MMA Fighting's Luke Thomas continued his interview with Randy Couture with an extended discussion of the relationship between UFC/MMA and amateur wrestling. Couture, of course, is a former NCAA wrestling standout and second place finisher in the Team USA Olympic trials.
More details on the interview in the full entry...
Here's how Luke Thomas summed up the interview at MMA Fighting:
As part of my conversation with Couture from last week, we discussed the current state of amateur wrestling in all of its forms and levels. In Couture's mind, the popularity of the UFC and MMA is responsible for the surge in popularity of amateur wrestling at the grassroots and collegiate level. Yet, Couture also discusses the wrestling community's reluctance to involve themselves with MMA when during the UFC's SEG-era. For all of Dan Gable's pleas for wrestling and MMA to work together, Couture argues they had that chance and it was MMA that was given the cold shoulder. If the two sports are to have meaningful working relationships again, bridges will have to be rebuilt.
In this portion of the interview, Couture discusses those issues as well as the rise of Olympian Jordan Burroughs, Title IX's impact on collegiate wrestling programs, what the future holds for Daniel Cormier, why so many fighters come from Oklahoma State University and so much more.
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