Issue 128
May 2015
Olympic wrestling phenom Kenny Monday went from being the best in the world in one sport to molding the best in another
LEADING MAN
Kenny Monday
TEAM TAKEDOWN WRESTLING COACH
Sitting cross-legged in front of the television, eyes glued to the black-and- white images of members of the US wrestling team dominating on the mats at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, a 10-year-old Kenny Monday was transfixed.
Gifted with outstanding athletic ability, Monday excelled at sports as a child. However, when Team USA’s Wayne Wells stepped onto the mat and handily beat Sweden’s Jan Karlsson to win the freestyle gold medal in Germany, Monday’s own path to wrestling greatness was all but assured.
“Ever since I was a little boy, that was a dream of mine. The Olympic gold medal was the ultimate prize in wrestling and that was my journey,” he explains to FO.
“I loved the sport of wrestling, loved the one-on-one competition, and just kind of fell in love with the sport. I think 1972 was the first time I fully understood the Olympics and the USA had a really good team.”
As he watched Wells step onto the podium to receive his medal, Monday insists he knew the moment would have a resounding effect on his life.
He became infatuated with the sport, pushing himself to have one of the best amateur wrestling careers in history. From seventh grade to the end of his high school career, Kenny went undefeated with a phenomenal 140-0-1 record. Later, his 121-12-2 college record helped Oklahoma State University Cowboys to two Big Eight titles.
His incredible accomplishments at high school and collegiate level were only steps towards his ultimate goal of taking home the gold at the Olympics. Eventually, at the 1988 Games in Seoul, South Korea, he beat the Soviet Union’s Adlan Varaev in overtime for a dramatic victory.
However, despite his capture of the sport’s biggest prize, Kenny still wasn’t satisfied. His journey to another medal led him to train at the infamous Foxcatcher Farm. While he was there, he rubbed shoulders with the facility’s owner, John du Pont, the man who would shot his wrestling rival, Dave Schultz.
The 53-year-old says watching Foxcatcher, the Oscar nominated movie about the events leading to the death of Schultz, was incredibly difficult for him.
“Watching Foxcatcher was tough because I lived through it. Dave Schultz was actually my main competitor and we would’ve had to wrestle again to make the 1996 Olympic team,” he recalls.
“You go through emotions because it’s a really sad time to remember. John du Pont was a crazy, selfish guy, who we stayed involved with when we shouldn’t have.
“We should’ve got away before it happened. The signs were there. USA wrestling knew they were there, but tried to weather through it to the Games. Unfortunately, it caught up with us.”
Monday went on to win silver at the 1992 Barcelona Games and place sixth in 1996 in Atlanta before he retired. After that, he decided to take a chance on MMA. He was one of the first Olympic wrestlers to compete in the sport.
Taking on Andre Pederneiras black belt John Lewis at Extreme Fighting 4 in March 1997, Monday used his wrestling and ground ‘n’ pound to win by TKO.
However, despite his eagerness to compete, MMA headed into its dark days. It was banned from television, which stunted its growth and any real chance fighters had of making a living from the sport.
“It was still a pretty new sport back then. It was still kind of just getting off the ground, but I’d seen Dan Severn compete in a couple of fights. I’ve always loved fighting and I was probably doing MMA in the playground, taking kids down and using ground ‘n’ pound on them,” he laughs.
“After I fought John Lewis the sport went underground. John McCain and a bunch of other politicians were coming after it, calling it cockfighting and stuff like that. Once it went underground it didn’t really resurface again until 2002 when the UFC got back into the game and by that time I was pretty much done competing.
“I was 40 years old and didn’t really want to go back to training to start competing again. However, if the sport was what it is now in 1992, after my second Olympic Games, then I would’ve been a full-time fighter. I love competing, love the sport and it plays a lot into wrestler’s hands.”
Inevitably, as MMA continued to grow, Monday returned to the sport as a coach in 2013. First at Florida’s Blackzilians camp, where he trained UFC stalwarts Vitor Belfort, Abel Trujillo and Anthony Johnson. But his time with the gym was cut short due to business disagreements.
However, he wasn’t without a home long and was quickly snapped up by Team Takedown, the home of former UFC 170lb champion Johny Hendricks. ‘Bigg Rigg’ is a former OSU wrestler like Monday, so a strong partnership developed naturally.
“I’m excited about the future of Team Takedown and I’m looking forward to us getting that belt back,” Monday adds. “We have a great team and we all work together very well. I think Johny is more hungry now then I’ve ever seen him and that’s exciting to me as a coach.”
