By Luke Thomas
Jordan Burroughs, one of America’s premier talents in amateur wrestling, tells MMA Nation he is ‘definitely’ interested in a career in mixed martial arts. The catch? We’ll all have to wait until he’s done wrestling.
If you follow college or amateur wrestling generally, the name Jordan Burroughs is not esoteric.
The New Jersey-native’s list of wrestling accolades is almost peerless next to his American contemporaries. At the University of Nebraska, Burroughs was a two-time NCAA Division I national champion. In his senior year of 2011, Burroughs won the Dan Hodge Trophy, the equivalent of wrestling’s Heisman Trophy. But perhaps most impressively, in his first year of wrestling at the international level Burroughs captured gold medals at both the 2011 Pan Am games and the World Championships at 74 kilograms. Incredibly, as the stakes get higher and the competition harder, the challenges only seem to fuel Burroughs’ success and development.
So when Burroughs recently accepted a sponsorship from, MMA apparel company Cage Fighter, many in the fight industry wondered if a lateral move to MMA was imminent. After all, the precedent of even moderately successful wrestlers making successful transitions to MMA is well documented. If former Division I All-Americans can be UFC champions, what about world champion wrestlers?
In this interview with, MMA Nation on 106.7 The Fan, Burroughs discusses a potential future in mixed martial arts, being a UFC fan, who his favorite fighters are, the nature of wrestling in MMA and more.