A number of contestants with college wrestling credentials will be stepping into the Octagon this Saturday at the UFC 156: Aldo vs. Edgar mixed martial arts event Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Among the former collegiate matmen is one of the combatants at the top of the card: Frankie Edgar, fighting for the UFC Featherweight Title vs. champ Jose Aldo, wrestled at Clarion University in Pennsylvania, where he was a four-time NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships qualifier. Now an assistant coach at Rutgers University, Edgar brings a 15-3-1 record to his bout with Aldo, who is 21-1 in MMA competition.
Also on the pay-per-view main card portion of UFC 156 is a light-heavyweight match, featuring former Michigan State Rashad Evans (17-2-1), taking on Antonio Rogerio "Little Nog" Nogueira, 20-5... and, in a welterweight bout, Purdue University four-year letterman Jon Fitch (24-4-1) goes up against Demian Maia, with a 17-4-0 record. In addition, in a flyweight match, Joseph Benavidez (who wrestled at William Penn University in Iowa) brings a 16-3 record against Ian McCall (11-3-1).
A trio of ex-college wrestlers appears on the UFC 156 preliminary card to be shown on FX. In a welterweight match, Tyron Woodley takes on Jay Hieron. The 10-1 Woodley was a two-time NCAA All-American (2003, 2005) and 2005 Big 12 champ at the University of Missouri, while Hieron (23-6) was a 1997 NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) champ at Nassau Community College, then wrestled one year at Hofstra University. And, in a lightweight bout, it's Jacob Volkmann (15-3) vs. Bobby Green (19-5). Volkmann wrestled at University of Minnesota, where he was a three-time NCAA All-American (2001, 2003, 2004) and 2004 Big Ten titlewinner.
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