Wrestling: Sultana benefits from popularity of MMA
Sultana Coach Rocky Humphrey doesn't need to recruit wrestlers for his program, guys like Joe Stevenson do it for him.
That's right, Humphrey said after Sultana defeated Barstow, 59-12, on Wednesday that the sport's biggest attraction these days is its relation to mixed-martial arts. It seems most of his wrestlers are hopeful MMA fighters who are looking to polish their ground skills.
Stevenson, a former wrestler at nearby Silverado High in Victorville, is a well-known fighter on the MMA circuit. He fought in the main event Saturday night at UFC 80 in England, losing on a rear naked chokehold to B.J. Penn of Hawaii.
If the California Interscholastic Federation really wanted to make a buck, they'd just go ahead and sanction MMA as a high school sport. But I have a feeling they would sanction paintball before they put their stamp on MMA.
-- Dan Arritt
--- Image from www.joestevenson.com
