University of Missouri Athletics

One of the most dominant athletes to ever compete in an individual sport in Mizzou history, Askren owned his weight class on a national basis for his final two seasons when he was a combined 87-0 as a junior and senior (42-0 and 45-0, respectively) and won NCAA Championships at 174 pounds in 2006 and 2007. He was also NCAA runner up in his first two years (2004-05) and finished his career with a sterling 153-8 record as the winningest and most decorated wrestler in MU history. Askren was a three-time Big 12 Conference champion and became Mizzou’s first four-time all-American. He won the Dan Hodge Trophy – given to the nation’s top wrestler – in both 2006 and 2007, becoming just the second wrestler in NCAA history to win the award twice. He ended his MU career holding numerous records, including 91 falls (44 more than the old record) and 15 technical falls. Askren was also a top-notch student who was a four-time NWCA academic all-American, as well as a four-time first-team academic all-Big 12 selection. He became the first Tiger wrestler to qualify for the Olympics (Beijing, 2008), and he served for two years as a volunteer assistant on the Mizzou staff before beginning a career in Mixed Martial Arts fighting.