The mat meets the cage…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
A couple of years ago it was a new trend to see college wrestlers graduating to become MMA fighters. Just hadn’t been done that often.
It’s only been in the last 5-10 years where this has really become an option. Now it’s not shocking to hear people like former Penn State star Phil Davis and Arizona State stars Cain Velazquez heading into MMA. And you know about the dearth of former Oklahoma State kids in the game.
But after talking to Harrah High wrestling coach Bryan Miller, there might be another trickle down effect: MMA might be saving the high school wrestling game.
For those that don’t know, Harrah is a city about 20 minutes away (give or take) from Oklahoma City and is the home of MMA fighter Matt Grice, who is fighting on UFC 100 on July 11.
Anyway, Miller brought up to me that more and more younger kids are willing to stick with wrestling now because they know there is a future that goes beyond the Olympics or becoming a coach.
I had never thought about it in that respect, but it’s a valid point. I always say the great heavyweight boxers aren’t out there because they’re playing football. That’s where the marketability and visibility and $$ is at.
But if you’re on the fence about staying in wrestling, something like MMA is a saving grace.
And that leads us to a unique event Saturday night at Harrah High. It’s a fund-raising event for the wrestling team via MMA bouts.
There will be 14 bouts (five professional, nine amateur). The event starts at 6:30, with the doors opening at 5:30.
I’ve done a little bit to try to help out Miller in promoting the event, but it sounds like word has leaked out.
He told me Tuesday that all the floor seats are sold out. I guess there have been radio spots that have made people interested. That’s great.
He said there are plenty of $10 general admission seats remaining. And I’m not done with my hype job of the event.
Tomorrow, I will post the entire 15-bout card here on the blog and Saturday’s paper will have a story about some of Harrah’s finest wrestlers coming back home to help out.
There are a lot of familiar names on this card for anyone who has followed the Oklahoma high school wrestling scene in the last 10 years. Grice will be one of the judges, and I plan on doing a nice Q&A with him for his fight coming up.
For more information, you can contact Harrah coach Bryan Miller at (405) 640-0006.
***
We’re not totally devoid of any fights this weekend as HBO will have a bout featuring Victor Ortiz. I won’t bend over backwards for that one.
But there is also a very intriguing MMA bout between Bob Sapp and Bobby Lashley.
Sapp, believe it or not, actually helped re-introduce the Boneman to MMA a few years ago after I had kinda forgotten about it after the dark days of the UFC.
He had the look of a mega-star. It never really panned out that way, but Sapp has done well for himself.
And you know I’ve talked about my love of Lashley before. He just seems to be someone with his head screwed on straight. He “gets” it. He knows what he has to do and is willing to put in the work.
Back tomorrow with the Harrah card.
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