Cole Konrad was born at Appleton, Wisconsin on the 2nd of April, 1984. He’s an American Mixed Martial Arts Fighter. He is also known as the Polar Bear and he is 6 foot 5 inches in height and weighs 266 pounds. Currently he is a student at University of Minnesota. He is a former wrestler at the Golden Gophers. Konrad has won many medals including the gold medal at Pan-American Championships in the year 2005. In the year 2006 and 2007 he won the NCAA wrestling championships weighing 285 pounds and also finished at the third place in the 2006 World University Champions weighing 120 kilograms. Currently he’s the first to win the Bellator Heavyweight Champion.

His Amateur Wrestling Career:

After he transferred from the New London High School to the Freedom High School in Wisconsin, Konrad accumulated a record of 101-15. He also won the Wisconsin state champion at 2002. Weighing 275 pounds he was shortlisted a first team player in the All-American High School by Wrestling USA Magazine and the Amateur Wrestling News. He also excelled in Greco-Roman Wrestling and at Freestyle during the high school years. In 2002 he won the Junior National Championships in the both styles.

Konrad won two NCAA titles while wrestling at University of Minnesota. His first title came during the junior season of the 2006 when he went undefeated and also had an undefeated season the following year in 2007. His total collegiate record was 155-13 and 10 of those defeats was during season as a freshman.

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Konrad gained popularity in wrestling as a result of his competition with Steve Mocco. Being a two time champion for the state of Oklahoma in the NCAA, Mocco tried to win another third NCAA during the next season in 2006 but was defeated by Konrad. Three times with a pin during the event of the National Duals as well as a 5-2 win in a NCAA title match. Having a 76 successive win, Konrad is the unprecedented Minnesota record holder. In his final match with Aaron Anspach over Penn State, he recorded a pin.

While focusing on his collegiate wrestling, Konrad has developed an impressive international record. He won the gold medal in 2005 at the Pan American Championships which held at Guatemala City, Guatemala. He also finished third in the US World Team Trials. He also won a bronze medal in 2006 for a 264.5 pound freestyle weight class in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia at the World University Championship.

Konrad began his professional MMA debut on 23th January, 2010. He defeated Gary “Chief” Hamen in the Martial Arts Xtreme using a neck crank, though this has been modified as a rear naked choke by Brock Lesnar his training partner. Brock nicknamed this move the “Polar Bear Choke”. Konrad’s second fight in the professional level was a technical knockout in the round one over Joel Wyatt.

On 6th of May, 2010 he made his Bellator entrance at the Bellator 17 which he won Pat Bennett by a unanimous decision. He went ahead to win the subsequent three fights by a unanimous decision at the Bellator 22, Bellator 25 and Bellator 29. He has progressed to the Heavyweight tournament division at Bellator 32.