From NCAA Wrestling To MMA: Zachery Rey Scouting Report
by KJ Gould on Mar 26, 2011 12:30 PM EDT
in NCAA Wrestling
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In the previous Scouting Report of the NCAA talent that was on display last week, I looked at Lightweight prospect Bubba Jenkins. This time I'm going to the other end of the spectrum and will be looking at the 2011 NCAA Heavyweight Champion Zachery Rey of the Lehigh Mountain Hawks.
Rey was the No#1 seed going into the tournament and was probably the safest bet in the tournament to win his division even though he would meet rival Ryan Flores who he had lost to in a Tie Breaker at the EIWA tournament final at the beginning of the month.
Rey is eligible to wrestle for another year at college so he won't be embarking on an MMA career just yet, but he's still worth keeping an eye on as he's easily the strongest collegiate wrestler currently competing. Rey is a stocky, compact Rhino of a man and if he grabs a hold of you - even if you're a fellow Heavyweight of similar mass - chances are you're going for a ride. Rey's just as content slamming you from a a rear waist-lock as he is scoring with a power double-leg.
Rey however is quite short amongst the current crop of Heavyweight talent standing at just 5'8" tall, so it's unlikely he'll develop into an effective offensive striker because of reach disadvantage, but could be effective in the clinch and against the cage and MMA coaches that specialise in these areas would be an ideal fit.
A native of Hopatcong New Jersey, Rey preferred to remain on the East Coast for his education which might dictate where he may train if he were to give MMA a try. Team Bomb Squad is an obvious pick due to its presence in the North East but the lack of Heavyweight training partners that would include Christian Morecraft - who takes on Sean McCorkle tonight at Ultimate Fight Night Nogueira vs Davis - would limit his growth as a fighter. There are plenty of individual gyms in New York and New Jersey such as the Renzo Gracie Combat Team, Henrys Boxing, Rutger's Wrestling and Elite Wrestling which together have helped craft Frank Edgar into a champion but again there's more depth in training partners at the lighter weights.
For a Heavyweight like Rey - and I see little to no chance of trimming and cutting down to 205lbs Light Heavyweight considering how much of a tank he is - his options for the best MMA training for Heavyweights while remaining on the East Coast would have to be American Top Team in Coconut Creek Florida who can offer Antonio Silva, Jeff Monson and Bobby Lashley as training partners.
However if location wasn't an issue my top recommendation for Rey would be with Greg Nelson at Minnesota Mixed Martial Arts who have been building up a roster of Heavyweights including Jon Madsen, Chris Tucsherer and Cole Konrad and since it appears Nelson and Brock Lesnar have made amends invitation to the Deathclutch gym may also be possible. In particular Nelson really understands the clinch game and knows how to train wrestling based fighters to use strikes to setup take downs. He also knows to bring in top Strength & Conditioning trainers - for anyone who remembers the Sean Sherk and Brock Lesnar workouts - and can get Rey's conditioning up to par.
Rey's takedown highlights from his Championship Finals match with Flores:
Rey's post match press conference:
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great folkstyle wrestler under a great coach at Lehigh
but he isn’t an attacking wrestler and wins most matches in OT, his center of gravity makes him tough to take down and score on, but he wins most of his matches by dragging it deep, I don’t see that carrying over into MMA – he would be more like a Jeff Monson if he was able to advance his BJJ – Monson is also a bit stronger due to the whole pharmaceutical enhancements which he is pretty open about
To an extent
However in MMA you won’t have guys trying to stay off their back and in fact are trained to not give up their back because of the BJJ strategy of rear mount and usually a choke attempt. I think Rey can takedown almost anyone in HW MMA and stay heavy on top of them riding. It might be a bit Lay’n’Pray perhaps, but especially if he goes to Nelson and trims down a little he could be a Heavyweight Sean Sherk in the sense that he’s shorter then a lot of opponents but can torpedo them over and keep them on the ground.
I can see where you are coming from but...
I’ve been watching Rey since his Jr year in HS and I like Zach as a wrestler. But he has simply never been the most aggressive guy going. In that way, he is very similar to his HWT coach at Lehigh, Steve Mocco. There’s no denying how good a folkstyler Mocco was, 4x finalist, 2x champ. He’s even had some good success at Freestyle. But Steve’s style was also never big aggression. Zach has become a prototype of Mocco. Very controlling on top but not much actual takedown skills, heck Mocco’s go to move being a foot sweep! Its no maybe whether it would be lay’n’pray. Its basically Zach’s style even in folkstyle.
Eventually, he’ll try freestyle or coaching like Mocco has, but I don’t foresee much of a future in MMA.
Now if Ryan Flores puts on a few more pounds, he has the quickness and natural aggression to make a go of it in MMA. While he lost to Rey in the NCAA Finals and twice in the regular season, he has now beaten him twice in the EIWA finals. With one year of NCAA eligibility left, the Clovis, CA native grew up not to far from AKA, Cesar Gracie’s team, and the wrestling dominated Team Alpha Male. I could easily see him ending up there.
