A Great NIght to Be an ILLINI: Christian Carroll and Jesse Delgado

INTRODUCTION

ILLINI Nation has had a day to get over a football loss to Maryland. (I would make a joke about their state being named after a girl, but that wouldn't be funny after the football team's loss.). It was time for healing. 

And who better to heal the wounds than Jesse Delgado and Christian Carroll?

CHRISTIAN CARROLL

At Flo Wrestling's Who's Number One match, the headline belonged to ILLINI commit Christian Carroll and his opponent Nick Feldman. The event was broadcast nationally, and there was hype leading up to it. After the event, themat.com had this to say:

The other top-15 bout came in what Flo Wrestling dubbed the “Big Man Super Match” between No. 1 at 220 pounds Christian Carroll (Indiana) and No. 1 at 285 pounds Nick Feldman (Pennsylvania). Both showcased standout athleticism throughout the bout, but Feldman earned a 3-2 win to close out the event.

What themat.com means with the phrase "top-15 bout" is that both wrestlers were among the top fifteen pound-for-pound wrestlers in the country. Christian Carroll was coming off of a dominant Fargo championship and had won numerous other tournaments. Feldman had been ranked number one for a long time, and he had actually wrestled at Who's Number One last year. 

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This bout featured Carroll going up in weight to face Feldman, who was the #1-ranked heavyweight in the country. At Fargo, Carroll wrestled at 220, and was going up in weight from 195 before that! 

Additionally, the ILLINI commit is young. 

Christian Carroll has been a junior in high school for just over a month. It was still a pot-boiler, as the defending #1 heavyweight escaped with a one-point win. What will Carroll accomplish in the next two years of high school and while at college under the tutelage of Coaches Poeta and Ruth? 

Listen to Coach Hunter, too, as the wee folk know all the good moves. 

JESSE DELGADO

The two-time NCAA wrestling champion from ILLINOIS made his MMA debut last night on the Bellator undercard. He faced a guy who had already had two pro fights, with one win by submission. 

Delgado was crafty.

He stood up just long enough to time his opponent, and then smashed double-leg takedowns in each of the three rounds. He smartly kept his head to the outside during each takedown, so he wasn't "Askrened." 

He even kept his hands up during standup, which a lot of wrestlers can't seem to ******* understand is paramount! 

Wrestlers are taught to use their "head and hands" defense, but in MMA, that's a recipe for disaster. Nobody on a wrestling mat is trying to kick you in the mouth. So, a head is a valuable defensive tool. Not so much in MMA.  /rant over

Delgado ended up connecting on about 59 strikes, while his opponent managed only 8 direct hits, and so the ILLINI was the unanimous 30-27 winner. The best that Josh Dillon could do was threaten a kimura in the second round. Nothing came of it. The pre-fight Delgado hype starts at 9:08 of the video below, and the fight starts immediately after that:

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I was impressed with the commentary from "Big John" McCarthy during the fight. Not only does he know the fight game (as he's been Gracie-trained), but he also knew about wrestlers. His comment that "wrestlers don't like to be on their backs" had me laughing. He also knew all about Jesse Delgado. My favorite story of the night involved this:

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What a great story!

And that gave Big John the intro to discuss the ILLINI program, mentioning Coach Heff, of course, but also talking about Coaches Poeta and Ruth. 

What a Great Night to Be an ILLINI!