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NGANNOU VS FERREIRA

Sherdog’s Top 10: Successful Olympic Crossovers

Patrick WymanOct 14, 2014


8. Sara McMann


Women’s freestyle wrestling is a recent addition to the Olympic Games, with the inaugural event held in 2004. American Sara McMann won the inaugural silver medal in Athens, the highlight of an international wrestling career that included silver at the 2003 world championships and bronzes in 2005 and 2007.

The former collegiate competitor for Lock Haven University -- the same institution that produced UFC fighters Tim Boetsch and Jamie Varner -- has overcome a tremendous amount of adversity in her personal life to rise to the apex of the women’s bantamweight division in MMA. A run in the now-defunct ProElite organization led to an Invicta Fighting Championships fight against veteran Shayna Baszler, which moved her to the top of the heap in the UFC.

Now 8-1 as a mixed martial artist -- her sole loss came against women’s bantamweight queenpin and fellow Olympian Ronda Rousey -- McMann has built an accomplished career in two sports, with room to grow into an even better fighter than she was a wrestler.

Number 7 » Hidehiko Yoshida