Four-time All-American and Brock Lesnar protégé Logan Storley to pursue MMA

Four-time All-American wrestler Logan Storley is set to graduate from the University of Minnesota this year, and when he does, he plans to pursue MMA. Storley made his intentions public earlier this week via social media.

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A native of Roslyn, South Dakota, Storley has already taken three amateur MMA fights. And given his lengthy collegiate credentials, he has decided to forgo any further amateur career and jump straight into professional mixed martial arts.

"My sophomore year [at Minnesota] is when I really began thinking about it," Storley told Yahoo Sports. "You know, this last year, I really sat down and thought about what I was going to do after the season and now I've made the decision to compete in MMA. And I'm going 100 percent in."

Even with limited MMA experience, Storley has accumulated a hefty head start on any potential competition, as he is currently a student at Greg Nelson's Minnesota Mixed Martial Arts Academy (or, 'The Academy'), and has recently put in time at Duke Roufus' gym in Milwaukee, where he worked out with undefeated welterweight contender Ben Askren. "Funky Ben" is a former national champion out of Missouri, and has openly encouraged Storley's jump to MMA.

"Obviously, wrestling is still high on the priority list to an extent," Storley said, "but I hadn't thrown the hands in a while. So it felt good to get in there and do that."

He explains that he hasn't decided on a full-time MMA home yet. It really comes down to what is the best fit for him going forward. He has relationships with several high-level MMA fighters like Askren, Robbie Lawler, and Benson Henderson. And there is always Greg Nelson at The Academy in Minnesota.

If Nelson sounds familiar, that's because he is the man that trained another former Minnesota Golden Gopher standout to MMA prominence – Brock Lesnar.

And if Storley's high school alma matter of Webster High rings a bell – well, that's because, yup, you guessed it: That is also the high school Brock Lesnar attended.

Storley and Lesnar share the same high school coach, John Schiley. So, when Storley was in high school and Lesnar was rampaging through the UFC on his way to a championship, their coach brought them together at Lesnar's place so the young grappler could get a glimpse of championship greatness.

"I have a real good relationship with Brock," Storley said. "We never chatted much about MMA. I was pretty set on wrestling at that point, he knew it, and he didn't want to pull me away from that world. Now that I've made my decision to become a pro, I'll probably have to sit down and speak with him. Because there is no one else that knows better than him about it."

When asked what the most valuable lesson the MMA legend imparted on Storley, one sentence suffices, "The way you compete."

"If you watch the way he practices – his intensity is unlike anyone I've ever seen. Before some of my matches he would tell me to go out there and compete with everything you have; it doesn't matter if he's an NCAA champ or a nobody, you go out there and you put it on him."

Sharing the same high school coach undoubtedly played a part in Storley following in Lesnar's footsteps to the University of Minnesota. Now, with his jump to MMA, the young upstart is hoping that some of Lesner's South Dakota-born, University of Minnesota-made grit has rubbed off on the young protégé.

"It was awesome watching him fight in high school. Coming from a town of 1,800 people and to have two guys who were All-Americans who did things in the wrestling world was pretty cool. Hopefully I can reach that level in the UFC and get some gold just like he did."