Jordan Burroughs considering MMA transition after 2020 Olympics

Bloodyelbow.com

Multiple-time wrestling world champion Jordan Burroughs made some noise recently when he scored a dominant victory over UFC welterweight Ben Askren at a Beat the Streets wrestling event in New York. This had raised some questions on whether or not Burroughs would also do well in mixed martial arts.

UFC president Dana White, for one, already expressed interest in seeing Burroughs compete in MMA. After saying he’d want “one” MMA fight, apparently, it is something that the 30-year-old wrestler is considering more and more lately.

“It’s exciting. I can’t deny it, I can’t deny it at all,” Burroughs said on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour (via MMA Fighting). “There was a period of time early in my career where I was like, I’m gonna definitely fight. I definitely want to be a part of this lifestyle.

“Then there was a period of time where I had so much success in the sport of wrestling and I was like, I don’t really need fighting. I’m good, I’m doing well financially, I’ve got a solid following. I’ve got a family, I’m healthy, I’m good.

“Now I’ve arrived at a place too where I’m seeing all of these guys that I once trained alongside become champions—and this is not a shot at any of those dudes—but if these guys can become champion, then I know I can become a champion because I possess all the same qualities that these guys possess,” he added. “It’s exciting, it’s exciting. It’s something that I’d definitely consider.”

But if he does venture into professional fighting, Burroughs would likely do it after the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

“If I do consider fighting, it won’t be until after the Olympic games in 2020, and then from there I’ll reevaluate, see if it’s something that would be a realistic option for me.

“No one steps into this Octagon expecting to get beat up and take a lot of punishment, so it’s something that I have to evaluate with my wife and my coaching staff here,” Burroughs said. “But for the right price, I’d be willing to consider it for sure.”

With a decorated career in freestyle wrestling, Burroughs also won the gold medal for the United States during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.