Athletes
With Cage Warriors’ Kyle Driscoll becoming seemingly the hundredth Oklahoma-based wrestler turned AKA fighter, it’s about time we ask the question, what’s in the water?
If you step back and look at all the talent that has followed Daniel Cormier to AKA out in the Gilroy area, it should come as little surprise that Oklahoma fighters and Oklahoma State wrestlers are starting to hitch their wagon to the champ-champ.
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Nick Piccininni and Driscoll are two of the most recent California transplants to find success at AKA from OSU and, according to Driscoll, thanks to Cormier, the train is far from empty.
“It’s for sure because of DC and how charismatic he is,” Driscoll said. “When he talks to you, he’s very welcoming, and that’s what AKA is - it’s a very wrestling-heavy atmosphere. Every day is hard. There’s no, ‘we’re going to go lighter today,’ so it’s the wrestling grind.”
The seamless transition for collegiate athletes that has led so many NCAA stars turned MMA prospects already seems endless but from the names Driscoll had in his back pocket, the future of AKA is as bright as it can be.
Ed Ruth of Penn State, Tyler Berger from Nebraska, Austin O’Connor from North Carolina, just to name a few. It’s one heck of an atmosphere Cormier has created at AKA, and it’s paid off.
Should Driscoll have a strong outing in his Cage Warriors main event slot and find himself in the UFC, followed by Piccininni a couple years later, and possibly an Austin’ O’Connor or Tyler Berger behind that, AKA may continue to have a chokehold on the MMA world for the next decade, but it all starts with Driscoll.
Catch the return of Kyle Driscoll at Cage Warriors 133, ONLY on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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