Anthony Cassar warming up at the 2019 NCAAs (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWariors.com)Anthony Cassar, 2019 NCAA heavyweight champ for Penn State, has always let it be known he would like to make an eventual career move from wrestling into professional mixed arts. While his next goal is representing the U.S. Olympic men's freestyle team at 125 kilograms/275 pounds at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Cassar has just taken the next significant step toward realizing his MMA dream:
Cassar's final season wrestling as Penn State heavyweight, winning the 2019 NCAA 285-pound title, the 2019 Big Ten crown, and the 2019 NWCA First-Team National All-American team, concluding with a 30-1 overall record, including 15 majors, two tech falls and five pins. Cassar had planned to wrestle at Penn State for the 2019-2020 season; however, on Jan. 7, 2020, the Nittany Lions announced that Cassar and 2018 NCAA All-American Kyle Conel (197) were out for the season due to injury .
Cassar eventually hopes to join other former Penn State wrestling champs in pro MMA careers, including Phil Davis, Ed Ruth, and Bo Nickal.
Collegiate mat champs transition to MMA titles
InterMat's Richard Mann put together this chart of NCAA wrestling titlewinners who found title success in MMA …
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