Kevin Andre Jackson (born November 25, 1964)[1] is an American retired freestyle and folkstyle wrestler, and mixed martial artist. Following his competitive career, Jackson would become a wrestling coach.
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During his international career, Jackson became an Olympic Gold medalist in 1992, a two-time World Champion (1991 and 1995), a three-time World Cup Gold medalist (1993, 1995 and 1997, bronze in 1994) a two-time Pan American Games Gold medalist (1991 and 1995) and a two-time Pan American Champion (1990 and 1991). In folkstyle, Jackson was a four-time NCAA Division I All-American, thrice for the LSU Tigers and once for the Iowa State Cyclones, after Louisiana State University dropped its wrestling program.[2] He also stepped into the UFC Octagon in four occasions, winning his first two bouts and losing the next two, all finishing via submission.[3] After spending the last four years as USA Wrestling's[4] National Freestyle Developmental Coach, Jackson made the move to Ann Arbor, MI to serve as an Assistant Wrestling Coach for the University of Michigan.[5]
In 1992 he won a gold medal in wrestling and was invited to join "Team Foxcatcher", but was let go the next year when John du Pont started getting paranoid delusions and did not want anything black in his estate, from cars to horses to people. Soon after, Jackson won two Pan American Games titles and was a member of World Championship teams for the United States in both 1993 and 1995. He won three U.S. National Titles and placed second five times. Jackson also became the first American to win the prestigious Takhti Cup (1998) in Tehran, Iran.
During his post-collegiate competitive career, Jackson also assisted with the Cyclone Wrestling Club (1989–92) and volunteered with the Arizona State (1997) program.
Jackson participated in mixed martial arts in 1997, when he joined the Ultimate Fighting Championship to become only the 2nd Olympic Gold medalist wrestler to step in the octagon,[6] eventually winning the UFC 14 Light Heavyweight tournament. He fought Frank Shamrock for the inaugural UFC Light Heavyweight Championship at UFC Japan, but lost via armbar submission. He retired from MMA competition in 1998 after six fights.
Jackson's success earned him a number of major awards, including the 1995 John Smith Award as National Freestyle Wrestler of the Year, 1992 Amateur Wrestling News Man of the Year and 1991 USA Wrestling and USOC Wrestler of the Year. Jackson is a member of the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame (as a Distinguished Member) and the Iowa State University Athletics Hall of Fame. In October 2019, Jackson was inducted into the LSU Hall of Fame and is the only wrestler to be inducted.
Jackson has worked extensively as a wrestling coach. He was head coach of the Sunkist youth development program, National Freestyle coach for USA Wrestling for eight years (2001–08) and the freestyle wrestling coach for two United States' teams at the Olympics. Jackson was the freestyle coach at the Olympic Training Center and head coach for the U.S. Army team at Fort Carson (1998–2001).[7][8] Jackson served as head coach of Iowa State Cyclones from 2010-2017 where he coached 4 NCAA champions, 14 All-Americans, and 9 Big-12 Champions.[5] In June 2017 Kevin went back to the Olympic Training Center as a US National Team Freestyle development coach and launched the Elite Accelerated Program (EAP).
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