PENNSYLVANIA, USA — If you live in the Keystone State, you may know that Pennsylvania is passionate about its wrestling.
This passion exists not only in high school and college, but even afterwards, as student-athletes often take their talents from the mats to the cage, and utilize similar skills in mixed martial arts (MMA).
In this week’s segment of MMA in Central Pa., we spoke with two pro fighters from the area. They gave us insight into how wrestlers are becoming dominant in the MMA scene.
"What we're trying to do is help everyone reach their goals. Whether they want to lose some weight or if they want to eventually get into the cage or if they want to become a state qualifying, state champion in wrestling," explained Ben Moser, owner of Moser's Mat Club in Lebanon. He’s been wrestling since he was a child and fell in love with MMA in 2008. About a year later, Moser had his first amateur fight.
"After wrestling, after high school, unless you're going to college, there's not really anymore for you left. So, a lot of wrestlers do make a transition to MMA, just because they want to stay competitive, they want to keep training," Moser said.
He explained that former wrestlers in the region have become more attracted to MMA, especially if they've had success on the high school or college mats, which, in Pennsylvania, is not an easy task.
"Wrestlers make a good transition to mixed martial arts because of how fast-paced they are, how conditioned they are, and how dominant some of us are, especially from this area," Moser said.
"Pennsylvania, New Jersey, we have a really big hotbed for wrestlers, dominant wrestlers. And when they make the transition into the cage, they control the pace of the fight, they control where the fight goes.”
If you're just a fan of traditional wrestling, there’s a natural transition to enjoying the tactics of an MMA fight, as well.
Similar techniques and styles apply directly to martial arts and have fared well for wrestlers, especially on the biggest of stages.
NCAA champion Bo Nickal is a name that many might be familiar with, as he dominated at Penn State for years, taking home three NCAA national championships.
In his professional MMA debut earlier this year, Nickal won by knockout. Soon after, he won another pro fight by submission in Dana White's Contender series. Next month, Nickal will have another shot to secure a UFC contract and add another chapter to his legacy.
"So many wrestlers have just turned into power punchers because they realize, 'well, I don't need to wrestle, I can just knock people out.' And that comes from that explosive distance covering that you get especially in American style, which is very athletic-based wrestling," explained Lancaster native and UFC Middleweight, Dustin Stoltzfus.
In July, Stoltzfus made waves in the UFC after a grappling-heavy, decision win over Dwight Grant.
Stoltzfus didn't wrestle for very long, mostly playing football at Lampeter Strasburg, and then taking up karate later on.
When he tried out jiu-jitsu while in college at Middle Tennessee State, Stoltzfus found that even with limited wrestling experience, he had a good base.
"Even in the comparisons between jiu-jitsu and wrestling, if at least you have a little bit of knowledge with jiu-jitsu, then I would take wrestling over jiu-jitsu," Stoltzfus explained.
He also believes wrestlers and grapplers in Pennsylvania have the ideal background to make it in MMA, especially when it comes to technique.
"Instead of trying to pin someone’s shoulders on the mat, you sort of switch between shoulders and hips, you need to control the hips a lot more. A wrestler who knows what a choke is, knows what an armbar is, knows what a leg lock is, and just doesn't want you to get that, is super hard to submit, and even harder to sweep," Stoltzfus explained.
While MMA continues to grow throughout the region, it's attracting plenty of younger athletes.
Stoltzfus admits there's some luck involved if a young wrestler wants to make it to the UFC, but, like wrestling, if an athlete surrounds themselves with a good team and continues to challenge themselves, there's an avenue for success.
Stoltzfus has his next fight on September 3rd in Paris for the UFC, and that can be seen on ESPN Plus. Ben Moser will be fighting here in Central Pa. on October 29th, headlining his 3rd pro fight at the Lebanon Valley Expo Center. Doors for "Art of War Cage Fighting 26” open at 6 P.M., and the event starts an hour later at 7 P.M.
Next week on MMA in Central Pa., we speak to the head muay thai instructor at York MMA about how the discipline can give the apparently violent act of striking into a tool to improve health and mental toughness, in and outside of the cage.