![]() I wanted to be the first freshman to make the varsity wrestling team at my high school. That’s the first lesson for people reading this. Meaning you were a prodigy on the mats from the start? ![]() So when I realized wrestling was going to be my sport, I had a deep pool of natural talent I could draw upon. All three of his daughters went to college on academic scholarships. My father was a big, strong farm boy, and all five of his sons went to college to wrestle. The first secret isn’t a secret at all so much as genetic luck-I came from a high-achieving family. Still, your longevity across several sports is quite remarkable, and you’ve aged more gracefully than many peers. There were pluses and minuses to both classes, and I had my share of success in each, but the cut to 220 could be difficult at times. I was competing at 250 to 255 pounds during a lot of my MMA and pro wrestling career, and while I was always well conditioned at that weight relative to other heavyweights, there are now 100,000+ miles on these tires, and I’m reducing the weight of the load a bit.Īnd the other is that during my amateur wrestling career, I moved up and down between 220 pounds and heavyweight [ed’s note: today this class is capped at 285 pounds, but up until 1987, it was called “unlimited” and had no weight limit. The first is that in the past few years, I’ve worked to bring my weight down to 230-235 pounds. Someone watching you fight Dave Legeno in 2007 would see a guy who looked a lot like the guy who submitted Dave Beneteau in 1995 to win UFC. ![]() Throughout your career-at least after you started competing in MMA in 1994 at UFC 4-your appearance didn’t seem to change much. I don’t look my age, and even though age is catching up with me, I still don’t feel as old as I am.Ĭourtesy of Dan Severn That’s what I want to talk about. Let me just say that this mustache has gotten me into a lot of trouble. So let’s start with the important stuff: Are you still rocking the mustache? Still packing 235 pounds on a 6’2” frame, Severn travels incessantly, coaching wrestling and MMA seminars and making personal appearances between recording sessions of the podcast he co-hosts with his good friend and wrestling/MMA protege Don Frye.Įn route to his latest gig, Severn took the time to share some of the insights acquired during a sports and fitness journey that now spans half a century. Severn fought his last MMA match in 2012 at the age of 53 and was competing in the wrestling ring for major independent promotions such as Game Changer Wrestling and Major League Wrestling as recently as 2019. He recounted this story in The Realest Guy in the Room, published in 2016, and says he has more than enough material to warrant a second volume. Severn has won 101 sanctioned mixed martial arts fights, dozens of amateur wrestling tournaments, and hundreds of professional wrestling matches over the course of a five-decade career in combat sports that began in high school. Olympic alternate in freestyle wrestling, a two-time NWA World Champion in pro wrestling, a three-time UFC champion, and almost certainly a top contender for the title of “Mustache GOAT” – has come about as close as anyone. 64-year-old Dan “The Beast” Severn – a two-time U.S. “Fight forever” is a popular chant in professional wrestling arenas, but no competitor has ever managed that feat.
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