2020 U.S. Olympic Team member Jordan Oliver set to make MMA debut at Bellator 298
2020 U.S. Olympic Team member Jordan Oliver has his first MMA fight locked in.
After four months of MMA-centric training at Kill Cliff FC in Deerfield Beach, Fla., Oliver (0-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) will debut Aug. 12 at Bellator 298. He faces Andrew Triolo (0-1 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) in a featherweight bout at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. A promotion official informed MMA Junkie of the bout Tuesday.
A freestyle and folkstyle wrestler, Oliver signed with Bellator in March. He wrestled four years at Oklahoma State University. Oliver is a 2019 U.S. national champion (freestyle), a two-time NCAA Division-I national champion (folkstyle), a four-time NCAA Division-I All-American, and a four-time Big 12 Conference champion (folkstyle).
After college, Oliver set his sights on the Olympics. In 2021, he was a 2020 U.S. Olympic Team member as the representative in 65kg men’s freestyle wrestling, but didn’t qualify in the 2021 World Olympic Qualifier.
“I look at this as something bigger than the Olympic gold,” Oliver told MMA Junkie shortly after his signing. “This would mean more to me than Olympic gold. At the time I’m coming in and the work I’m going to have to put in, not only to win, but to win with style and dominate, I think it’ll fulfill me more to win a Bellator world title as a fighter.”
Triolo, 31, made his professional MMA debut in April 2022 for LFA. He lost to fellow debutant Adamu Isah by first-round TKO and has not competed since.
With the addition, the Bellator 298 lineup now includes:
MAIN CARD (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET)
- Logan Storley vs. Brennan Ward
- Valentin Moldavsky vs. Steve Mowry
- Aaron Jeffery vs. Dalton Rosta
- Islam Mamedov vs. Sidney Outlaw
PRELIMINARY CARD (MMA Junkie/YouTube, 5:30 p.m. ET)
- Weber Almeida vs. Lucas Brennan
- Enrique Barzola vs. Jaylon Bates
- Kai Kamaka vs. Akhmed Magomedov
- Diana Avsaragova vs. Justine Kish
- James Gallagher vs. James Gonzalez
- Anthony Adams vs. Imamshafi Aliev
- Jario Pacheco vs. Max Rohskopf
- Dayana Silva vs. Katerina Shakalova
- Sullivan Cauley vs. Cedric Savage
- Bryce Meredith vs. Alberto Rodriguez
- Aalon Cruz vs. Alfie Davis
- Leandro Higo vs. Nikita Mikhailov
- Khalid Murtazaliev vs. Mike Shipman
- Jerrell Hodge vs. Marcirley Alves da Silva
- Michael Blockhus vs. Eli Mefford
- Jordan Oliver vs. Andrew Triolo
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 298.