Ben Askren » Ben Askren on USA Wrestling

Let's take the cash that we waste on the absurd project of women's wrestling and devote it to funding the wonderful and little known D3 collegiate wrestling programs like Montclair State (53 D3 All Americans and 7 D1 All Americans) that have been disbanded. It is an absolute joke that USA Wrestling would allow a programs like Montclair State and so many others to be shut down while pumping money into women's wrestling. Sadly, it's not surprising that the leadership of USA Wrestling has been infected by today's absurd "Diversity" culture.

Hey so what if Folkstyle doesn't make Olympic champions. It does make world champion fighters! Maybe we ought to thank MMA for giving our elite wrestlers another avenue finally! Guess what wrestling is a combat sport that prepares athletes to competeatthe highest level!

Ben Congrats on your championship. I watched the fight and even though it was not pretty you dominated by having excellent control. That is what Folkstyle teaches! Thank You!

Ben makes some great points -- there are lots of factors and no single answer. There is too much emphasis on folkstyle. If we want to catch up in a hurry, get the NCAA to evolve to Freestyle and ultimately have it so colleges can field Freestyle and/or Greco teams. Start with the push-out rule, neutral starts on out of bounds, etc. If NCAA starts wrestling FS and Greco, rest assured the HS kids will be wrestling FS and Greco to get prepared and recruited. As for the fear of the demise of our folkstyle, let it go people -- the rest of the world is wrestling FS and Greco and if we want to be the best we need to focus on it. We also need to expand upon what Dave Barry and Mike Novogratz have done with the Living the Dream fund. Our best guys should not be starving -- they should make a decent living and be incentivized to stick around for multiple Olympic cycles.

We finally have a professional product path in MMA, and you wanna cry about freestyle vs folkstyle? It's like saying "thanks but no thanks, NFL, ESPN, Nike, .....we'd rather 'keep it real' and play two hand touch at the park for the glory"

if you were about to fight for a million dollars, and needed good training....where would you rather go? the haphazard catch as catch can 'olympic training' center in colorado (and hopefully bump into 2 partners that might wanna go hard for a few?) or in a Iowa, Iowa State, OSU, PSU, ASU wrestling room with alumni they stick around out of pride and respect for their brand of @sskicking? I think the answer is simply obvious. Freestyle Vs. Folkstyle....bah. You're just obsolete and missing the point.
Unless USA wrestling figures out how to change the climate and environment of how it prioritizes the care, respect, and compensation of our Olympic representatives, all we are seeing is the beginning of the mass exodus to MMA, UFC, etc..... it just makes practical sense. I think Ben was really candid when he spoke on the money comparison, and guess what........he's absolutely right. And for anyone that might say "we'll...they did it in the old days".......well....rent now is not the same as the old days...nor is food, cars, cost of living in general.
we (USA, USA wrestling, etc) are so far out of touch it is just sad.....and it's also quite revealing where their priorities are.
we need a robin hood, and flo is the best platform we've go at the moment to voice this needed change.

PA, you are delusional if you think folkstyle has a chance to be exported and become an olympic sport. For heaven's sake, we can hardly keep interest in folkstyle in America. College programs are being cut every year, and outside of the midwest, attendence is at events is low. One thing we need to do is cut the folkstyle season, put more money in freestyle. Maybe even make freestyle a college sport.

The answer to many problems is always one solution

Ben,

Stop renting out that face as a punching bag will ya?
It looks like someone crushed his whole head and then stuffed it back into the shell and sewed it up with chicken wire.
I am not a good looking guy, but Ben makes me feel like Brad Pitt.

I like a lot of what he said, no one answer unfortunately.

The question is, with so MANY great college programs and wrestlers, why in the US it's not more in demand to watch (other the Flo that is)?? With demand comes TV rights, $$$$$ for advertising etc. I can tell you this watching freestyle match is not all entertaining... Maybe we need to focus bringing up College demand first and that would wash over to International. Just a thought.

Bag FS/GR, bag MMA. Some promoter needs to have the guts to try a professional folkstyle tournament series with good prize money (like Hargobind except bigger $). Bite the bullet for a year or two, grow the attention and see what happens. No one ever thought X-games/Dew Tour/etc would go anywhere and now it is rolling.

Eventually, the international competitors will join in as the money grows and then we don't have to put up with FS/GR and the crappy FILA oversight.

He looks so beat up. Many of them do. One of the many things that I don't like about this sport. Coupleled with weight loss, ect.
In order for us to do better internationally the veterans to continue wrestling, adn they don't. Not when the sport pays them almost nothing compared to MMA. Lastly , Folkstyle needs to changes to be closer to freestyle. Any expusore should be points. There should be brief rest period like frees tyle. Also, in folkstyle, I am tired of watching kids flee the matt. But, the clinich sucks, and watching someone just lay there on the bottom is bogus as ell. etc. I think there need to be an extra point awarded if the wrestler initiates the move and scores with it, this would encourage risk taking. Right now Freestyle is too boring and too many high level matches are won at 2 -0, and its just plan boring. Wrestling needs to change or die a very slow death.