34 Facts About Tom Erikson

Tom Erikson was born on July 6,1964 and is an American former amateur wrestler and mixed martial artist who competed in the super heavyweight division.

Tom Erikson embarked on his career in MMA in 1996 and went on to fight in the Pride Fighting Championships, being a founding member of the prestigious RAW team.

Tom Erikson was a long time assistant wrestling coach at Purdue University, where he has been coaching since 1997.

In 2015 Tom Erikson accepted the head wrestling coach position at Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas.

Tom Erikson was a graduate of Bloom High School in Chicago Heights, Illinois.

Tom Erikson was a two-time NCAA Division I Collegiate wrestling All-American, in 1986 and 1987, while competing for Oklahoma State University.

Tom Erikson made the switch to the emerging sport of mixed martial arts almost ten years later.

Tom Erikson had a good wrestling career - He was not a state qualifier at Bloom, but grew into a two-time national champion in 1984 and 1985 at Triton Junior College under the late Art Kraft.

Tom Erikson then became a two-time All-American at Oklahoma State, placing 4th in 1986, and 3rd in 1987.

Tom Erikson was highly successful in freestyle - The only problem was, so was Bruce Baumgartner.

Tom Erikson was a 3-time Olympic Alternate in 1988,1992, and 1996, losing all three times to Bruce Baumgartner in the finals to make the Olympic Team.

Tom Erikson was finally able to capture first place in the 1992 World Cup, the only year Mr Baumgartner had sat out.

Tom Erikson was known as the 'Ultimate Never Give Up Warrior'.

Many in the USA Wrestling community thought that an award should have been made after Erikson's retirement called the 'Tom Erikson Never Give Up Perseverance Award'.

Tom Erikson finished his career as a 15-time US national medalist - winning 1 gold, 10 silver, and 4 bronze medals in the USA Wrestling national championship era, never placing below third place at any US Open.

In 1996, Tom Erikson was originally scouted by Richard Hamilton to fight in Ultimate Fighting Championship's UFC 10 event, but he was passed over for Mark Coleman.

Tom Erikson then joined his friend Rico Chiapparelli, who would go to found the Real American Wrestling team with other successful wrestlers.

Tom Erikson debuted on November 22,1996, at the Martial Arts Reality Superfighting eight-man openweight tournament in Birmingham, Alabama.

Not much happened as while Tom Erikson was effectively shutting off Bustamante's offense, he was unable to pass his guard, and the men had to return to their feet eighteen minutes later.

An extra ten minutes overtime was added onto the match after the regulation thirty minutes finished without a winner, and they returned to their respective positions, with Murilo lying on the ground waiting for Tom to grapple and Erikson standing unwilling to enter the grappler's field.

However, this time Tom Erikson devised a special strategy: he would dive into Bustamante's guard to score punches before disengaging and standing back up to avoid danger, and then repeat the process over and over.

The Hammer House fighter had to be stretchered out, and Tom Erikson gained the approval of the crowd by helping him out.

Tom Erikson beat Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in a submission grappling match on October 11,1997, in which Erikson controlled him positionally for most of the match, besieging his half guard and avoiding a tight inverted leglock attempt to win the decision.

At Pride 11 - Battle of the Rising Sun, Tom Erikson faced Heath Herring, getting the takedown early and unloading ground and pound as usual.

Tom Erikson submitted Matt Skelton, a kickboxer making his first MMA appearance, at Pride 17 in Tokyo on November 3,2001.

Tom Erikson made his return to MMA and Pride on February 20,2005, at Pride 29 in Saitama, submitting to Fabricio Werdum rear naked choke in round one.

Tom Erikson fought for Hero's at Hero's 5 in Tokyo on May 3,2006, where he was TKO'd with ground-and-pound from Antonio Silva in the first round.

Tom Erikson was knocked out during the first round of his match with Alexandru Lungu at Strike FC 2 in Mamaia, Romania on August 1,2008.

Tom Erikson was able to survive into the fourth round with Hiromi Amada at K-1 Beast 2003 on April 6,2003, but again lost by KO in a slug-fest.

Tom Erikson faced off with boxing champion Shannon Briggs at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2004 in Saitama on March 27,2004, and, as one might suspect, the wrestler stood no chance and was KO'd little over a minute into the fight.

Tom Erikson recorded his first and only win as a professional kickboxer against Jan Nortje at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2004 in Nagoya on June 6,2004, flooring Nortje three times in fifty-five seconds to win by TKO.

Tom Erikson in turn beat the count only to be sent to the canvas again soon after, forcing the referee to stop the fight and sending him into retirement on the back of a stoppage defeat.

In 2010, Tom Erikson stated in an interview that he believed he was not invited to the Pride Grand Prix tournament because Mark Kerr forced Pride to leave him out in order to avoid fighting him.

Kerr denied this claim and replied by saying that Tom Erikson didn't want to be in the tournament in the first place.