Paul Bradley, a two-time All-American for the University of Iowa, will be fighting in a big MMA fighting promotion. Bradley, nicknamed The Gentleman, will face Yushin Okami at the famed Madison Square Garden in New York City. There will be four world title fights on a stacked card of great fights for the World Series of Fighting (WSOF) for their New Year’s Eve Mega-Event. The fight card will be shown live on NBCSN starting at 3 PM CST on Saturday, December 31st. Be sure and check your local listings.
Bradley will be in his fist fight with WSOF after fighting for the UFC, Bellator, and Strikeforce. Bradley caught some very good publicity in his last fight in January of this year for Bellator when he knocked out rising star Chris Honeycutt in just 40 seconds.
Bradley, from Tama, Iowa, was a 2001 State champion and two-time State runner-up at South Tama High School. I was able to follow Bradley’s entire high school and college wrestling career. It was pretty easy to see that Bradley was real tough as a freshman in high school. At the University of Iowa, Bradley became a two-time All-American at 184 when he placed fourth in 2003 and fifth in 2004. He is fighting at 170 lbs. and at the age of thirty-three, he is cut up.
Bradley’s career in MMA began in 2006 and in 2009 he left coaching college wrestling to pursue MMA. His first big break was appearing on The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest for the UFC. He won his first fight and I thought he had a real good chance to win the show that would result in a UFC contract. However a skin disease got him kicked off the show. His career record is 23-6 with two No Contests.
Bradley is currently training and living in San Diego. I have been able to follow his career on Facebook. Paul Bradley is a great guy. Making a living as a professional MMA fighter for that many years and making weight is about as tough as it gets. I have a great deal of respect for fighters that make their living that way. There is so much more to MMA than just the UFC. I am motivated to get an interview with Bradley for my blog in the future.
A small town Iowa boy and wrestler fighting for a big MMA promotion in Madison Square Garden in New York City on New Year’s Eve. It doesn’t get much better than that. I will continue to update Iowa Wrestling fans on Bradley’s MMA career.
