Tag: Roman Bravo-Young

NCAA wrestling championship photos: Penn State nearing another national title

Penn State’s wrestling team is inching closer to yet another national championship.

The month of March has much more than basketball madness popping up around Happy Valley. At Penn State, March is when the school’s wrestling program performs at its best, and it is once again closing in on another national championship at this year’s NCAA wrestling championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Penn State’s top wrestlers went 5-2 in the semifinals to inch closer to another team title under head coach Cael Sanderson. Following Friday’s round, Penn State owned 116.5 points in the standings, with Iowa in second with 77.0 points in the overall team standings. Five Penn State wrestlers will have a chance to secure an individual national title on Saturday; [autotag]Roman Bravo-Young[/autotag], [autotag]Levi Haines[/autotag], [autotag]Carter Starocci[/autotag], [autotag]Aaron Brooks[/autotag], and [autotag]Greg Kerkvliet[/autotag]. [autotag]Beau Bartlett[/autotag] and [autotag]Shayne Van Ness[/autotag] will battle for third-place in consolation matches on Saturday.

Here are some of the best photos of Penn State hitting the mats at the NCAA wrestling national championships in Tulsa.

Best photos from Penn State wrestling’s Big Ten championship

Best photos of Roman Bravo-Young and the Penn State wrestling program’s Big Ten championship.

Death, taxes, and Penn State wrestling. Once again the most dominant athletics program at Penn State celebrated a Big Ten championship at this year’s Big Ten wrestling championships, thus setting the tone for another potential national championship run for the program.

[autotag]Roman Bravo-Young[/autotag] (133), [autotag]Aaron Brooks[/autotag] (184),  [autotag]Carter Starocci[/autotag] (174), and [autotag]Levi Haines[/autotag] (157) all won individual Big Ten titles in their respective weight classes to help Penn State build its lead for the team championship. [autotag]Max Dean[/autotag] (197) and [autotag]Greg Kerkvliet[/autotag] (285) were finalists in their weight class as well but fell shy of a Big Ten championship.

Here are some of the best photos from Penn State’s wrestling stars at the Big Ten championships.

Roman Bravo-Young signs major NIL deal with MMA manager

Penn State wrestler Roman Bravo-Young signs NIL deal with MMA manager Dave Martin

Penn State’s biggest wrestling star set to return for another year on the college mats will be doing so with a brand new NIL deal pinned down. [autotag]Roman Bravo-Young[/autotag], a two-time NCAA national champion, has signed an NIL marketing deal with Dave Martin, one of the top managers in the world of MMA. The news of the NIL deal was first broken by MMA insider Ariel Helwani via Twitter.

Bravo-Young contemplated returning to college for another season with Penn State’s wrestling program or moving to the next stage of his promising professional fighting career. Fortunately for Penn State, Bravo-Young opted for another year with the program. But Bravo-Young is already considered one of the top prospects on the radar of the MMA world, and it may not be long before we see the former Nittany Lion jump into the MMA rings.

Bravo-Young would be following the same path traveled by former Penn State wrestlers Phil Davis and, most recently, Bo Nickal. By signing an NIL deal with one of the top MMA managers in the game, it seems like a forgone conclusion where Bravo-Young is heading after his college wrestling career ultimately comes to a close. The wrestling superstar is already scrapping with UFC fighter Belal Muhammad.

Bravo-Young previously signed an NIL deal with Barstool Sports once NIL deals became options for college athletes last year. And just last week saw Bravo-Young begin using his social media feed to promote an energy drink promoted by celebrity podcast host and MMA enthusiast Joe Rogan.

Bravo-Young is certainly taking advantage of the NIL opportunities made possible by NCAA rule changes, and there could very well be more on the way for what may be one of the future stars of the MMA world.

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Bo Nickal issues warning to every MMA middleweight after pro debut

Bo Nickal issues a warning to every middleweight in the MMA world after his pro debut.

Penn State wrestling icon [autotag]Bo Nickal[/autotag] had as impressive a debut in the world of MMA as he could have asked for. Nickal wasted no time in knocking out his first opponent in an MMA ring, thus living up to the hype the former Division 1 national champion had coming into the world of mixed martial arts. And after his first match, Nickal put the rest of the MMA world on notice with a stern warning.

“Every single middleweight on the planet, I don’t care what organization you’re in, UFC, Bellator, PFL – doesn’t matter, I’m coming for all y’all,” Nickal said during his post-fight interview according to MMA Junkie.

Nickal is one of the best college wrestlers to ever step into the world of MMA, and his debut match showed he was more than ready for the next step in his career with polished striking expected of some of the top fighters in MMA. Nickal’s wrestling intuition wasn’t necessarily needed in his first match, but his skills on the mat have many eager to see what he will bring to the MMA ring as he continues on with his career.

