There is a history of former olympic athletes transitioning to MMA. Ronda Rousey, the most famous women to ever fight in the Octagon was an olympic Bronze medalist in judo. Sara McMann was a gold medalist in free style wrestling and Henry Cejudo was also a free style gold medalist.

Rousey of course is the former Olympian who found the most success, becoming the first ever women’s bantamweight champion and defending the belt several times.

Cejudo was able to earn a title shot, which he lost, and McMann has struggled in the UFC.

Now another Olympian medalist wrestler in throwing his name in the mix for a potential UFC career, 2016 gold medalist Kyle Synder. Synder has never competed in mixed martial arts, but his Olympic success could land him directly in the UFC. Unlike his predecessors, Synder actually wants to fight and continue to pursue the next Olympics games:

On Monday, Snyder spoke to FOX Sports and made it clear that he wants to pursue a career in mixed martial arts while still looking to conquer another run at the Olympic games in 2020.

At just 20 years of age, Snyder is already the youngest American to ever win gold in wrestling in the Olympics and he’d like to add another accolade to his growing list of accomplishments.

“I want to fight. Basically what that tweet means. I love wrestling, I really do. I would want to continue wrestling but I want to do both at the same time,” Snyder revealed. “I want to pursue my wrestling career, wrestle in World Championships and the Olympic games, but if the scheduling could work out and I can become an elite fighter, then I want to fight in the UFC as well.

“They put on a great show, it’s really exciting. I think it’s something that I could excel in. I haven’t done much boxing or jiu-jitsu or striking or stuff like that but I think that I could pick it up pretty quickly. The crowd and the way they made the whole thing a big show was just exciting for me. It’s something that I want to do.”

source: foxsports.com