Ernest Ladd, nicknamed "the Big Cat", was an American professional football player and professional wrestler. A standout athlete in high school, Ladd attended Grambling State University on a basketball scholarship before being drafted in 1961 by the San Diego Chargers of the American Football League (AFL). Ladd found success in the AFL as one of the largest players in professional football history at 6′9″ and 290 pounds. He helped the Chargers to four AFL championship games in five years, winning the championship with the team in 1963. He also had stints with the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Oilers. Ladd took up professional wrestling during the AFL offseason, and after a knee injury ended his football career turned to it full-time in 1969.
Kenny Dale Monday is an Olympic gold medalist and three-time All-American wrestler from Oklahoma State University. He began wrestling at age six at a YMCA after-school program and grew up idolizing Olympic wrestler Wayne Wells. Monday is a three-time Olympian.
Jake Rosholt is an American retired mixed martial artist and former collegiate amateur wrestler. A professional competitor from 2007 to 2012, he competed for the UFC, WEC, Bellator, and Shark Fights. He is the older brother of current heavyweight MMA fighter/Oklahoma State NCAA Championship finalist Jared Rosholt.
Clifford Franklin Battles was an American professional football player who was a halfback in the National Football League (NFL). Battles was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968.
Rashad Anton Evans is an American mixed martial artist who currently competes in the Light Heavyweight division of Eagle Fighting Championship. Evans started his professional career in 2003, he was the Heavyweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter 2 and is also a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, and a 2019 inductee of the UFC Hall of Fame.
Donald Eugene Nehlen is a former American football player and coach. He was head football coach at Bowling Green State University (1968–1976) and at West Virginia University (1980–2000). Nehlen retired from coaching college football in 2001 with a career record of 202–128–8 and as the 17th winningest coach in college football history. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2005 and has served as a president of the American Football Coaches Association.
The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. The Mountaineers have been a member of the Big 12 Conference since 2012. At that time, the Mountaineers joined the Mid-American Conference as an affiliate member for men's soccer. The men's soccer team now competes in the Sun Belt Conference.
Joseph Lee Stydahar, sometimes listed as Joseph Leo Stydahar, and sometimes known by the nickname "Jumbo Joe", was an American professional football player and coach. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1972.
Samuel "Sammie" Henson is a World Champion wrestler, winning a gold medal in freestyle for the USA at the 1998 FILA Wrestling World Championships, held in Tehran, Iran. He was also a silver medalist at the 2000 Summer Olympics in the freestyle 54 kg category, losing to Abdullayev in the finals of that event, held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. At the age of 36, he competed at the 2006 FILA Wrestling World Championships held in Guangzhou, China, earning a bronze medal. He was named USA Wrestling's Man of the Year in 1998.
The West Virginia Mountaineers football team represents West Virginia University in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of college football. West Virginia plays its home games at Milan Puskar Stadium on the campus of West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. The Mountaineers have won or shared a total of 15 conference championships, including eight Southern Conference titles and seven Big East Conference titles. The Mountaineers compete in the Big 12 Conference and are led by head coach Neal Brown.
Michael Craig van Arsdale is an American former professional mixed martial artist. A professional from 1998 until 2006, he competed for the UFC, International Vale Tudo Championship, and the World Fighting Alliance. He was the winner of the IVC 4 Heavyweight Tournament.
Carl Lee Crennel is a former linebacker in the National Football League (NFL), and the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played for one season with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL, and for several different teams in the CFL, most notably Montreal Alouettes from 1972-1979; he won two Grey Cup championships with the Alouettes, and one with the Edmonton Eskimos. He was drafted in the 1970 NFL Draft out of West Virginia, where he captained the Mountaineers to a 10-1 record in 1969 and a victory in the Peach Bowl; he was named MVP in the game. In 1998 Crennel was made a member of the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame.
Daniel Ryan Cormier is an American former professional mixed martial artist, amateur wrestler, and current commentator for the UFC. He is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight Champion. Cormier is the second fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two weight classes simultaneously and is the first fighter to have title defenses in two divisions. As an international wrestler, Cormier was a six-time US World or Olympic Team Member, a World bronze medalist, a World Cup runner-up, a Pan American Games gold medalist and a two-time Pan American champion. In folkstyle wrestling, Cormier was an NCAA Division I national finalist and two-time Big 12 Conference runner-up for the Oklahoma State Cowboys. He was also a two-time NJCAA champion.
The Blackzilians was a professional team of fighters in mixed martial arts, boxing, kickboxing, amateur wrestling and catch wrestling located in South Florida. The team had included former UFC champions Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Eddie Alvarez and Kamaru Usman.
Kamarudeen Usman is a Nigerian-American professional mixed martial artist, former freestyle wrestler and retired folkstyle wrestler from Nebraska. He currently competes in the Welterweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the former UFC Welterweight Champion. Usman is also The Ultimate Fighter 21 tournament winner. As of November 14, 2022, he is #1 in the UFC men's welterweight rankings, and as of June 20, 2023, he is #8 in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings.
Tywan Claxton is an American mixed martial artist and former amateur wrestler. He most notably competed in Bellator MMA at featherweight.
Henri Hooft, also known as Harry Hooft, is a Dutch former kickboxer and trainer. He is the head trainer at Kill Cliff FC and formerly the Blackzilians.
Jackson Wink MMA Academy is a mixed martial arts gym based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The gym has been featured in several sports documentaries and has been called one of the best MMA gyms in the world by various MMA magazines.
Kill Cliff FC, officially known as Kill Cliff Fight Club is a mixed martial arts gym based in Deerfield Beach, Florida. It was originally founded in 2017 by Henri Hooft and Greg Jones as Combat Club and later Hard Knocks 365 before being rebranded to Sanford MMA in 2019 after obtaining a sponsorship deal with Sanford Health. In July 2022, the gym rebranded to Kill Cliff FC.
