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UNC Tar Heel Austin O’Connor Shows Love For White Sox

Leading Up To His MMA Debut At Fury FC 91, Two-Time National Champion Austin O’Connor Expresses His Admiration For The Chicago White Sox In His Time Away From Training.
By Bronson Niotta • May. 22, 2024

Two-time National champion wrestler for the University of North Carolina, Austin O’Connor, holds much respect and admiration for the Chicago White Sox, as well as using them as the perfect escape.

Dating back to when he first began devoting extended time to the South Side, O’Connor would always enjoy watching their games when he is taking a break from his training. Likely to the surprise of many, it’s the White Sox O’Connor turns to before the action of the sport he perfected for 20 years.

 

O’Connor sat on the throne after two NCAA National Championship weekends. He has managed to become one of the most dominant and gritty wrestlers in the country thanks to his hard-nosed work ethic, commitment to his training and raw talent. However, while O’Connor expresses much love and dedication to the sport, he is not very active in the wrestling world outside of his own goals and training.  

 

“Honestly, I don’t even like watching wrestling,” O’Connor said. “I couldn’t do a bunch of stuff outside of wrestling; I focus on myself and my training.”  

O’Connor, effectively, prefers to focus his attention on his own training, and is even unfamiliar with some of the biggest names in the sport. The Tar Heel great isn’t completely in the dark on the sport that put him on the map, but unless he knows he is about to face a particular opponent, it doesn’t make sense to pile on more wrestling information.

He acknowledges his lack of knowledge of some of the famous wrestlers, and attributes it to keeping his life on and off the mat separate.

 

“There’s some people that love watching videos and love watching Russians,” O’Connor claims. “I couldn’t tell you a single Russian wrestler because I never grew up watching. I just liked to do other stuff in my free time when I was outside the wrestling room.” 

  

While contributing most of his time to perfecting his wrestling craft, O’Connor would always make room for the White Sox in his small increments of free time.

When he was not training, he could always sit down and watch a staple of the South Side to occupy his time. The White Sox winning the World Series in 2005 when O’Connor was seven years old was a huge moment for the team and it was a great time to be a fan.

Whether he likes the current state of the team or not, there’s always the days when Pierzynski, Buehrle, Konerko and Podsednik ran wild to look back to.

  

O’Connor will still go to games whenever possible if he is not training for a fight. He loves using these games as an opportunity to spend time with his friends and family, especially when he has been hitting the mat hard during his training. Watching the White Sox is O’Connor’s breath of fresh air and a way to have fun outside of his wrestling life.

“I always like watching the White Sox, going to the games, and hanging out with my friends and doing other stuff,” O’Connor said. 

 

Now back in Illinois as the Fighting Illini assistant coach, O’Connor is able to enjoy two of the things he loves most, coaching and watching the White Sox. Hopefully he has NBC Sports Chicago out in Gilroy, California while preparing for his professional debut.

 

Catch Austin O’Connor’s MMA Debut, LIVE At Fury FC 91, Sunday, June 9, ONLY On UFC FIGHT PASS! 

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