Recent news has come out that the IOC has voted to drop the oldest sport in the world from the Olympics. This is terrible news to anyone who loves or has been impacted by the sport of wrestling. While wrestling has not reached as large of an audience as many other sports, the impact has been much deeper for those individuals that it has reached.

One positive outcome of this whole “dropping wrestling form the Olympics” fiasco is the over whelming support that it has inspired from the wrestling community through media coverage, videos, interviews, and testimonials about how wrestling has impacted people’s lives.

Wrestling is the greatest sport on earth and the recent coverage and support for the sport has given me substacial evidence on which to build my case.

From a child’s perspective:
Wrestling is an equal opportunity sport, more so than any other sport. It doesn’t discriminate against the small, the weak, or the slow (or, like I was as a kid, all of the above). Wrestling doesn’t even discriminate against the poor or the underprivileged.

“It doesn’t matter where you come from or what resources you have. If you are willing to work, you can be successful a wrestling. Wrestling has weight classes so the smallest guy can be successful, and the biggest guy can be successful. Anybody can be successful but it requires hard work.” Cael Sanderson- Olympic Gold Medalist, 4x NCAA Champion

From a wrestler’s perspective:
Wrestling is more than a sport, it’s a lifestyle. And as such, it penetrates all aspects of your life. For many sports, after practice or a game, the sport is over. But with wrestling, the weight cutting, and overall discipline required, wrestling is on your mind 24/7.

“The discipline of wrestling carries over to all aspects of my life. It makes me a better husband, a better father, a better son, and a better friend.” James Yonushonis- Olympic hopeful.

 “Wrestling has taught me how to live my life; how to be tough, determined, good work ethic, all the things you need to be successful in life. It has taught me how to learn and how to teach. I owe everything to wrestling.” Reece Humphrey NCAA Champion, Olympic hopeful.

“Gotta finish, never give up, push after you goals and walk away knowing that you did everything to pursue your goals.” Michael Mitchell- Olympic hopeful.

“We aren’t in it for the fame or the fortune, cuz there is none.” JD Bergman

From a parent’s perspective:
"I have kids and I don't care if they are champions, but they will wrestle. Wrestling will make up for all of the mistakes I make as a parent because it teaches humility, hard work, and it teaches everything that you need to be successful in this world." Cael Sanderson

Cael said it best. No additional input from me is needed on this one.

From an employer’s perspective:
I personally can attest to this point because I was hired, less than a week after my last final exam, solely because I am a wrestler. My boss is an ex-wrestler and he understands the mentality wrestlers have and how that can transfer over into the work place. In fact my firm is looking to hire more, but prospects must be high level wrestlers.

“Current research indicates that individuals who have competed in elite level athletics, i.e., collegiate, international, or professional level competition possess higher levels of emotional intelligence than their non-athlete counterparts” Richard Mendelson, a human capital consultant/researcher.

"I specifically like to hire wrestlers that have experienced success in the sport because they are sharp, passionate, tenacious, disciplined and they have a huge desire to succeed." Steve J Cochlan, President/CEO of The Cochlan Group (my boss) 

“Olympic champions display higher levels of specific attributes directly linked to success, in particular emotional intelligence, stress management, interpersonal skills, and self-regard.” Forbes Magazine

“Wrestlers have a capacity to push themselves harder than most and display an unrivaled mental toughness” Forbes Magazine.

“Once you’ve wrestled, everything else in life is easy” Dan Gable.

From the perspective of human nature:
(Not sure if that makes sense ^ but keep reading and you will get my point)

Wrestling is as old as mankind. Kids are wrestling before they can walk. As far back as history goes, there has been wrestling. Wrestling penetrates all cultures and all generations. It is a battle of one man against another man. Who is the best? It doesn’t get more basic than that.

“The beauty of wrestling is that it is the epitome of sport. It’s a combination of strength, speed, flexibility, stamina, mental toughness; all those things that make sport. It’s the base sport. When kids grow up they say, ok, who is the fastest? Who is the strongest? And who can win in a wrestling match?” Cael Sanderson

“I swear it upon Zeus an outstanding runner cannot be the equal of an average wrestler.” Socrates

The moral of this story is to support wrestling and get involved. The first step is to come by Beebe Trained and sign your kid up for our wrestling program ;) On top of phenomenal wrestling training, your kids will learn all of the life lessons mentioned in this blog. Get in and get better… at life!!!

“College wrestling is way harder than MMA,” said every college wrestler turned MMA fighter.

“Man, I wish I would have wrestled in college,” said every MMA fighter that didn’t wrestle.

As a young aspiring MMA fighter and a lifelong wrestler I was faced with a very difficult question: Should I wrestle in college and get and education, or pursue my dreams to be an MMA fighter? Answer: Why not both?

For the last few years that is exactly what I did. I wrestled for Lindenwood-Bellville University, while earning a degree in Business Administration, and while competing as a professional MMA fighter. When I was going to school at LUB, I earned a 3.5 GPA, won a national championship in wrestling, and I went 6-0 as a pro MMA fighter. I am not saying this to toot my own horn but rather to offer up an interesting opportunity for young aspiring MMA fighters: You can do it too!

