Richard Carlson won his MMA debutRichard Carlson, who completed his collegiate wrestling career at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse this spring, wrapped up his summer as a winner in his pro mixed martial arts debut in the town where he went to college.
Carlson, a two-time NCAA Division III All-American at UW-La Crosse, won his first MMA bout at the 3 River Throwdown XII event in La Crosse's Copeland Park Saturday evening, finishing off rival Ruben Rios, Jr. with a guillotine choke about halfway through the first round.
"I threw him to his back right away, then he ended up getting back up," Carlson told InterMat. "I landed a few leg kicks before cornering him to the cage and throwing him again. When I was attempting to ground and pound I slipped into a guillotine choke and he tapped out."
The fight was over at 2:40 of Round 1.
"I've never felt an adrenaline rush like that," said Carlson on his Facebook page. "The reaction from the crowd was awesome as well. I was feeding off that, as well."
Carlson, a native of Arden Hills, Minn., first got the idea of becoming an MMA fighter after teaching wrestling classes at Ironworks Training Center in Holmen, Wis.
"Once I was there and starting jumping in with the muay thai and jiu-jitsu classes, I just said I had to give this a try," Carlson told the La Crosse Tribune prior to his MMA debut. "Seeing it in person is totally different. It's such an adrenaline rush."
Despite a successful start in MMA, Carlson's primary focus is Greco-Roman competition, with a dream of wrestling at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He has been competing in Greco during his collegiate off-season, and even spent some time this summer at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
Carlson's next competition will be the 2017 U23 World Team Trials in early October, with hopes of earning a spot on the Team USA Greco squad competing at the World Championships in Poland in late November.
As for Carlson's future plans ...
"I'm still concentrated on Greco Roman wrestling, but eventually I plan to shift over to MMA full time," Carlson told InterMat. "Right now fighting is for fun and just to get my feet wet with the sport. I have the U23 trials coming up in October. I will be training for that so I likely won't fight again until December or later."
Carlson graduated from UW-La Crosse this spring with a degree in chemistry. He compiled an 84-26 record, bringing home NCAA Division III All-American honors at 174 pounds in 2015 and 2017.
Carlson's college coach sees a bright future for his recent grad, whatever he pursues.
"He's really passionate about wrestling and really whatever he does," said UW-La Crosse head wrestling coach Dave Malecek. "When he sets his mind to it, whether it's college style wrestling, Greco, and now fighting, he's really driven in what he does."
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