MMA Diehards has a profile of 2009 NCAA wrestling champ Mark Ellis who has just joined AKA to train with Cain Velasquez, Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, et al.
No word on when Ellis will make his MMA debut. He'll be helping train Cain Velasquez for his UFC 121 bout with Brock Lesnar.
You can see Ellis wrestling here and here.
From Diehards:
Ellis is not the first Mizzou wrestling product to make the transition to MMA. In fact, he credits the influence and success of former teammates Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren as a deciding factor in his decision to enter the sport.
"Tyron approached me two years ago when I was a junior," Ellis said. "He sat me down and talked to me about fighting and what I wanted to do. I told him I wanted to fight and he talked to me about my options and what to look for and some things that he was experiencing as he was coming up in the fighting world.
"I was seeing they were having success and that he was gonna do alright and do well and I wanted to do it. Most recently, I’ve seen Ben have some success…every time I’ve (seen him fight), I was like, ‘Man, I can’t wait to do this, I can’t wait to fight’."
Ellis’s options weren’t limited only to Olympic wrestling and mixed martial arts. Ellis also received a look from the Cleveland Browns of the NFL. While he did make a stop at a Browns camp, he has decided to focus on his fighting career instead.
almost 2 years ago
Nate Wilcox
26 comments
1 recs |
Comments
the wrestling prospects keep coming
and this dudes a beast
We have a saying back home that if your coming on, COME ON!!!!
Yep... I am looking forward to his MMA transition
We will get to see some of this!!

by truck on Jul 15, 2010 12:08 PM EDT up reply actions 7 recs
FlowWrestling is awesome
Keep meaning to have a night in with some beers and just browse the whole site. One for the weekend…
Interesting
It says a lot that he brushed off pro football for MMA.
"I thought I was getting raped by Freddy Mercury."
- Tank Abbot
on his decision loss to Dan Severn in 1995
by Worldisart on Jul 15, 2010 12:31 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Says that he sucked at football lol
O_o
by Dragon101 on Jul 15, 2010 12:58 PM EDT up reply actions 8 recs
lol
You feel that too? It's the heat coming off that man on fire who goes by the name of THE CRIPPLERRRRRR!
by MrTechnique420 on Jul 15, 2010 1:15 PM EDT up reply actions
Says alot about the Cleveland browns…
by kanodogg on Jul 15, 2010 9:33 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I'm a huge fan
of any elite athlete willing to put in the time/effort at a legit mma camp.
"The mat is my church, the ground is my heaven, Jiu-Jitsu is my religion. And once you hit the ground you're in my world..."
Ive
Personally watched some of this Ellis’s videos, and its safe to say that his wrestling is far more superior than Brock’s in the technical aspect, but it’s hard to find a training partner with not only the wrestling, but strength of Brock Lesnar’s. We must not forget, most wrestling based turned MMA athletes have had success, but wrestling is only one of the many aspects of MMA. It will be interesting to see what Cain takes in from Ellis & how his standup will look if he has excessively worked on his wrestling.
You feel that too? It's the heat coming off that man on fire who goes by the name of THE CRIPPLERRRRRR!
by MrTechnique420 on Jul 15, 2010 12:35 PM EDT reply actions
Wow
I wonder if college wrestlers will start to flood into MMA?
;)
God help me, I have a problem. I'm a Shinya Aoki fan. I don't know what to do about it...
"what the f**k is the internet?"
Pain don't hurt...
Yes and Yes
The scary part is that the next generation wrestlers will be even more dangerous… With the success of mma and wrestlers like Ben Askren, wrestlers will start training bjj and judo during their youth. This means you’ll have more people adapting moves from there into folkstyle wrestling and giving them a better base for when they do the jump into mma. This base coupled with the wrestlers mindset and work ethic will make them scary good.
by MMAWrestling on Jul 15, 2010 3:51 PM EDT up reply actions
Yes.
Guys like Cael are going to be much more likely to make the jump going forward. MMA simply has not seen many world class wrestlers in their primes. A few, but not many.
"Daydreams of a 'fair' world which would treat him according to his 'real worth' are the refuge of all those plagued by a lack of self-knowledge." -- Ludwig von Mises.
Collegiate Wrestling as the pipeline to MMA...
This is pure awesomeness. MMA is never going to be the same. Its’ going to get to the point where if you aren’t an excellent wrestler, you’re not going to be a champion. The days of non-wrestler domination are fast coming to a close.
"Daydreams of a 'fair' world which would treat him according to his 'real worth' are the refuge of all those plagued by a lack of self-knowledge." -- Ludwig von Mises.
When was it ever domination?
And the correct answer would be ‘for now’.
I thought they had already basically ended.
Also I would like to see more people who’ve had success at the international stage come into MMA. We’ve seen three just recently (Askren, Warren and Mo) and they have all done incredibly well.
by The Darkness on Jul 15, 2010 8:22 PM EDT up reply actions
Kamal Shalorus
God help me, I have a problem. I'm a Shinya Aoki fan. I don't know what to do about it...
"what the f**k is the internet?"
Pain don't hurt...
by RolloTomasi on Jul 16, 2010 12:30 AM EDT up reply actions




















