NCAA Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Announces Move To MMA – Coached by Big Daniel Cormier Rival
A massively successful NCAA amateur wrestler is making a move to mixed martial arts and this individual in question had his journey shaped by one of the all time greats in the sport. Greg Kerkvliet is the wrestler in question and his entry into mixed martial arts was announced via Sucker Punch Ent. releasing news regarding Kerkvliet signing with them.
The management entity is one of the more prominent names within the MMA space and the dominant wrestler out of Penn State looks to add some MMA accolades to a resume that saw Kerkvliet cement himself as the 2024 NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion.
Kerkvliet has championship accolades in both freestlye and folkstyle with gold medal distinctions at the 2017 Cadet World Championships as well as at the 2024 Cpolelge Park Big Ten Championships. Also of note, during his NCAA run, Kerkvliet was coached by Cael Sanderson who was a notable wrestling rival of Daniel Cormier during their college days.
NCAA Heavyweight Wrestling rivalry with Cormier and Sanderson
NCAA Heavyweight Wrestling has seen many seismic rivalries and despite the one sided nature of it, insofar as the results piece, Daniel Cormier versus Cael Sanderson resonates in that context.
Across their four contests against one another, Cormier was not able to emerge with a win and Sanderson kept a spotless record against the eventual Olympian as Sanderson authored arguably the most impressive legacy in amateur wrestling history. Their first meeting in 2000 saw Sanderson best Cormier via MD with a 20-9 scorecard initially and their second meeting saw Sanderson win 8-4 later on in that same NCAA Championships year.
A 14-3 MD score for Sanderson saw the all time great author his third win over DC with Cormier losing their fourth meeting later on in 2001. That final setback for Cormier in this wrestling series saw Sanderson emerge as the 2001 NCAA champion at 184 pounds.
