Around Long Island, Jay Hieron was probably best known for being an All-American wrestler for Freeport High School and a national champion at Nassau Community College, but nowadays he's making a name for himself in the world of mixed martial arts.
(Hieron photo courtesy of the IFL)
Hieron has compiled a 12-2 mixed martial arts record and is now with the International Fight League. But the Anaconda team member owes much of his start in MMA to fellow Long Islander and mixed martial artist Phil Baroni.
"We wrestled together all through high school and college," Hieron said. "We went to different high schools, but we represented Nassau upstate [for the state championships] and we were good friends. We went to Nassau [CC] together and went to Hofstra together...He needed help training for one of his fights for the UFC, and he called me to come down and wrestle. A year or two later, I flew out to Las Vegas to help him train for another fight. [Mixed martial arts] was real big and I fell in love with it like I did with wrestling."
Now Hieron lives with his wife in Las Vegas and trains and teaches at Extreme Couture MMA, one of the gym's owned by mixed martial arts legend Randy Couture. Besides training with Couture, Hieron has the advantage of working with Anaconda coach and mixed martial arts great Bas Rutten.
"Those dudes are legends," Hieron said. "And they walk around like regular people -- they're humble."
Hieron, who won his IFL debut in June, will fight next on March 17 when the Anacondas meet the Razorclaws.
"I don't know my opponent yet, but I'm sure it'll be tough," Hieron said. "And I'm ready for whoever they put in front of me...I'm in a great state of mind. I feel blessed. I got God in my life. I got a great woman. I couldn't ask for anything better right now."
Comments (1)
Great article. I went to a IFL event 3 months ago and It was alot of fun. Hieron is one of the IFL's best fighters.