A four-time NCAA All-American and two-time national champion at the University of Missouri who went on to represent the United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Ben Askren remains one of the most decorated amateur wrestlers to ever enter the combat sports sphere. The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native turns 40 on July 18.
Askren still owns the all-time records for career victories (153) and pins (91) at Missouri, where he was twice awarded the Dan Hodge Trophy—collegiate wrestling’s equivalent to the Heisman. He made his professional mixed martial arts debut under the Headhunter Promotions banner in 2009, made his way to Bellator MMA a little more than a year later and laid claim to the company’s welterweight crown with a five-round unanimous decision over Lyman Good at Bellator 33.