JOPLIN — Colton Wilson is a UFC fan and counts Jon Jones and Dustin Pedroia among his favorite fighters. The Ozark sophomore has shown he won’t back away from a physical, borderline fight on the mat, but doubts he will ever give mixed martial arts a try.
“I think I think I could do it. But I don't think my Mom would let me,” Wilson said with a laugh. “Maybe something like WWE would be cool.”
Wilson mixed things up Saturday with Neosho’s Kelton Shaffer and came away with a hard-fought 6-5 tiebreaker victory in their Class 4 District 3 138-pound title tilt. They engaged in an ultra-competitive matchup, with the friendly rivals not hesitating to put their heavy hands into play with knocks to each other’s head.
It was the kind of match Wilson wanted, after losing to Shaffer at the COC Tournament three week ago and at Districts a year ago.
“It got a little scrappy, but that just happens, it’s wrestling,” Wilson said. “We have good sportsmanship and we've wrestled each other a bunch. We’ve built a relationship where we both can wrestle each other hard. We weren’t mad at each other. We were just getting scrappy.
“I felt like I wasn’t snapping much in the semifinal and I wanted to try to snap more,” he added, referring to pulling down on an opponent’s head or neck. “I started snapping more (against Shaffer) and it felt a lot better. It really worked well for me.”
The fierce and intense tempo also worked in Wilson’s favor.
“I felt really scrappy. I love those scrappy, fast-paced matches,” he said. “That’s my fav... Click here to read full article
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