This weekend in MMA: UFC 235 features Mizzou wrestlers Askren and Woodley

Pictured: Ben Askren.

It’s a big weekend for MMA fans with a stacked UFC 235: Jones vs. Smith, which takes place Saturday night inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Saturday night’s fight card won’t be short of former wrestlers either. Four of the best former wrestlers on the UFC roster will be in action, including Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley, Kamaru Usman and Jon Jones.

Askren and Woodley were standout athletes at the University of Missouri. Both will compete at welterweight on Saturday.

First to step into the octagon Saturday night will be Askren, a two-time NCAA champion and four-time All-American for Mizzou.

Askren is one of the best folkstyle wrestlers of all time. He finished his college career with a record of 153-9 and sits at third all-time on the NCAA pins list with 91 career falls. Askren is one of only two wrestlers to win the Dan Hodge Trophy multiple times.

After his college career, Askren made the 2008 Olympic Team where he went 1-1 in Beijing, China.

After the Olympics, Askren transitioned to MMA and has never been beaten. His record is 18-0-1, with the one no contest coming due to accidental eye poke.

In 2010, Askren won the Bellator Welterweight Championship and defended it four times before vacating the belt and deciding to sign with ONE Championship. Fighting for ONE Championship, Askren went 6-0-1 and claimed the ONE Welterweight title.

After his last fight in ONE Championship on Nov. 24, 2017, Askren retired from MMA. He is now coming out of retirement to make his UFC debut. He will be taking on former UFC Welterweight champion Robbie Lawler in the third fight on the main card.

Two former wrestlers will be facing off immediately after Askren and Lawler fight.

Current Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley will be taking on No. 2 ranked Welterweight Kamaru Usman for the UFC Welterweight Championship.

won a state title for McCluer High School his senior year, and then, just like Askren, chose to wrestle at the University of Missouri.

While at Missouri, Woodley, a Ferguson, Mo., native, compiled a 110-38 record, becoming Big 12 champion, a three-time NCAA qualifier and two-time NCAA All-American.

Upon completing his college career in 2005, Woodley stayed in Columbia, Mo., to continue training. He went on to take second place at the 2006 FILA University Nationals. Shortly after, Woodley decided to start training MMA.

Woodley has put together an impressive MMA career since hanging up his wrestling shoes. He has compiled a record of 19-3-1 with seven KO/TKO wins, five submission wins and seven decision wins.

On July 30, 2016, Woodley defeated Askren’s opponent, Lawler, to win the UFC Welterweight Championship and has not lost since.

Woodley’s opponent, Usman, was no slouch wrestler himself.

Born in Benin City, Nigeria, Usman and his family moved to Arlington, Texas. In high school, Usman went 53-3 and finished third at the state meet his senior year.

After high school, Usman wrestled at William Penn University for one year, where he was an NAIA national qualifier.

After his freshman year at William Penn, Usman transferred to DII University of Nebraska-Kearney. While at UNK, Usman was a three-time All-American, two-time national finalist, 2010 NCAA DII champion at 174 pounds and helped UNK win a team title in 2008.

After finishing his career at UNK, Usman moved out to Colorado Springs, Colo., to train at the Olympic Training Center and wrestle for GRIT Athletics. During his time as an OTC resident athlete, Usman made the 2010 University World Team.

Usman made his MMA debut in 2012. After losing his second fight on May 24, 2013, Usman has been on a roll, winning 13-straight matches. He is 14-1 with six wins by KO/TKO.

In the main event of the night, former wrestler Jon Jones will take on Anthony Smith in the light heavyweight division.

As a high school wrestler, Jones was a two-time state placer and state champion for Union-Endicott High School in New York. He also was a Cadet Greco-Roman All-American  at Fargo and a NHSCA Senior Nationals All-American.

After graduating from high school, Jones wrestled for one year at one of the top JUCO wrestling teams in the country, Iowa Central Community College. While at Iowa Central, Jones won the 2006 NJCAA title at 197 pounds, ultimately helping Iowa Central win the NJCAA team title the same year.

Since his time at Iowa Central, Jon Jones has put together a dominating MMA career. He is currently 23-1-1 with his one loss coming after an illegal downward elbow.

Jones is considered by some to be the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. He holds wins over many current and future UFC Hall of Famers.

UFC 235’s main card will begin at 10 p.m. ET and is a Pay-Per-View event.

Last weekend’s recap

Fighting in UFC Fight Night: Blachowicz vs. Santos, former Hofstra University wrestler, Gian Villante, was defeated by Michal Oleksiejczuk at 1:34 of round one of the light heavyweight division.