The UFC recently has been flooded with wrestlers as well as many other athletes who have had other sport backgrounds. This is a list of the world’s greatest amateur athletes who either competed, medaled, or served as an alternate in the Olympics and have later went on and fought in the cage. Although many of these athletes have had success it’s still pretty clear that wrestlers have had more successes than the others.

Henry Cejudo
• 2008 US Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Gold Medalist
• 4X High School State Champion in Arizona

Daniel Cormier
• 2004 & 2008 US Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Team Member
• 5X World Team Member (3rd in the World in 2007)
• 2X Junior College National Champion
• NCAA All-American (2nd) in 2001 for Oklahoma State
• 3X High School State Champion in Louisiana

Randy Couture
• 1988, 1992, and 1996 US Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling team alternate
• Former UFC Heavyweight Champion
• Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
• 3X NCAA Division I All-American wrestler
• Career record of 16-8 in the UFC
• 1992 US Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Gold Medalist
• 4X NCAA DI All-American

Mark Schultz
• 1984 US Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Gold Medalist
• 3X NCAA DI National Wrestling Champion
• Former Head Coach for Brigham Young University

Townsend Saunders
• 1996 US Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Silver Medalist
• 2X NCAA Division I Wrestling All-American

Matt Lindland
• 2000 US Olympic Greco-Roman Wrestling Silver Medalist
• Career record of 9-3 in the UFC

Sara McMann
• 2004 US Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Silver Medalist
• Former Lock Haven University wrestling team member

Kenny Monday
• 1988 US Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Gold Medalist
• 1992 US Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Silver Medalist

Ben Askren
• 2008 US Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Team Member

Rulon Gardner
• 2000 US Olympic Greco-Roman Wrestling Gold Medalist
• 2004 US Olympic Greco-Roman Wrestling Bronze Medalist

Yoel Romero
• 2000 Cuban Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Silver Medalist
• 2004 Cuban Olympic Freestyle Wrestling 4th place
• 1999 World Champion
• 2003 PanAm Games Champion
• 5x World Medalist

Stephen Abas
• 2004 US Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Silver Medalist

Ronda Rousey
• 2008 US Olympic Judo bronze medalist
• First woman in US Olympic history to medal in judo

Mark Coleman
• 1992 US Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Team Member
• NCAA Division I National Wrestling Champion
• Career record of 7-4 in the UFC

Dan Henderson

Dan Henderson
• 1992 and 1996 US Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling team member
• Former NCAA Division I wrestler

Dennis Hall
• 1996 US Olympic Greco-Roman Wrestling Silver Medalist

Matt Ghafffari
• 1996 US Olympic Greco-Roman Wrestling Silver Medalist

Hector Lombard
• 2000 Cuban Olympic judo team member

Christophe Leininger
• 1984, 1988, and 1992 US Olympic judo team alternate

Dan Severn
• 1984 US Olympic freestyle wrestling team alternate
• 2x NCAA Division I All-American
• Career record of 101–19–7 in MMA (9-4 in UFC)

Darrel Gholar
• 1988 US Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling team alternate

Trevor Prangley
• 1996 South African Olympic freestyle wrestling team alternate

Mike Van Arsdale
• 1996 and 2000 US Olympic freestyle wrestling team alternate
• NCAA Division I National Champion in wrestling

Aaron Pico – 2013 Cadet Freestyle World Champion

By Christopher Murphy @MurphMMA via www.bjpenn.com

It may be a little early to be predicting things in 2020; but if American Kickboxing Academy’s Crazy Bob Cook talks about a 17-year-old prospect who will change MMA, then it’s a good idea to listen.

MMAFighting’s Dave Meltzer reported on this young athlete named Aaron Pico.

Aaron Pico won the FILA Cadet freestyle wrestling world championship in 2013, as well as three FILA national championships throughout the year. He recently made his debut at the Senior level, defeating Russian Alibeggadzhi Emeev by a technical fall (with a score of 8-0).

But it’s not just his wrestling abilities that has MMA coaches and managers alike chomping at the bit: Pico is an accomplished boxer.

Beginning his wrestling at the age of four and boxing at the age of ten, Pico has won the PAL national championship, the Upstanding Boxer Award and a Junior Golden Gloves championships. Not to mention he won the European Pankration championship in the Ukraine.

