UFC Light heavyweight #1 contender Daniel Cormier and UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes stopped by a Boys & Girls Club in Las Vegas to announce a new partnership.
Both fighters have strong wrestling roots and the UFC sees that wrestling needs to be given the ability to thrive despite recent budget cuts to national youth programs. Here is what they are doing to ensure that wrestling remains an option for young athletes.
“The UFC is thrilled to partner with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada and the Ultimate Alliance to help provide young athletes in the region the necessary resources to succeed in the sport of wrestling and to maximize their fullest potential,” UFC Vice President of Community Relations Reed Harris stated. “Participants of this program will be given exclusive instruction from the best wrestling and mixed martial arts athletes in the world as well as equipment and funding for practice and competition.”
Every party involved is excited about the possibilities the program will bring.
“Teaming up with the UFC and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada to coach, develop and mentor the youth of Nevada and the United States has been a vision of mine for years,” stated Bryan Lindsey, Volunteer Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Ultimate Alliance. “We are all very excited to work closely together to grow the sport of wrestling to a level we have yet to see in the history of the sport.”
The UFC will provide financial backing for equipment and also provide fighters for coaching classes. It’s great to see an organization give back to the community that has spawned many of the best MMA fighters in the history of the UFC.