NCAA Champion Sends Warning to Brock Lesnar and UFC Heavyweight Fighters

Wyatt Hendrickson, the 2025 NCAA Division I champion, is honing his abilities in Real American Freestyle, aiming for gold at the upcoming 2028 Olympics. He currently holds the heavyweight title in RAF, where many UFC veterans and current fighters compete. When asked about facing UFC competitors, Hendrickson gave a confident, cautionary remark.

As noted before, many UFC athletes have participated in RAF, and Hendrickson has had chances to compete against them in wrestling. One notable name mentioned was Brock Lesnar. However, Hendrickson sees this as a significant mismatch, asserting that no heavyweight can outmatch him.

NCAA champion comments on Brock Lesnar and UFC heavyweights

“We’re at such a high level in our primes. Those guys [including Brock Lesnar] are still really good, but I feel like someone is going to get hurt if you try to throw someone in at heavyweight,” Wyatt Hendrickson told MMA Fighting.

The 24-year-old thinks it could be risky for any UFC fighter to engage in a wrestling match with him. While they excel in MMA, Hendrickson believes they don’t match his wrestling skills. He suggests that the only way they can improve is through practice.

“It’s really cool, so I like what they’re doing with that. At the same time, I feel like some of those MMA guys need to learn more wrestling,” he stated about the UFC heavyweights. “In an MMA fight, they’re obviously skilled, but we need to set up training for these guys to learn how to sprawl. Wrestling is a completely different beast, just like MMA. We need to get them into wrestling practices.”