Curtis Blaydes

Began wrestling for the De La Salle Institute, winning a state title his senior year with a 44-0 record. Blaydes compiled an overall record of 95-18 with 121 takedowns (school record). He later earned a full wrestling scholarship to Northern Illinois University,but later transferred to Harper College. There he won the NJCAA National Championship as a redshirt sophomore. After this, he switched to MMA, for which he left school.

I think a lot of people think that MMA fighters are meatheads who don't care about their bodies," Blaydes said. "They think we don't care about getting CTE and being able to live a long and healthy life. I don't know about anyone else, I do care. I don't want to get CTE. I want to have a healthy brain.