It’s no secret that wrestlers have done very well on the biggest stages of mixed martial arts. Stars like Daniel Cormier and Kamur Usman made names for themselves at the collegiate level before going on to win UFC titles.

Olympic freestyle medalist and two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo said last week that he could see fellow Olympic champ Kyle Snyder as a future star of the Octagon.

“I feel like if a guy like Kyle Snyder gets in the game and goes through the process I've gone through, that's the only guy I can see beating a guy like Jon Jones,” Cejudo said on the Joe Rogan Experience. “He’s mentioned it, but a guy like that, you'd have to groom him properly. You don't want to stick a guy like that straight to MMA. Put him in boxing for at least a couple years, this is what I did. I boxed for three years; I didn’t do any jiu-jitsu.”

Indeed, Snyder has mentioned an interest in the sport. The Ohio State alumnus mentioned it as far back as 2016 via Twitter, and then told Fox Sports a few months later that he was very much interested in the sport and would be open to pursuing fighting and wrestling at the same time.

Fast forward a few years, and Captain America is still very much focused on winning another Olympic gold. But having a fighter of Cejudo’s acclaim dropping your name as a future MMA star is no small thing.

If Snyder joins the elite of the sport someday, he’ll be in the company of several fellow Buckeyes, including two members of the UFC Hall of Fame. The promotion announced earlier this month that two-time NCAA Champion Kevin “The Monster” Randleman will enter the UFC Hall of Fame as the 17th member of the Pioneer Era wing, along with other fighters who turned professional before Nov. 17, 2000, when the unified rules of mixed martial arts were adopted.

A true pioneer of the sport ? (B2YB @ToyoTires) pic.twitter.com/1eLUWamX2A

— UFC (@ufc) May 17, 2020

The late Randleman, who passed away suddenly in 2016, was a three-time Big Ten champion while wrestling in a scarlet singlet to go with his pair of 177-pound national titles.

“Kevin Randleman was one of the first real athletes in the early days of UFC,” UFC President Dana White said. “He was a two-time NCAA Division I national champion and All-American wrestler at The Ohio State University. He was the fifth heavyweight champion in UFC history and one of the first athletes to successfully compete at both heavyweight and light heavyweight. He was a pioneer of the sport and it’s an honor to induct him into the UFC Hall of Fame Class of 2020.”

Randleman joins fellow Buckeye big man Mark “The Hammer” Coleman in the Hall of Fame. Coleman became the first UFC Heavyweight Champion in 1997 when the UFC Superfight Championship was unified with the UFC Tournament Championship; he finished his college wrestling career by transferring to Ohio State from Miami of Ohio and winning the NCAA title at 190 pounds, finishing the season with an incredible 50-2 record.

“Of course I remember the Big Ten and NCAA championship matches, but those losses really stuck with me,” Coleman told Eleven Warriors in 2016. “They pushed me to get better and never make those mistakes again.”

Coleman helped coach Randleman to his pair of national titles as a member of Russ Hellickson’s staff. When the man who would become “The Hammer” entered the octagon after his freestyle career was over, his wrestling experience showed through clearly in his innovative “ground and pound” style.

Among active fighters, Mark “Showtime” Martin was off to a strong start to his professional career, winning three of his first four bouts under the V3 Fights and Iron Tiger Fight Series promotions. He was scheduled to fight again in March at LFA 84, but that event was postponed due to COVID-19.

JB: “Explain your 1-0 match with Mark Martin”

I don’t do too much talking but let’s leave my name out of it. I would send both of y’all clowns into a new dimension ??? @alliseeisgold https://t.co/N6SMTzJqBx

— Mark Martin (@ShowtimeMartin1) April 16, 2020

Ohio State’s most successful standard-bearer is Lance Palmer. Known as “The Party,” the more accurate moniker is “The $2 Million Man,” because he has won the PFL Featherweight tournament’s million-dollar prize in back-to-back seasons.

The four-time All American was just the second Buckeye in history to make the NCAA podium all four years of his collegiate career. He was the 2010 Big Ten Champion at 149 pounds, and the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the conference tournament.

In addition to his success in PFL, Palmer won a title in the World Series of Fighting and has the chops to compete in bigger promotions. But he re-upped with PFL because it made financial sense to do so, biding his time until the opportunity to fight under the Bellator or UFC banners makes sense.

. . . and given the results, who can blame him?

.@LancePalmer after winning $1 million TWICE ? pic.twitter.com/5czshqr1PJ

— PFL MMA (@ProFightLeague) June 8, 2020

So should Kyle Snyder someday decide his freestyle trophy case is plenty full, he’ll have plenty of successful Ohio State wrestling alumni to call on for advice when he finally signs up for his first fight.

Andy Vance is a Columbus-based journalist who covers the Ohio State University wrestling program for Eleven Warriors, the largest independent sports site on the internet for Ohio State news, analysis, and community. He is co-host of the site’s Eleven Dubcast podcast. Follow him on Twitter @AndyVance.