Cole Konrad starts BJJ
Comprido: “Two-time national champion, Bellator champion, and blue belt in BJJ – the one and only Cole Konrad.”
Cole The Polar Bear Konrad won high school states in Wisconsin in 2002. He won the Div I NCAAs twice for the University of Minnesota, in 2006 and 2007, and enjoyed a well-publicized rivalry with Steve Mocco, who also won the NCAAs twice. Competing internationally Konrad also won gold at the PanAms and bronze at the World University Championships in Mongolia in 2006.
In January of 2010 he debuted in MMA, basically by getting a tap via decapitation. Training partner Brock Lesnar nicknamed the sub the “Polar Bear Choke.” By October of 2010 Konrad was 7-0 and the inaugural Bellator heavyweight champion. He fought once in 2011 and won. Then the had an official title defense in 2012, and won. His coach Greg Nelson reported that his camp for that fight lasted one, single day.
Then he retired to go into the family agricultural business.
And now apparently he has taken up BJJ!
“Two-time national champion, Bellator champion, and blue belt in BJJ – the one and only Cole Konrad,” captioned Konrad’s coach, two-time world champion Rodrigo ‘Comprido’ Medeiros.
H/T BJJEE