The end of Tyrell Fortune's Olympic wrestling dreams could signal the beginning of a nightmare for the Bellator heavyweight division.
Blessed with athleticism that belies his hulking frame and an eagerness to absorb every aspect of MMA, the 26-year-old Fortune is ready to make an explosive debut when he fights Cody Miskell in his first professional bout at Bellator 163 in Uncasville, Conn., this Friday.
As excited as Fortune is for his debut, it comes on the heels of a bitter disappointment. In April, he fell short of making Team USA's freestyle wrestling squad for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Fortune recently spoke to theScore and he admitted that his focus may have already been turning to his future inside the cage.
"That was actually a very disappointing ending at the time for my wrestling career because that is not the way that I wanted to go out, with a loss," said Fortune. "At that time of the Olympic trials I have to say that my focus was already a little towards MMA more. When I started with MMA I fell in love with it after Day 1. So it kind of switched my passion a little bit because it was something new and I could learn every day.
"I feel like I'm a student so when I have the opportunity to learn and grow, I was just more interested in that. I've wrestled for 18 years and it kind of seemed like I had reached - not the top, but I was up there at the top tier. It seemed like that was as far as it could really go. That's why I wanted the Olympics, that was really the only thing left to achieve. With MMA, there's so many things you can do and so many different fields to go into. The roof is endless."
Fortune was a star amateur wrestler, with national championships at the junior college and D-II level. He also proved himself on more than one occasion against elite D-I competition, including a pair of wins over two-time NCAA champion Tony Nelson.
That wrestling background made Fortune a promising MMA prospect and in 2014 he found himself training with the esteemed Blackzilians camp in Florida. While there, he shared space with UFC luminaries like Rashad Evans and Anthony "Rumble" Johnson, and he also forged a bond with Bellator fighter Jordan Parsons.
Parsons was killed in a hit-and-run this past May, but not before he left an indelible mark on Fortune and his teammates.
"Me and Jordan were actually pretty close because when I was out there training, that was the guy who would always stay in my room," said Fortune. "We slept in the same twin bed right next to each other for weeks at a time and he was a great person, a really great guy ... I think everybody on that team will always carry a little bit of him with us in every fight."
Fortune now trains with AZ Combat Sports in Tempe, Ariz., though he remains close with former Blackzilian teammate and fellow collegiate wrestling standout Ed Ruth. Both fighters will be making their professional debuts on the Bellator 163 preliminary card, and Fortune credits Ruth with helping him to get into the Bellator cage.
"(The deal) happened because Ed Ruth was already supporting me going into MMA," said Fortune. "He was already speaking with Bellator and he told me, 'Hey man, look at this. This is what they're going to do for me' and he'd tell me about how nice they were and how they treated him. Ed's one of my best friends, so hearing those things I was already interested. It was Ed's management that really got me connected with Bellator. Once it happened, it just went from there.
"It's a great organization. I went out to St. Louis and they treated us really well. Everybody was smiling, laughing, joking, so it was good."
Bellator 163 will be headlined by Liam McGeary defending his light heavyweight belt against Phil Davis.
