UFC Freedom 250: College wrestling pipeline featured at White House event

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UFC Freedom 250: College wrestling pipeline featured at White House event originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Ahead of UFC Freedom 250 on Sunday night on the south lawn of the White House, there are several fighters on the card who have made their name as collegiate wrestlers before the lights of the UFC struck on them.

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Out of 14 fighters on the card, four of them wrestled at the Division I level, including Bo Nikal, Michael Chandler, Justin Gaethje, and Josh Hokit.

Of the four, the most decorated collegiate wrestler on this list is Nickal. He is a three-time National Champion with Penn State in 2017, 2018, and 2019, a three-time Big Ten champion (2016, 2018, 2019), and a four-time NCAA All-American.

The rest of the card

Michael Chandler is a 2009 Division I All-American at Mizzou, where he has over 100 career wins. He’s a two-time Big 12 runner-up and four-year starter at that.

In the main event, Justin Gaethje wrestled collegiately at Northern Colorado, where he earned All-American honors in 2010. He’s also a three-time NCAA Division I qualifier.

The final fighter and arguably the most controversial on the card, Josh Hokit, wrestled at Fresno State. He was a Division I All-American in 2019 and was the first All-American at Fresno State since 2003. He faced Bo Nickal in the 2019 in the 2019 National Championship.

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Hokit also had a college football career at Fresno State, rushing for 1,260 yards and totaling 18 touchdowns as a running back from 2016 to 2019. He did see snaps as a linebacker as well.

UFC Freedom 250 coverage begins at 8 p.m. EST and will be broadcast on Paramount+.

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