*Note: There are only certain schools that will allow you to compete as a professional athlete while competing in a collegiate sport. For example, you cannot do this for any NCAA sanctioned schools. However, the NAIA and the NCWA will allow it. I wrestled in the NCWA.

I truly believe that I would not have been nearly as successful on the mat if I wasn’t getting it done in the class room as well. I would not have been as successful in the cage if I wasn’t getting it done on the mat.

Wrestling provided me with the most intense and well-structured fight camps that I could ever ask for. Wrestling also gave me an abundance of dedicated training partners coupled with phenomenal coaches. Training for wrestling is much harder than training for MMA. The constant grind with little to no time off includes; strength/conditioning workouts, hard/technical drilling, live sparring, and more.

After my wrestling workouts I would train MMA with current UFC contender Tyron Woodley (he has a gym near my school). I fought, on average, once every other month. By doing this I earned enough money to pay my rent and put food on the table (but not much more than that). It was also cool because all my teammates, classmates, and teachers were following my career and watching my fights. I would go over my fight contracts with my law professor and I developed a strategic MMA marketing plan as a class project. My professors were all very supportive. One day I was checking out a book and the school librarian asked me if I was excited to go to California and fight for Tachi Palace. I thought that was pretty cool since I had never even told him I was a fighter.

So, most days I was training 3 times a day. This system made for extremely hard and exhausting training. With that said, being an athlete is NOT a full time job. Any athlete, even the most intense ones, can only train so many hours in a day. The question is what do you do with the rest of your day? I suggest focus on something else other that training. Something that is still challenging but allows you to shift focus and keep you from getting burned out on training. That something, for me, was business.

I found that the better I did in the classroom, the better I did in competition. By succeeding in school I was able to compete with a lot less pressure on my shoulders. One of my favorite quotes is, “The probability of achieving your goal drastically improves when you let go of the need to have it.” A full-time fighter NEEDS to win because fighting is all he has. When I stepped into the cage I knew, win or lose, I still had an education and other things going for me. This thought process allowed be to compete free of worry, which made me fight a lot better and win a lot more.

So, if you want to be an MMA fighter I strongly suggest you take the same route. Find a college with an NCWA or NAIA wrestling program. Then find an MMA gym nearby. Train hard at wrestling, train hard at MMA, and above all… get your education!!!

If you have any questions about this idea, or need some advice, feel free to contact me through our contact page or via Facebook. I will be glad to help!

When I was in high school I had the great opportunity to train at the Olympic Training Center with some of the best wrestlers and coaches in the world.  One of the coaches there was Sergey Beloglazov. Sergey was one of, if not the best wrestler of all time. He was a 6x World Champion and a 4x Olympic Champion for Russia.  After retiring from wrestling, he came to America to coach the U.S. Olympic Team. Every chance I had to learn from him while I was at the Olympic Training Center I took full advantage. Weather it was by watching him show a move, ease dropping on his conversation, or rolling around with him after practice; I wanted to learn. I figured the more time I spent around this great champion the better chance I would have to be like him.

While I was there, a group of us traveled to Wyoming for a regional tournament. There was a junior level and a senior level at this tournament. I competed in the junior level while some of the Olympic hopefuls that we traveled with competed in the senior level.  Sergey also came along to coach the older guys.

There is one moment from that tournament that I will always remember. I was having a rough match and things just weren’t going my way. I had made a few mistakes of which my opponent immediately capitalized on. Going into the second period, I found myself one point away from a technical fall (the slaughter rule of wrestling).  As the final period began, I saw Sergey out of the corner of my eye. He came and sat in my corner to coach me. When I saw this I felt enormously honored and privileged to have the best wrestler of all time sitting in my corner. I told myself that, “I am unbeatable with Sergey in my corner”. I was immediately filled with an intense energy and will to win. My mindset completely changed and I immediately began the most epic comeback of my career. Listening to every word of broken English coming from Sergey in my corner, I felt untouchable. Now I was wrestling for more than just myself. I felt a responsibility to live up to Sergey’s name and do everything in my power to represent him well. When the final buzzer rang I had gone from almost certain defeat to a 2 point victory! The joy and satisfaction I felt from that win was unexplainable. I wasn’t excited because I won the match; I was excited because of the look approval I saw on Sergey’s face. I had made him proud.

Now, as a professional fighter, I have the same feeling when I step into the cage to fight only multiplied by 1,000. Every time I fight I have the greatest champion that has ever lived in my corner, Jesus Christ. All of the positive feelings I had when Sergey sat in my corner come back to me when I think about Jesus sitting cage side.  I tell myself, “I am unbeatable with Jesus in my corner.”  I listen to everything He tells me and I feel untouchable. I am fighting for more than just myself. I have a responsibility to live up to Christ’s name and to do everything in my power to represent him well.  When the final bell rings and the fight is over, the joy I feel is unexplainable. I am not excited for the result; that means nothing. I am excited because I know the man upstairs approves and is proud of my efforts. Can you imagine the power I feel when I fight with Jesus in my corner? I am fighting with the power of God. What greater power is there?