Trice's transformation from All-American wrestler to MMA fighter
From a former Central Michigan three-time All-American wrestler's perspective — college wrestling stinks.
"I'm going to be honest with you, I hate (college wrestling)," said former CMU wrestler Jarod Trice. "I think it is the dumbest style of wrestling that you can do, period. We are the only country that competes in it. Freestyle and Greco-Roman style wrestling are the only two styles that people care about."
Trice explained that in the world of wrestling, folkstyle — the collegiate wrestling style — isn't popular or used around the world.
He said the only people who care about folkstyle are people in the United States, especially in Iowa.
"They call me the Iowa-killer," Trice said. "I was never really a fan of folkstyle wrestling, I was just good at it."
Trice said he had the idea of wanting to fight since 2012. According to the current Mixed Martial Arts fighter, there isn't much money to be made in a wrestling career.
When it came time to choose between World Wrestling Entertainment and MMA, Trice said the decision wasn't difficult.
"I ended up taking the MMA route because I still wanted to compete," he said. "It has been in the making for the last four years. That's when the idea was put into my head by a couple of MMA fighters who are former wrestlers."
Because of his success on the mat and his confidence in himself, Trice knew he would be able to compete in the octagon.
"I was basically looking at these guys like ‘I could do this too,’" Trice said. "It's not too hard and I have the perfect background for it."
The Highland Park native signed an exclusive multi-fight contract with Bellator MMA on May 2, 2016. Bellator MMA is a Mixed Martial Arts promotion company founded in 2008.
His contract includes six fights for an undisclosed amount of money.
"It's a nice amount of money," Trice said. "A lot of guys probably wouldn't be getting this amount on their first contract."
In his MMA debut last December, Trice defeated Tommie Britton by decision at Bellator 167, an event headlined by Joe Taimanglo and Darrion Caldwell.
Trice won this fight after training in the MMA for only six months.
As for his collegiate wresting career, Trice left the sport as one of CMU’s most dominant heavyweights.
Under the nickname “Doughboy,” Trice won a Mid-American Conference championship in the heavyweight class.
The Highland Park native finished with more takedowns than Ben Bennett — the first four-time All-American wrestler in CMU's history — over his six years in Mount Pleasant.
Trice also won two titles at the Midlands Championships, which is one of the most prestigious tournaments in college wrestling, held at Northwestern University.
"It's kind of his personality. He's a showman," said CMU Head Coach Tom Borrelli. "I can see him doing well."
Trice redshirted his first two years at CMU and earned his first All-American ranking in 2010, placing eighth at the NCAA championships.
Trice said he has a lot of respect for his former coach. In his opinion, Trice said college wrestling's conditioning might even be harder than MMA if you have a guy like Borrelli "riding you like a horse."
One of the most important things that Borrelli told Trice was, "you can't crouch with the owls if you want to soar with the eagles," a punchline that Borrelli used almost daily during Trice's wrestling career at CMU.
"(Borrelli) had my back as soon as I stepped on campus," Trice said. "I didn't take a recruiting trip to CMU, which was unheard of. I actually thought that Mount Pleasant was a place with [expletive] hills."
According to Trice, Borrelli made a positive impact on the mat and in life.
"(Borrelli) helped me grow into a man," he said. "He taught me a lot of life lessons. He taught us that we have to deal with adversity."
Trice has used his athletic background to help shape him into the fighter he is now. Before coming to CMU, Trice had the opportunity to go to college to wrestle or play football. In high school, Trice was a two-time wrestling champion at Highland Park Community High School.
On the football team, Trice was an all-state left guard and defensive tackle. One of the first schools that recruited Trice in football was CMU.
Even though he doesn't compete with the Chippewas anymore, Trice said he is always following the team, even after graduation.
He described his high expectations for sophomore Justin Oliver, who earned his first All-American title last season at the NCAA Championships.
"I want Justin to win a national title," Trice said. "I wasn't able to do it, and Ben Bennett wasn't able to do it either."
The Chippewas will participate in the MAC Championships in hopes of making it to the NCAA National Championships. Trice said he will be checking on the team as they compete.