Nickal knows what his role is in the transition from the world of college wrestling to MMA, and it’s not one he is backing away from. In Nickal’s mind, college wrestlers are going to be the future of MMA.

“I’m trying to hold it down for all my wrestlers out there,” Nickal said after his pro debut. “I love y’all, and wrestling’s taking over for sure.”

Nickal isn’t alone in his transition from wrestling for Penn State to MMA, of course. [autotag]Phil Davis[/autotag], a two-time Big Ten champion and a Division 1 silver medalist in 2006 and gold medalist in 2008, has an established fighter since 2009. And the eyes are already on the future of [autotag]Roman Bravo-Young[/autotag], who is coming back to Penn State for another year of wrestling but already has the MMA world thinking about his future in the sport.

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Wrestling star Roman Bravo-Young set to return to Penn State

National champion wrestler Roman Bravo-Young makes decision on future with Penn State

One could argue that there is no other sports program in the country more dominant than Penn State wrestling right now. The coaching that wrestling legend Cael Sanderson has done is bar none and the results speak for themselves. Coming off another national championship season, Penn State’s ninth in 13 seasons as coach, he is getting a big piece of that team back next year.

Roman Bravo-Young had previously announced that he was going to be leaving State College after last season but it appears he has a change of heart.

The two-time defending National and Big Ten champion at 133 pounds is set to take advantage of the NCAA’s COVID year exemption. The Tucson, Arizona native is going to delay a return to the Desert as he looks to enjoy another winter in Happy Valley.

Bravo-Young has never hidden or shied away from coming back for another shot at a national title. After he defeated Oklahoma State’s Daton Fix for his latest title he said he had nothing left to prove but praised the program. He said how there is no better program to grow and make yourself better as a wrestler, the numbers back that up.

The team itself will now return three two-time defending national champions at different weight classes. Roman Bravo-Young will return alongside Aaron Brooks and Carter Starocci as they pursue a third straight national title as individuals. Odds are the trio of Nittany Lions brings home the gold for themselves they would also be doing enough to lock it up for the whole team and bring the school its tenth national title since 2011.

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Twitter reacts to Penn State wrestling’s latest national championship

Micah Parsons and Bo Nickal were among the many celebrating Penn State wrestling’s 9th national championship in 11 years

When you compile a list of some of the most dominant programs throughout the course of collegiate athletics history, Penn State wrestling is making a strong case to be considered among the best of the best. For the ninth time in 11 years under head coach Cael Sanderson, Penn State celebrated a national championship this weekend in Detroit, Michigan. Despite coming up short of a Big Ten title, Penn State’s bigger goals were obtained yet again on the national stage with five wrestlers walking away with individual national titles as well.

While many of the casual sports eyes may have been focused on the events unfolding on basketball courts in the NCAA Tournament, the wrestling faithful following Penn State were glued into the action on the mats. Naturally, the Twitter reactions were euphoric in celebrating Penn State’s most recent national title run in the wrestling world.

Here’s how Twitter reacted to the national championship, Cael Sanderson, and the future of Roman Bravo-Young.

Penn State football returns in 9 weeks

Penn State football players were among the thousands taking early advantage of NIL opportunities this week.

The weekly countdown to the return of Penn State football enters single digits this week. In nine weeks, the Nittany Lions will begin their 2021 campaign on the road against the Wisconsin Badgers in FOX’s Big noon Kickoff. And as we move into the month of July, it is beginning to feel like Penn State football really will be here before we know it.

The focus this week shifted away from actual games, however, and focused on a nexus event in the world of college athletics (shoutout to those who have been watching Loki who understood that reference) with the NCAA adopting an interim policy to allow student-athletes to benefit from their name, image, and likeness for the first time ever. The NCAA decision came out shortly after Pennsylvania signed new legislation to allow all student-athletes in Pennsylvania to benefit from NIL opportunities.

A handful of Penn State’s student-athletes have hopped on for some early NIL opportunities. As noted by Onward State this week, Barstool Athletics (which launched the other day and does….. things, I suppose?) has signed a few Nittany Lions, including wrestler Roman Bravo-Young and women’s lacrosse player Sydney Wolf.

Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford stressed the importance of college athletes taking the proper precautions to ensure they are getting involved in the best possible deals and not being taken advantage of. In the meantime, Clifford has signed up for Cameo, where customers can pay to have a celebrity or athlete record a personalized video message.

Among the big winners in the first week of the NIL era may have been YOKE Gaming, where fans can play video games with student-athletes. YOKE is now partnered with thousands of college athletes, including Penn State linebacker Brandon Smith.

We expect to see plenty more in the NIL era coming our way and continue to look forward to seeing how players are taking advantage of these new opportunities. Penn State has formally launched its own NIL program to assist student-athletes in properly setting themselves up for NIL opportunities. Hopefully this all goes smoothly for everyone involved.

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