Chris Tuchscherer - Mixed Martial Arts Career

Mixed Martial Arts Career

In college, Tuchscherer wrestled for North Dakota State and eventually Minnesota State University, Moorhead (MSUM) where he participated in heavyweight NCAA Division II competitions. While at MSUM he became a two-time All-American.

After using up all of his college eligibility, Tuchscherer - who was already a fan of MMA - was urged by his friends to try competing himself. He tried out for and earned a spot on a local fight card where he won his first amateur match in less than a minute. Tuchscherer continued training at MSUM while helping to coach the university's wrestling team. He later began training at Minnesota Martial Arts Academy with fellow All-American Brock Lesnar.

In his first professional MMA bout Tuchscherer defeated Krzysztof Soszynski by decision. Later in his career, he won the Dakota Fighting Championships Heavyweight Championship, and at Extreme Challenge 85 on October 6, 2007, Tuchscherer defeated Jimmy Ambriz for the EC Heavyweight Championship. He later participated at YAMMA Pit Fighting's only event in a heavyweight tournament where he defeated both Tony Sylvester and Alexey Oleinik by unanimous decision before losing by unanimous decision in the final to Travis Wiuff. Tuchscherer then won the Max Fights Heavyweight Championship on July 19, 2008, by defeating Tony Mendoza at Max Fights 4 before defeating Branden Lee Hinkle on March 21, 2009, at "Beatdown 4" to win the first SNMAA heavyweight championship.