MU shows well in mixed martial arts

Two MU students earned victory in their first amateur fights.

By Nick Forrester

Published April 27, 2009

After former Missouri wrestler Ben Askren knocked out opponent Mitchell Harris in 87 seconds -- his second straight fight that has ended in less than 90 seconds -- Askren got up and gave a slight shrug as he walked back to his coaches.

From the start, Askren dominated Harris. It took a little bit for Askren to take Harris to the ground, but once he did, it was all but over. After hitting the ground, Askren struck Harris until he put his arm over Askren's shoulder, which gave Askren an easy chokehold to end the fight.

"He swung on me hard and I defended it," Askren said. "Once I took him down, I was able to finish him off easily. He stuck his arm over my shoulder, and it's like taking candy from a baby there. I was laughing afterwards because he's not going to hurt me from the bottom."

Askren will take some time off now to go travel around Europe, but said he looks to get back into the cage when he gets back in September.

"I'm going to try and get someone better for the next fight and hopefully go from there," Askren said. "I'm going to go somewhere bigger next time where I can hopefully get a more even match up."

MU senior Johnny Andrews, a backup for four years on the Missouri wrestling team, had his amateur debut Saturday night. Two days before the fight though, Andrews had no idea he would even be fighting.

"It was Thursday when I was giving some teammates a ride home, and they told me that Ben was looking for a guy to fill this fight," Andrews said. "I just thought that I'm close to that weight and I wanted to fight, so I called Ben up, and he gave me the fight. I trained once on Thursday with Ben and once on Friday with Jake (Hecht)."

Despite having only two days of training before the fight, Andrews, fighting for the "Askren Fight Club" wasted no time in knocking out opponent Mike O'Rielly. Andrews relied heavily on his wrestling abilities for the fight and it clearly made the difference.

"It was so much fun," Andrews said. "I knew I was going to go out there and punch somebody. After I started hitting this guy, it hit me that I can pretty much do whatever I want to him."

MU junior Chris Hayes has been training with American Top Team and had his first amateur fight of his career Saturday night. Hayes fought against Kyle Lesniak. After a good, long fight, Hayes was able to take Lesniak to the ground before knocking him out.

"It was a rush," Hayes said of his first fight. "It's such a rewarding feeling with all the hard work that goes into this."

Hayes, a member of the Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity, had the loudest cheering section of the night, with friends in the fraternity and family out to support him.

"It helps when you have 50-60 of your good friends here cheering your name," Hayes said. "There's a point when you have to decide whether you're going to win or lose, and it helps to be supported through that."