Wrestlers in MMA: UFC 237 and Bellator 221

 Photo courtesy of Bellator MMA/Viacom

Since the UFC gave rise to mainstream mixed martial arts in 1993, American wrestlers have made their presence known. To date, 33 UFC champions have come from a folkstyle wrestling background.
In the early days, there was Arizona State’s two-time All-American Dan Severn, Ohio State’s NCAA champion Mark Coleman, and California Community College champion Tito Ortiz dominating their respective weight classes.
In the modern era, wrestlers from all levels can be found populating every division in MMA. Junior College champion Jon Jones has a claim as the greatest light heavyweight of all time, and 2008 Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo is working on his second title in as many weight classes.

 wrestlers continue their success in mixed martial arts, fans will turn their attention to the sport that developed their athletic potential and combat skill. Wrestling has helped grow MMA, and as we saw in Ben Askren’s exhibition match against Jordan Burroughs, MMA can help to grow wrestling.
Make sure to support the wrestlers competing this weekend in MMA!
Bellator 221 (Saturday, May 11th)
Bellator 221 in Chicago is absolutely loaded with accomplished wrestlers.
In the main event, lightweight champion Michael Chandler defends his belt against the reigning featherweight champion, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire.
A state runner up in Missouri, Chandler went on to become an NCAA Division 1 All-American for the University of Missouri in 2009. He defeated two-time All-American Chase Pami before losing to the returning champion and eventual third-place winner Jordan Leen. Chandler finished fifth in a talent-rich bracket.
Also on the main card is young prodigy AJ McKee. The son of MMA veteran Antonio McKee, AJ followed in his father’s footsteps and won a California Community College championship for Cerritos College in 2014. McKee fights former featherweight champion Pat Curran, who competed in wrestling in high school.
The previous bout features WWE crossover Jake Hager, better known as “Jack Swagger.” Hager was an NCAA Division 1 All-American for the University of Oklahoma in 2006 at heavyweight. He defeated future NCAA champion Dustin Fox before falling to the legendary Steve Mocco in the quarterfinals.
Ohio University’s Tywan Claxton will enter the cage for the fifth time on Saturday. After earning Division II All-American honors at King University as a freshman, Claxton wrestled two seasons at the Division 1 level for the Bobcats. As a sophomore, Claxton was a national qualifier, and he made the Round of 12 in his final season of competition. Claxton was unable to earn another year of eligibility after suffering a season-ending injury. While he did not reach Division 1 All-American status, Claxton picked up numerous high profile victories, including one over NCAA champion Drake Houdashelt.

On the preliminary card, former USA Greco-Roman World team member Chris Gonzalez makes his second appearance as a professional. Gonzalez won the World Team Trials in 2016 in a non-Olympic weight class, and was a World Team Trials finalist in 2017. Gonzalez trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, home of MMA pioneer and former Division 1 wrestler Urijah Faber. The Bellator prelims will be streamed for free at Bellator.com/live.
The rest of of these bouts will be available for streaming on DAZN.
UFC 237 (Saturday, May 11th)
The UFC’s first pay-per-view card of May takes place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Overall, the event is light on Americans.
Illinois native Clay Guida will be wrestling’s lone representative in Brazil.
Now fighting at 145 pounds, Guida was a NJCAA champion for William Rainey Harper College. Guida was the first of three Harper College alumni to fight in the UFC.
Guida will compete on the televised ESPN prelims against former two-division champion BJ Penn on May 11th.