Matt Ghaffari

[Yazdani]

It's mma but I stumbled on this clip on youtube. Look how fat Ghaffari is and how he just gives up after getting hit.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu8rb...elated&search=

[MOJO]

Looks like Brother Matt has been stricken with a case of Dunlaps disease -his belly done lapped over his belt :-) ! Seriously, Matt was about this size (315 or so) for a long time as a freestyler. Matt wanted to get more international exposure, but our club (Sunkist) would generally only give winter tour sponsorship to the top 2 guys per weight on the team. When he couldn't make the top 2 at heavyweight in Sunkist Kids (behind Erickson and myself) he made the amazing commitment to cut down to 198, as 220 was occupied by Bill Scheer and Dan Severn. In the space of about 3 months, Matt lost over 100 lbs, mostly via starvation and obsessively running notorious Squaw Peak, a 2 mile mountain in the middle of Phoenix that ASU/SKK used to train on. You have never seen a more frightening sight than a 300 lb Man dressed in full plastics and full sweatpants and shirt going up a 2 mile mountain trail on a 95 degree morning! I was absolutely certain that I was going to find him dead on the trail , but he always survived! For some reason, Matt has never gotten the respect he deserves in this country, in spite of being an Olympic silver medalist and multiple x national champion. As a teammate, friend and competitor (we wrestled about 6 matches, not counting Sunkist wrestle-offs) there are few people who I respect and admired more.

[fanforlife]

Kind of off subject:

I took a photojournalism class in college, and in our text book there was a picture of Ghaffari wrestling. I found it odd, that there was a wrestling picture, and of all people it pictured Matt Ghaffari.

[gutfirst]

i think matt is very well respected in the wrestling community. he is on a growing list of multiple world/olympic greco medalists. i think he has the most medals with 4.

however, he may be virtually unknown outside of the wrestling community. in fact, there is no mention of matt at his former high school. what a shame. they have pictures on the walls at paramus high school of kids who were all county, but the olympic silver medalist gets nothing.

[Big]

It might be because he is Iranian. Put an Iranian man on the wall of fame and government funds get cut off.

[fanforlife]

He is a very nice guy, he had worked a few camps that I had been at over the years.

[quick_single]

He's American Big. Just like you.

[Big]

Maybe its because he is fat then.