Frye (Oklahoma State)
* Frank Trigg (Oklahoma, four-time All-American)
* Dan Henderson (Arizona State, two-time Greco-Roman Olympian)
* Dan Severn (Arizona State, Olympic alternate)
*Mark Coleman (Ohio State, NCAA Champ, freestyle Olympian)
* Kevin Randleman (Ohio State, two-time NCAA champ)
* Matt Lindland (Nebraska, Olympic Greco-Roman Silver medalist)
* Matt Hughes (Eastern Illinois, two-time All-American).
Such a list does not surprise Nelson, who has been a part of the foundation for MMA in Minnesota and the Midwest.
“Even (Dan) Gable used to tell me that (MMA) was what wrestling used to be like,” said Nelson. “Over the years, it changed. Even when I was wrestling, what was fine then is borderline illegal today.”
A martial arts instructor in innumerable disciplines, Greg Nelson wrestled for the Minnesota Gophers in the mid-1980s under former head coach, the late Wally Johnson. After his final collegiate season on the mat, however, he began intensive training in martial arts, launching a career that would earn him a black belt in Brazilian ju-jitsu, high rankings in numerous disciplines that range from Muy Thai to combat submission wrestling, as well as numerous gold medals in international ju-jitsu and grappling competitions. He established the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy in 1992.
Nelson stresses that wrestlers and fighters need proper training and need to fully understand the rules of their sports just as fans should. He cautions wrestlers eager to start training in MMA to first join a legitimate school before they step into the ring or cage.
“Ultimately, if you are going to fight, you have to be well-trained first,” he said. “You have to be affiliated with a school. You have to have weight classes and fighters who know the rules.”
He added that poorly organized and unregulated fighting events, as well as media bias, has led to a negative stigma of mixed martial arts, which is also known as ultimate fighting or cage fighting, that is only now beginning to be balanced.
“In the case of the media, many larger newspapers and TV stations have just labeled MMA human cockfighting in the past,” he said. “They are just ignorant and not willing to learn about the sport and research it because it will go against their story of controversy.”
The past five years have seen an overall decline in some of that trumped-up controversy, as positive mainstream media coverage, major financial backing, and new marketing strategies have popularized the sport. In fact, the business news of MMA these days breaks with almost as much frequency and speed as the action within MMA fights.
Most recently, the UFC and Pride joined forces under a joint owner, planning on continuing to be separate brands between the US and Japan, but with unified rules and cross-over fights between competitors. The team-based International Fight League, which is broadcast on Fox Sports Network, became a publicly traded company at the end of 2006 after receiving support from a major investment firm. Spike TV has been widely credited as being a major part of UFC's success with its Ultimate Fighter reality TV series. What's more, rumors have been circulating for months that ESPN is on the verge of covering MMA events.
That's a long way from when MMA events were banned across much of the U.S. in the late 1990s. Nelson recalls perhaps the first unofficial mixed martial arts competition in Minnesota going down in 1993 in an abandoned house.
“This was a noble fight that took place on carpet in a house with no heat and it was about 50 degrees,” said Nelson. He went on to recall some of the early pioneers of the sport in the state, such as former UFC middleweight champion, Dave Menne, and John Renken. He added that Iowa is far the powerhouse state in MMA among Midwestern states.
Not only home to one of the most internationally recognized fighting schools in Miletich
Fighting Systems, Iowa has produced a number of international MMA champions and holds regular smaller events for up-and-coming fighters that are well covered and attended. Iowa fight promoter and manager, Monte Cox, has been instrumental in popularizing the sport in the Midwest and nationwide, as he also helped push through legislation in Iowa to regulate MMA competitions.
“Anyone with a background in wrestling will have a more natural transition into MMA,” said former Augsburg wrestler Ryan Huerta. “Guys like Matt Hughes and so many other former wrestlers have become famous in the UFC.”
“Now you can make $50,000 to $100,000 per fight or more,” said Nelson. “Right now, you see some of the big names in wrestling going into fighting because they can make money right out of college instead of having to rely on sponsors for Olympic training.”
Questions continue to surround the future connection between wrestling and MMA: For example, will wrestlers be less likely to venture into international competition with the allure of quick money in MMA? Nelson and others do not necessarily think so, but it will be a fascinating development to watch.
One grappler who decided to step off the mat and into the cage early was Augsburg senior, Roger “El Matador” Huerta. Wrestling his freshman and sophomore years at the Division III powerhouse, Huerta decided to dedicate himself full-time to fighting and found fast success as lightweight fighter, going 18-1-1, including two wins in pay-per-view UFC events.
“Anyone with a background in wrestling will have a more natural transition into MMA,” said Huerta. “Guys like Matt Hughes and so many other former wrestlers have become famous in the UFC.”
Before he graduates from Augsburg with a degree in business management this spring, Huerta will have UFC pay-per-view fight against Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia April 7 in Huerta's home state of Texas. He said he hopes to open a gym and coach other young wrestlers and fighters who struggled to make it in life as he had. (Once homeless, Huerta has long credited wresting and his studies as the sources that saved his life.) Now MMA has taken him to the next level.
“It’s growing and growing and it is already surpassing boxing,” said Huerta. “Boxers were even getting paid well in the 1930s. Organized MMA has only been around for 13 years, and its popularity is skyrocketing.”
While some fans might worry that MMA will take away from amateur wrestling, others see how wrestlers-turned-fighters are gaining international fame and the sport is finally getting the mainstream respect that it deserves.
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Jeremy O’Kasick receives feedback on his articles at
jokasick@yahoo.com.
