After a long career in wrestling that included almost a decade on the senior level circuit alone, Jordan Oliver will be taking his athletic talents to MMA. Bellator MMA announced the signing of Oliver on Wednesday afternoon via social media.
After a long career in wrestling that included almost a decade on the senior level circuit alone, Jordan Oliver will be taking his athletic talents to MMA. Bellator MMA announced the signing of Oliver on Wednesday afternoon via social media.
The post also mentions how Oliver will be competing at featherweight, which is 145 lbs, later this year. Oliver bounced back and forth between 65 kg (143.3 lbs) and 70 kg (154.3 lbs) during his wrestling career.
While on the senior circuit, Oliver was an Olympic Trials, US Open, Bill Farrell, and Dave Schultz International champion.
In college, Oliver became one of all-time great Oklahoma State wrestlers. With a career record of 127-6, Oliver was a 2X NCAA champion, 3X NCAA finalist, 4X Big 12 champion, and 2X Dan Hodge Trophy Award finalist. Despite losing in the finals his junior year to Logan Stieber, Oliver was one of just three wrestlers to ever defeat Stieber in his college career.
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7 or 8 years ago this would have been huge. JO had to sit a few years for a USADA violation, basically didn’t have a current script for anti anxiety meds, and that took away a few of his prime years. Prime JO is one of the best in the world at that time too. Thought he would have made the jump then. He is a guy perfectly suited for MMA though. Hope his injuries are healed up and he is as healthy as he can be going in.
Jordan Oliver reached heights many prospective wrestlers can only dream of.
The next in a long lineage of Oklahoma State University standouts to try their hand in mixed martial arts, Oliver (0-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) has similar goals and aspirations as notable alumni such as UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier and Johny Hendricks – championship aspirations.
An MMA future was always on Oliver’s mind, even when it solely existed in his subconscious as he dominated increasing levels of wrestling competition. Now it’s on the forefront as Oliver and Bellator recently announced his signing, signaling the start to his MMA journey.
“It was something that always intrigued me, but when you see guys that you’re close with and train with, it becomes really realistic,” Oliver recently told MMA Junkie. “You’re like, ‘Oh, I’d love to do this. I want to do this, and I could win a world title, be the best in the world.’ This is just another step in my competitive career, right? Going from wrestling now to fighting, it would be something I would’ve regret not doing if I passed up the chance and the opportunity to compete in MMA.”
Inspired by his brother, Oliver started wrestling at 4. In high school, he won four Pennsylvania state titles. The success continued with two NCAA Division I national championships and four Division I All-American designations. In 2020, he was a member of the U.S. Olympic team but failed to qualify for the Olympics during the World Qualification Tournament when he lost to reigning Individual World Cup champion Magomedmurad Gadzhiev, 3-2.
While it was difficult for Oliver to walk away from the sport he’s always known, he sees an opportunity to vindicate past shortcomings with the jump to MMA. He’s always had gold on his mind, and now he’ll have another chance to obtain it, even if it comes in the form of a title belt rather than a medal. An MMA championship, Oliver said, would mean even more.
“A world champion is a world champion, and obviously wrestling has a different set of rules to win the gold, but I look at this as something bigger,” Oliver said. “I look at this as something bigger than the Olympic gold. This would mean more to me than Olympic gold. At the time I’m coming in and the work I’m going to have to put in, not only to win, but to win with style and dominate, I think it’ll fulfill me more to win a Bellator world title as a fighter.”
I ended up fighting, because like Jordan, I had high aspirations in Wrestling and fell short. I knew the day I left Wrestling I would regret it for my whole life. Luckily MMA became a thing and I got to run it back. I hope he is super successful.
Double post
I guess the signing with Bellator is prompted by him pissing hot for weed with USADA, which is stupid but USADA has their rules. Good luck to JO.