Phil Davis on Ed Ruth in MMA

[Tom McAndrew]

MMA Fighting: Phil Davis foresees fellow Penn State alum Ed Ruth becoming 'massive star' in MMA

 

[Big Blue12]

Great news Tom. PSU is everywhere!

 

[AgSurfer]

Ed has one other strength that will serve him well long after he is finished with competition. He's an extremely likable person. Judging from Phil's comments, he seems to be right up there with Ed in the likability department!

 

[GantryZ]

Would have loved to see a senior year Ruth vs Davis folkstyle match - would have been very interesting with Ruth's offense vs Davis' riding plus single leg defense.

 

[nitlion6]

Would have loved to see a senior year Ruth vs Davis folkstyle match - would have been very interesting with Ruth's offense vs Davis' riding plus single leg defense.

By the time Davis was wrestling in nationals his senior year his single leg defense had become maintain a stance and attack. Not sure anybody touched his legs in that tournament.

 

[GantryZ]

Michalak got to his legs in the finals, but Davis scored on it. Regardless, Ruth would have certainly got to them - where is where the fun would have began.

 

[tikk10]

I've consciously avoided MMA to this point because it's just not wrestling and the, uh, science of the sport is lost on me, but I'm really curious to see Ed get in there.

 

[El-Jefe]

I've consciously avoided MMA to this point because it's just not wrestling and the, uh, science of the sport is lost on me, but I'm really curious to see Ed get in there.

I can't watch it. Understood that it's cleaned up quite a bit since, but I just can't get past the "human cockfighting" quote from however many years ago.

Wish Ed the best, hope he makes a great living off it, more importantly suffers no life-altering injuries.

 

[Kdezeeuw]

SIAP, but here is another sweet article about Bellator and hedging their bets on 5 former wrestlers. Won't spoil, but I'll add it may or may not mention a former PSUer.

http://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/...undation-future-fab-five-recruiting-class-mma

 

[slushhead]

I can't watch it. Understood that it's cleaned up quite a bit since, but I just can't get past the "human cockfighting" quote from however many years ago.

Wish Ed the best, hope he makes a great living off it, more importantly suffers no life-altering injuries.

I'll echo that sentiment (and add my own 2 cents). With all we are learning about the long-term effects of concussions, I cringe at the thought of these guys potentially sacrificing their brains and mental health for a career. It doesn't feel nice to say, but it makes me especially anxious to see intelligent, educated guys with options in front of them choose that risk over something safer. I wish them all good health.

 

[tikk10]

I agree with you both, Jefe and Slush, it's nauseating to watch. Even though I'm curious to see Ed fight, I know in advance it'll be a bit depressing once I do. At the same time I recognize that MMA is here to stay and to the extent wrestling can benefit from its association, I hope it does. I don't think it can necessarily hurt for MMA fans to realize that they could possibly be watching tomorrow's MMA stars today, given the size of the MMA audience vs our audience, though I guess wrestling could be tainted if it ever tried to creep in MMA's direction to seek out fans.