Excellent writeup by the way! Keep up the good work KJ.
Yeah Flores is a year below Rey, right?
So he’s got even more time to develop on the Collegiate mats and providing things go well for him next season could well become the No#1 seed in next year’s tournament.
Thanks for the comments, BE gets better because of them :)
Ryan should only have one year left
After winning the EIWA’s at Columbia, he transferred out. He thus lost a year of eligibility when he enrolled at fellow EIWA member, American. Next year should be it for Ryan.
you dont look like monson without juice.
Its silly people would say otherwise. I am glad he admits it.
5’8 is crazy short for a heavyweight. I would be curious to see how he did in a guard of a big bjj black belt,Like Werdooms or BigFoot’s. He would give up so much leverage once they were on the ground. No reach from guard. It would be interesting.
"True strength is not always shown through victory. Stand up, try again and display strength of heart." - Rickson Gracie
"Wanderlei eventually got to his feet and stalked Fujita like a Japanese octopus in an all-female prison." - Sean Baby Cracked.com
by the-gentle-way on Mar 26, 2011 11:35 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
On the other hand he could be really difficult to submit and sweep form guard because he’s so compact and won’t be leaving tree limbs out there to get snapped.
he is probably crazy strong and hard to joint lock.
But having 8 inches of height would for sure help to sweep even the best base.
Hence why I would be interested to see it. Heck he might take to bjj like a duck to water like Cain and phil seem to have.
"True strength is not always shown through victory. Stand up, try again and display strength of heart." - Rickson Gracie
"Wanderlei eventually got to his feet and stalked Fujita like a Japanese octopus in an all-female prison." - Sean Baby Cracked.com
by the-gentle-way on Mar 26, 2011 12:18 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
last years crop of guys with Zabriskie, Rosholt, and Dudziak along with the injured Steele could make this really interesting in mma, if ncaa wrestling had a 215 class like INTL, where those guys are focusing now, these guys would have been there most likely – but last year was filled with exciting matches and a lot more shots than this year – Dudziak getting hurt last year was a bit of a downer not getting to see more of the freestyle in the finals but great tournament
Agreed on the HL.
"[UFC]’s a great rush, eh? It makes your sphincter get real tight." - Harold Howard
by lowellthehammer on Mar 26, 2011 11:45 AM EDT up reply actions
Small correction:
Antonio isn’t at ATT anymore.
"[UFC]’s a great rush, eh? It makes your sphincter get real tight." - Harold Howard
by lowellthehammer on Mar 26, 2011 11:36 AM EDT reply actions
is he with werdum now?
"True strength is not always shown through victory. Stand up, try again and display strength of heart." - Rickson Gracie
"Wanderlei eventually got to his feet and stalked Fujita like a Japanese octopus in an all-female prison." - Sean Baby Cracked.com
by the-gentle-way on Mar 26, 2011 11:39 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
He's at Imperial I thought.
"[UFC]’s a great rush, eh? It makes your sphincter get real tight." - Harold Howard
by lowellthehammer on Mar 26, 2011 11:41 AM EDT up reply actions
I was under the impression he wasn't happy with the training he got at ATT
and was looking to get out of Dodge. Him, Villefort brothers, JZ, and…someone else. Could be wrong but that was what I thought. Someone more knowledgeable will probably correct one of us. Ultimately though I’m not sure it matters because I definitely think that he should be heading out to Minnesota like you suggested, not to ATT. Nelson has proven success with turning powerhouse wrestlers into champions.
"[UFC]’s a great rush, eh? It makes your sphincter get real tight." - Harold Howard
by lowellthehammer on Mar 26, 2011 11:54 AM EDT up reply actions
I’m loving all the amateur wrestling coverage.
There was a fan post on BJJ that was referring to all these as “feeder” sports. Fucking love it; characterizing the highest levels of the other disciplines from a beginner perspective and with an MMA spin.
Brilliant stuff.
Ranked #2 P4P Best BloodyElbow User Name
by Medium Nog on Mar 26, 2011 11:42 AM EDT reply actions 2 recs
Great, glad you’re enjoying them. Check out the Pan Ams BJJ coverage today in the fanposts section too ;)
by KJ Gould on Mar 26, 2011 11:48 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
2012 could be a big year for HW prospects
The top 4 guys at HW this year in NCAA Div I were Juniors. Rey (Lehigh), Flores (American), Bradley (Missouri), and Tice (Central Michigan) will all graduate next year. At one point this season 7 of the top 10 guys at HW were Juniors, so there are other talented guys coming back to the weight class next year.
In addition to that the Summer Olympics are next year so I think that will make some college graduates move to MMA instead of waiting around 4 years for the next Olympics, plus some of the guys currently competing on the international stage could move over. I don’t know if they will but guys like Dlagnev (Former World Games Silver Medalist, D-2 National Champ), Anspach (Former NCAA Runner up), Rowlands (2 x NCAA Champ, Multiple time US Senior Champ) are all competing for an Olympic spot and might make the jump to MMA after the Olympics, and those are just the Americans.
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