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By: Anwar Perez, MMATorch Columnist
The pedigree of a collegiate wrestler brings a wealth of knowledge, a great base to expand upon in the sport of MMA, and in some cases, championships. Two words that seems to combine all collegiate wrestlers, regardless of championships or weight-class, in the same category are cockiness and bravado. Those two words are the way in which most collegiate wrestlers seem to carry themselves, in that they feel they are better than everyone within their weight-class (or in others) or have the better discipline versus others such as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or Muay-Thai.
Name most collegiate wrestlers at the top of the heap in the UFC alone, and they all have a bravado and cockiness to them like no other athlete in the sport with another discipline.
Matt Hughes, regarded as perhaps the greatest Welterweight Champion ever, will tell you that he is better than you, his opponent, and everyone in the weight-class. Even when he does compliment a fighter, either in defeat or in victory, it’s still mostly backhanded compliments. Just ask Georges St. Pierre.
Josh Koscheck has always claimed to be the best wrestler in the welterweight division, and claimed that his wrestling was superior to that of St. Pierre’s when they first met some three years ago. That didn’t work out so well for him, but still, Koscheck has always built his fights with bravado and cockiness, and that the price alone of the PPV was based off of how good he could sell a fight (see Paul Daley or Anthony Johnson or Frank Trigg). With Koscheck coaching the upcoming “The Ultimate Fighter” season against Georges St. Pierre, with a shot at the Welterweight Title, let’s hope the cockiness and bravado hold up.
Of course, Brock Lesnar is right up there as well as being the single-most hated/loved fighter in the sport. There is no middle ground with him. You either love him or want to see him get beat any and every time he steps into the cage. His way of trash talking is straight pro-wrestling, but also, with a collegiate background and being one of the greatest heavyweight wrestlers in NCAA Div I, and the hype he has had everywhere he goes, it’s no surprise that Lesnar is the way he is with his attitude or confidence.
Matt Hughes, Josh Koscheck, Brock Lesnar (and not to mention Frank Trigg, Rashad Evans, Sean Sherk, and to a lesser extent, but all the more cocky, Tito Ortiz) all have that pedigree from wrestling; Hughes was the forefather for what both Koscheck and Lesnar are doing in the cage, but if you put those three together, you would end up with Chael Sonnen.
Chael Sonnen has become the biggest mouth piece in the sport of MMA. His quotes have offended most everyone, and if they haven’t offended you, it”s because he hasn’t been asked about you yet. He has a title fight coming up with Anderson Silva at the end of the summer, and the best way he has seen to promote the fight is to let his mouth talk, while his brain naps.
If you read Rich Hansen’s “MMA Blowtorch” column, you’ll see just the kind of quotes and people he has offended along the way to making him either the greatest thing since the creation of the world, or just the biggest hustler in the history of, well, EVER!
Sonnen shouldn’t be judged alone on his many, many quotes. He is an accomplished wrestler and easily dispatched two of the top guys in the middleweight-division in Yushin Okami and Nate Marquardt on his way to the title shot against Silva. But, looking at his collegiate wrestling background, its no surprise that he has the bravado that he has.
Sure, there are exceptions to the rule with wrestlers such as Shane Carwin who, for a man his size, seems more humble than Ghandi at his spiritual peak. Randy Couture has always been a class act, though if you read his book “Becoming the Natural” you could see he has a little cockiness that he carried over from his wrestling days.
Not that collegiate wrestling has all the cockiness and bravado in the sport of MMA, it’s just that the guys at the top, who talk the biggest game and are the most-sure of themselves, just happen to be wrestlers.
Now for Sonnen and Koscheck’s sake, let’s hope their collegiate wrestling background also prepared them for being on their back in case they fail to back up the things that have come out of their mouths.
RELATED STORY: THE MMA BLOWTORCH: The (Distracting) Method to Chael Sonnen's Madness: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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