His skills are so refined at such a young age that Zinkin Entertainment has signed a management contract with Pico for mixed martial arts, a sport in which Pico will not expect to begin competing until after the 2020 Olympic games.

Pico’s intentions are to compete in the 2016 Olympics, at the age of 19, and once more at the 2020 Olympics before he considers professional fighting. His commitment to competing on the international stage has caused him to complete high school online while traveling to other countries and training with some of the world’s best.

“As far as MMA goes, I definitely want to be an MMA fighter and a UFC champion one day,” Pico told MMA Fighting. “I’m wrestling through 2020. I’ll be 23 years old. That’s still young for MMA.

“To me, a complete fighter is a world champion wrestler and a world champion boxer, that’s a complete fighter. I was sparring with top-level boxers and seeing their speed. We definitely have guys in UFC that were complete wrestlers, but I haven’t seen a complete boxer in MMA and it takes time to develop. I was fortunate because from 10 to 13, all I did was box. I don’t think I’ll lose those skills because I’m going to be constantly boxing. When the time is right to compete, I’ll be ready to go. UFC, boxing and wrestling, but I’ve got to keep training and staying focused.”

And by the time Pico hangs up his wrestling shoes for MMA gloves, there’s a good chance the world may already know him as an Olympic wrestling champion; but that’s the tip of the iceberg.

“I’m better as a fighter than a wrestler,” he said. MMA fighters in 2020, you’ve been warned.

Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

@tjDillashaw Profile

Going into his title fight against former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight champion Renan Barao at UFC 173 earlier this year, T.J. Dillashaw wasn’t given much of a chance to beat a man who was on a crazy 32-fight win streak.

After all, Barao had previously dominated the entire competition which included T.J.’s mentor, Urijah Faber, on two separate occasions.

Undeterred, Dillashaw not only defeated Renan to claim the 135-pound belt, he did it by beating one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world at his own game: the striking department (video highlights here).

So when UFC came calling for an immediate rematch, “The Viper” didn’t hesitate to accept the bout, which goes down this weekend (Sat., Aug. 30, 2014) at UFC 177 in Sacramento, California.

Because as Dillashaw told FOX Sports, beating the scrappy Brazilian twice is another step to reaching legendary status.

His words:

“I said ‘yes’ instantly. I had no question about it because now that I’m the UFC champion and that gold is there to help make me a legend and build my name up as high as possible, and to do that Renan Barao’s the one to beat. He’s the one to propel my name into greatness. He’s the one who is ranked ahead of me in pound-for-pound, even though I demolished him. So he’s still ranked ahead of me in the pound-for-pound list. I beat him, I move up the ranks. While the win is still fresh in his mind and in my mind, I might as well do it again. I feel like I’ve got his number and I’m ready to put it on him and get him scared and he knows I’m going to beat him again.”

While most see the rematch as a chance to allow Barao to change the things he did wrong, it also gives Dillashaw a chance to capitalize on what he did right one more time.

TJ Dillashaw – Cal State Fullerton (Bret Harte HS)

And when T.J. gets more than one chance to compete against the same opponent, it doesn’t bode well for the opposition, which is why the the bantamweight kingpin is confident he’ll retain his strap.

Also, since their initial fight is only four months removed, T.J. looks to take advantage of a fighter who still may not have recovered from the beating he took. Which is unfortunate for Renan, because he’s stepping into the cage only to be on the receiving end of another beat down.

“I guarantee he’s thinking in the back of his head everyday when he’s training that he doesn’t want that ass whooping to happen again. I’m going to put it on him and he’s going to fold. It’s a huge psychological advantage for me. For one, I’ve always gotten better when I’ve competed against someone multiple times in wrestling and in practice and fighting. The more I practice against you, the more I figure you out. Two, he took a beating and he took a lot of punishment to the head and I rocked him a bunch of times and I don’t even know if he’s had enough time to recover from that.”

For Dillashaw, beating Barao two times in the span of four months will not only up his ranking status, but — much like Chris Weidman earned for beating Anderson Silva twice — give him the proper respect he deserves for stopping a fighter who at times, looked unbeatable.

After that, the sky is the limit for T.J. as he eyes bigger and better things, such as a higher spot on the pound-for-pound rankings, another belt in a different division, and of course, legendary status.

You know, “hall of fame material.”