Arizona State-- The School of MMA Fighters

Diamondback Jay

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Just a little fun stat to chew on..

Dan Severn, Don Frye and Dan Henderson all wrestled at Arizona State University and to my knowledge are all alumnus of the school.

Up and coming stars Cain Velasquez, Kellan Fluckiger, Ryan Bader and CB Dolloway also wrestled for the Devils, while Kyle Kingsbury played football. Drew Fickett, currently in the UFC, was an alumni of ASU.

Just a fun stat to chew on. The first three have extensive history in the sport, Velasquez currently fights for Bodog, and Fluckiger, Bader and Dolloway are all being looked at by the UFC for possible future fights in the company.
 
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devilfan02

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I saw Bader at a bar about 6 months ago and chatted for a while. I got to know him while I was playing golf at ASU, our workouts were at the same time as the wrestlers. He said he's training at a gym on McClintock and Broadway and loves it. He was a great wrestler at ASU which will def help him in MMA
 

Brian in Mesa

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Props to Bader for becoming the most recent Ultimate Fighter. :notworthy :sparky:
 

Kablansky

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When I was at ASU they were pretty much neck and neck with Iowa as the most respected NCAA wresting teams in the nation. They had some mean SOBs in the day
 
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Diamondback Jay

Diamondback Jay

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Funny how things worked out with some of the names I mentioned on the first post and how their careers have progressed since then.

This weekend at UFC 139, Henderson, Bader and Kingsbury all fought. So too did one time ASUer Seth Baczynski. Last weekend, Velasquez fought in what arguably was the biggest statured fight in MMA history. Dollaway has been a UFC regular. Also, Aaron Simpson has become a UFC mainstay and Clifford Starks who wrestled at ASU just made his UFC debut at 137. In Bellator, Richard Hale and Eric Larkin both are under contract to the promotion.

ASU produces champions in MMA. That list has only grown since my first posting on the topic 4 years plus ago.

:sparky:

:sparky:

:sparky:
 
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Diamondback Jay

Diamondback Jay

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Adding:

John Moraga, who wrestled for ASU, will be fighting Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson at UFC on Fox on July 27 for the UFC flyweight title.
 
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Diamondback Jay

Diamondback Jay

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Also, while he's not an ASUer, Ben Henderson of Glendale's "MMA Lab" is the UFC lightweight champ.
 

Gaddabout

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I know some people are proud of this, but this is an embarrassment to me. ASU: Leading America into the last days of Rome. It's visionary in a Nero-playing-the-fiddle kind of way.
 

devilalum

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Who would have thought 20 years ago that Folk Style Wrestling would be the gateway to any activity that actually pays money.
 
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Diamondback Jay

Diamondback Jay

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Who would have thought 20 years ago that Folk Style Wrestling would be the gateway to any activity that actually pays money.

I sure didn't when I wrestled in junior high school and high school.

Granted, MMA doesn't pay much, but if you're one of the few gifted enough, you can do quite well.
 
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Diamondback Jay

Diamondback Jay

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I know some people are proud of this, but this is an embarrassment to me. ASU: Leading America into the last days of Rome. It's visionary in a Nero-playing-the-fiddle kind of way.

I view it the same as celebrating if your school led the NFL in number of active star players. These gentlemen are the best Mixed Martial Artists in the world, fighting on the highest stage and being successful at it. Why not celebrate it?
 
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