By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor

Las Vegas has been a home for many amateur wrestlers this spring and summer, including those who took shots at U.S. Nationals freestyle and Greco-Roman titles in April or a U.S. World Team Trials championship this June.

That includes several former NCAA champions or All-Americans who qualified for spots at the Trials, including 2007 collegians like Michigan State’s Nick Simmons, Oklahoma’s Sam Hazewinkel, Iowa State’s Travis Paulson, Minnesota’s Cole Konrad and Missouri’s two-time Hodge Trophy winner Ben Askren.

There will be another recent graduate working out in Las Vegas: former two-time Oklahoma State NCAA champion Johny Hendricks. But the four-time All-American will not be part of trying to make a U.S. World Team in the Las Vegas Convention Center. Instead, Hendricks will be spending his time trying to eventually make his name in an eight-sided cage.

Yes, the Cowboy is headed for The Octagon, a registered trademark given to the arena where Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) are performed by professional fighters in the Ultimate Fighting Championships where submissions are the goals of most fighters.

And Hendricks will soon find himself in The Octagon after announcing that he has joined the Team Takedown management company that will sponsor him and other wrestlers — including former Oklahoma State national champion Jake Rosholt and former Penn State All-American Eric Bradley — in the exploding world of UFC, which is now rivaling boxing as the most popular combat sport in this country.

“Wrestling has taken me a long way,” said Hendricks, an Edmond, Okla., native, who recently completed a 127-13 career with NCAA titles at 165 pounds in 2005 and 2006 for Oklahoma State. “God blessed me with abilities and everything that came with it. I prayed about this for a long time before I made my decision. I feel that he’s leading me this way. Yes, an Olympic gold medal would be great for some people. That’s for them. I’ve been successful in wrestling. Now it’s time for me to be successful in something else.”

And most of Hendricks’ training will take place in Las Vegas under the tutelage of another former Oklahoma State wrestler, who made an even bigger name for himself in MMA: Randy Couture, the 43-year-old fighter who recently came out of retirement to earn another UFC title in March when he upset 6-foot-8 Tim Sylvia.

“Randy was an alum of Oklahoma State so we went to Vegas and sat down with Randy and really enjoyed him,” said Team Takedown managing partner Ted Ehrhardt, a former wrestler and coach who first became interested in MMA in the second season of UFC. “His motto was ‘check your ego at the door.’ He is a lot like us; down to earth, not full of himself. He was a good person so we looked no further.

“He has the most elite gym built today.”
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