Ryan Deakin talks winning NCAA title at 157 LBS and his future plans
Ryan Deakin can finally call himself a national champion after a great career at Northwestern.
The road to his national title was a bumpy and odd road to say the least.
In 2020, Deakin was the top seed entering the NCAA tournament after capturing a Big Ten title. Unfortunately, 2020 was a rough year for not only Deakin, but the world as well due to the coronavirus pandemic. That year, the world started shutting down in March and because of the shut downs, the NCAA tournament was canceled.
Then in 2021, with a shorten season due the pandemic, Deakin had an undefeated season, captured a second straight Big Ten title and once again entered the NCAA tournament as the top seed. This time the NCAA tournament would happen, but Deakin was upset in the semi-finals and would have to wrestle back for third.
Now finally in 2022, Deakin had his championship moment. After another undefeated season and a third conference championship, Deakin would enter the 2022 NCAA tournament as the No. 2 overall seed and he would run through the tournament and capture the national title by defeating Quincy Monday of Princeton in the finals with an 8-2 victory.
Following his national title, Deakin talked with MyMMANews about his run to the national championship and his career at Northwestern.
He also spoke about what’s next for him and it appears wrestling is most likely in the future for him. However, MMA hasn’t been officially ruled out. Deakin does have some MMA experience as Justin Gaethje brought Deakin into his training camp when he was preparing to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov for the undisputed lightweight title at UFC 254.
To hear everything Deakin had to say on his impressive career and his future plans, you can watch his full interview in the video above.
A full list of results from results and All-Americans from the 2022 NCAA Division College Wrestling tournament are listed below:
125 pounds
1st: Nick Suriano, Michigan dec. Pat Glory, Princeton, 5-3
3rd: Vito Arujau, Cornell md. Michael DeAugustino, Northwestern, 10-2
5th: Patrick McKee, Minnesota dec. Brandon Courtney, Arizona State, 8-3
7th: Eric Barnett, Wisconsin pin. Brandon Kaylor, Oregon State, 4:44
133 pounds
1st: Roman Bravo-Young, Penn State dec. Daton Fix, Oklahoma State, 3-2
3rd: Austin DeSanto, Iowa dec. Michael McGee, Arizona State, 7-4
5th: Lucas Byrd, Illinois pin. Korbin Myers, Virginia Tech, 6:59
7th: Chris Cannon, Northwestern dec. Devan Turner, Oregon State, 5-4
141 pounds
1st: Nick Lee, Penn State dec. Kizhan Clarke, North Carolina, 10-3
3rd: Sebastian Rivera, Rutgers dec. Grant Willits, Oregon State, 6-5
5th: Cole Matthews, Pittsburgh dec. Real Woods, Stanford, 7-3
7th: Jakob Bergeland, Minnesota md. C.J. Composto, Pennsylvania, 10-0
149 pounds
1st: Yianni Diakomihalis, Cornell dec. Ridge Lovett, Nebraska, 11-5
3rd: Bryce Andonian, Virginia Tech dec. Austin Gomez, Wisconsin, 10-6
5th: Sammy Sasso, Ohio State dec. Jonathan Millner, Appalachian State, 5-4
7th: Tariq Wilson, N.C. State md. Kyle Parco, Arizona State, 14-2
157 pounds:
1st: Ryan Deakin, Northwestern dec. Quincy Monday, Princeton, 9-2
3rd: David Carr, Iowa State dec. Peyton Robb, Nebraska, 7-2
5th: Will Lewan, Michigan dec. Jacori Teemer, Arizona State, 4-2 SV
7th: Hunter Willits, Oregon State mff. Austin O’Connor, North Carolina
165 pounds:
1st: Keegan O’Toole, Missouri vs. Shane Griffith, Stanford
3rd: Evan Wick, Cal Poly dec. Cameron Amine, Michigan, 3-2
5th: Alex Marinelli, Iowa mff. Dean Hamiti, Wisconsin
7th: Carson Kharchla, Ohio State dec. Peyton Hall, West Virginia, 3-2
174 pounds:
1st: Carter Starocci, Penn State dec. Mekhi Lewis, Virginia Tech, 6-5
3rd: Hayden Hidlay, N.C. State md. Michael Kemerer, Iowa, 12-4
5th: Logan Massa, Michigan dec. Dustin Plott, Oklahoma State, 5-1
7th: Mikey Labriola, Nebraska dec. Clay Lautt, North Carolina, 3-2
184 pounds:
1st: Aaron Brooks, Penn State dec. Myles Amine, Michigan, 5-3
3rd: Parker Keckeisen, Northern Iowa dec. Bernie Truax, Cal Poly, 6-4
5th: Trent Hidlay, N.C. State dec. Kaleb Romero, Ohio State, 3-2
7th: Marcus Coleman, Iowa State dec. Jonathan Loew, Cornell, 8-3
197 pounds:
1st: Max Dean, Penn State dec. Jacob Warner, Iowa, 3-1
3rd: Stephen Buchanan, Wyoming dec. Rocky Elam, Missouri, 1-0
5th: Yonger Bastida, Iowa State pin. Gavin Hoffman, Ohio State, 2:29
7th: Eric Schultz, Nebraska dec. Greg Bulsak, Rutgers, 3-2
Heavyweight:
1st: Gable Steveson, Minnesota dec. Cohlton Schultz, Arizona State, 6-2
3rd: Jordan Wood, Lehigh mff. Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State
5th: Mason Parris, Michigan dec. Lucas Davison, Northwestern, 8-5
7th: Tony Cassioppi, Iowa dec. Christian Lance, Nebraska, 2-0
