Jimmy Lawson talks upcoming DWCS fight, Cael Sanderson and PSU wrestling
Jimmy Lawson is a very exciting prospect in mixed martial arts right now and he’ll have another opportunity to make the UFC roster in the coming days.
Lawson is a former high school standout athlete in New Jersey where he was an accomplished football player and a three-time state champion in wrestling.
Following his high school career, Lawson made the decision to stay close to home and he attended Monmouth for two years where he played nose tackle on the schools football team.
After two years playing football, Lawson decided his football days were over and he was going to transfer to another school in order wrestling.
Before he could even pick a school to attend, wrestling legend and current Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson got wind that Lawson was looking to transfer out of Monmouth and wrestle. Sanderson recruited Lawson out of high school and made a trip to visit Lawson at his house in New Jersey to get him to enroll at Penn State.
While at Penn State, Lawson competed has a heavyweight on the team and had plenty of success in his two years with the team.
Due to his success in wrestling, as soon as he transitioned into MMA, he’s been a hot prospect. His road to this point has been filled with tough opposition as he’s fought in Titan FC, Ring of Combat and LFA. One of those opportunities even including an appearance by UFC president Dana White for his show Dana White Looking for a Fight.
While Lawson wasn’t selected by White then, he now has an opportunity to impress the boss when he fights Kevin Szaflarski on Dana White’s Contender Series on Sept. 6.
Prior to the fight, Lawson spoke with MyMMANews about his upcoming fight, his MMA career to this point and his outstanding athletic career in which he went in detail about wrestling Sanderson. He also discussed fellow Penn State wrestling alum Bo Nickal not receiving a UFC contract on the show.
You can watch the interview in the video above.
A full list of fights scheduled for Dana White’s Contender Series: Season 6, Week 7 are listed below:
Rodolfo Bellato (8-1) vs. Vitor Petrino (6-0)
Gabriel Bonfim (12-0) vs. Felix Klinkhammer (8-0)
Jimmy Lawson (4-1) vs. Kevin Szaflarski (11-1)
Ismael Bonfim (17-3) vs. Nariman Abbasov (28-3)
Tereza Bleda (5-0) vs. Nayara Maia (7-0-1)
