Yahoo: Wrestling meet this weekend may showcase MMA stars of the future

Clark Kent

<B>News Bot</B>
Joined
Sep 11, 2006
Messages
7,128
Reaction score
6
01-15-2010 10:29 AM:This weekend, two of wrestling's all-time great programs, Oklahoma St. and Iowa, will face each other. The last decade was up and down for both programs -- as down as you can get while still placing in the top ten nationally -- but right now, Iowa is ranked first in the country and Oklahoma St. is third. To commemorate such a huge meet, HDNet's "Inside MMA" traveled to Stillwater, Okla. and Iowa City, Iowa.


If you're a wrestling fan, you owe it to yourself to get both to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, as talked about above, and the Dan Gable International Wrestling Museum in Waterloo, Iowa (about an hour and a half north of Iowa City). Both offer wrestling fans a place to check out the history of the world's oldest sport. Recognizing that wrestlers can rarely sit still, the Gable Museum even offers both a wrestling room and a ring. (I may have jumped in the ring and tackled a cardboard cutout.)

This weekend's match is important for MMA fans not just because it will be amazing, but also because there is a good chance you will see some MMA stars of the future. Oklahoma St. is the top Division I producer of MMA fighters, as Randy Couture, Don Frye, Mark Munoz, Mo Lawal, Daniel Cormier, Johny Hendricks, Shane Roller and Jake Rosholt are all Cowboys. Only Arizona St. and Minnesota come close to OSU.

Iowa isn't as well known for producing fighters, but their current line-up could produce some great fighters. Brent Metcalf, national champion in '08 and finalist in '09, has strength that would translate well to fighting. Their 133-lber, Daniel Dennis, comes from the same area of Illinois (and has a big fan in) UFC fighter Clay Guida. I wouldn't be surprised to see him fighting bantamweight in a few years.

Iowa has won 51 dual meets in a row, but Oklahoma St. has uncommon success on the Hawkeyes' home turf of Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The match takes place Saturday, 7 p.m. CT and will air on Sunday night on the Big Ten Network. (Check your local listings.)



More...
Yahoo! Sports.
Cagewriter is an MMA blog edited by Steve Cofield.
 

Latest Discussions

Top