{"id":721114,"date":"2026-06-07T13:53:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T13:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/721114\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T13:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T13:53:10","slug":"greeleys-andrew-alirez-in-professional-wrestling-and-mma-events-this-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/721114\/","title":{"rendered":"Greeley’s Andrew Alirez in professional wrestling and MMA events this summer"},"content":{"rendered":"

He\u2019s back.<\/p>\n

Greeley\u2019s Andrew Alirez, who barely broke a sweat in his first MMA fight and professional debut<\/a> less than two months ago, returns to combat sport competition with two different events in the next month.<\/p>\n

The Real American Freestyle wrestling match and a second MMA fight are only part of a big summer for the 25-year-old Alirez, who will also be married in early August.<\/p>\n

Before Alirez walks down the aisle, he\u2019ll first step onto another wrestling mat and into another MMA cage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to stay busy and stay active,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On June 13, Alirez will again wrestle with a Real American Freestyle 145-pound bout<\/a> against fellow former collegiate wrestler Jaydin Eierman in St. Louis, Missouri. Eierman was a four-time All-American while at the University of Missouri<\/a> and the University of Iowa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Alirez was an NCAA champion<\/a> and All-American for the University of Northern Colorado in 2023.<\/p>\n

Alirez (1-0-0) will continue his professional MMA career on Sunday, July 19 with a fight against Ethan Morales<\/a> (1-1-0) in Porterville, California. The 135-pound bout will be broadcast on UFC Fight Pass<\/a>, which is the official subscription streaming service of Ultimate Fighting Championship. UFC is the top-level organization in the sport, giving Alirez a higher profile platform from his first fight<\/a> in Loveland.<\/p>\n

\"VolunteerVolunteer coach Andrew Alirez watches while wrestlers do drills during a Northern Colorado Bears wrestling practice on the campus of the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (Brice Tucker\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n

Alirez isn\u2019t the only former UNC wrestler currently in the MMA ranks and fighting this month.<\/p>\n

Justin Gaethje wrestled for the Bears<\/a> from 2007-11, and he\u2019s been in MMA for 15 years. Gaethje, 37, is a UFC fighter and reigning interim lightweight champion (155 pounds).<\/p>\n

On Sunday, June 14, Gaethje will compete for the lightweight title as part of a seven-card event called UFC Freedom 250<\/a> on the south lawn of The White House\u00a0in Washington, D.C.\u00a0The fights will be held in a small stadium on the lawn and were the brainchild of President Donald Trump, who turns 80 the same day.<\/p>\n

Gaethje<\/a> (27-5-0) will meet champion Ilia Topuria<\/a> (17-0-0) for the lightweight title.<\/p>\n

Alirez, known as a wrestler since high school at Greeley Central, put his main sport aside earlier this year to prepare for his entry into MMA.<\/p>\n

The first MMA fight was a good one. Alirez defeated Castle Rock\u2019s Bruce Martin<\/a> on a technical knockout just 43 seconds into their April 26 fight at Blue Arena in Loveland. In the crowd for the multi-card night were countless Alirez fans, friends and family.<\/p>\n

He made his name in Northern Colorado as a four-time high school state champion, later winning internationally and the NCAA title at UNC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was successful in the first fight, and he seemed real relaxed,\u201d said Mike Alirez Jr., Andrew\u2019s uncle and one of his MMA coaches and trainers. \u201cHe was thinking. He was focused. That\u2019s what I wanted to see out of him in the mental aspect of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike Alirez Jr. said Morales will be a more dangerous opponent for Andrew, and possibly a better fighter than Martin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to keep going up and fighting with tougher guys,\u201d Alirez Jr. said.<\/p>\n

\"AndrewAndrew Alirez fights Bruce Martin, from Castle Rock, in Alirez’s 140-pound debut MMA fight at Blue Federal Credit Union Arena in Loveland on Saturday, April 25, 2026. Alirez went on to win with a technical knockout after 43 seconds in the octagon. (Brice Tucker\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n

Alirez became involved with Real American Freestyle earlier this year. The RAF is billed as the first unscripted pro wrestling in the world.<\/p>\n

The match against Eierman will be Alirez\u2019s second with the league. He won his RAF debut in February, beating former University of Wyoming wrestler Bryce Meredith<\/a> on a 13-2 technical fall. A technical fall is a victory based on an established point differential.<\/p>\n

Eierman, 30, was a four-time high school state champion in Missouri. He started his collegiate career in 2015 at the University of Missouri before transferring to Iowa in 2020. Eierman was a four-time All-American and four-time conference champion.
\n\"UniversityUniversity of Northern Colorado wrestler Andrew Alirez works for position during his last home meet in February 2025 at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley. (Greeley Tribune file photo).<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go out there and do what you\u2019re supposed to do,\u201d Alirez said of his approach to the match. \u201cI\u2019ve known Jaydin for years. We\u2019ve been in brackets together. He\u2019s a really good wrestler.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alirez said he wants to be involved in MMA and wrestling at the same time because of his interest in competition. There is crossover between the sports. Wrestling is a big part of MMA, which incorporates components of different combat-related sports.<\/p>\n

Training for wrestling won\u2019t detract from Alirez\u2019s workouts for MMA. He said he\u2019ll increase his work on non-wrestling skills, such as kicking and punching, for the MMA fight after the RAF bout.<\/p>\n

\u201cRAF is a great show and platform to grow the sport,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to be a part of it because wrestling is always a part of me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He\u2019s back. Greeley\u2019s Andrew Alirez, who barely broke a sweat in his first MMA fight and professional debut…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":721115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,3914,785,85,349511],"class_list":["post-721114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-unc-bears"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=721114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/721115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}