David Carr vs Bubba Jenkins: A Legacy Match For Welterweight Gold

Every wrestler romanticizes the moment of winning “the big one” while simultaneously knowing that they need to wrestle every match as if it’s the biggest match of their lives. Because of this mentality, it’s hard for most wrestlers to ever know what the “biggest” match of their careers were until it’s too late.

David Carr and Bubba Jenkins are two of the few lucky enough to pinpoint the exact match that meant the most to them and both of them captured the moment.

In 2011 Bubba Jenkins was looking to top his sophomore season where he took home NCAA runner-up honors. Becoming king of the hill in college wrestling is hard enough with no added pressure but Jenkins’ senior effort came with plenty of extra distractions.

Shortly after Cael Sanderson accepted the Penn State head coaching position, Bubba Jenkins announced a transfer to Arizona State citing issues with the future coaching legend. With future Olympic gold medalist David Taylor waiting in the wings, the Nittany Lion fanbase nearly celebrated Jenkins’ departure.

Until March.

Donning his new singlet, Jenkins made the most of his last collegiate opportunity, advancing to the National Championship match where he would meet his Penn State replacement, David Taylor. Taylor would go on to become one of the greatest American wrestlers of all time but that night belonged to Jenkins who would pin the Hodge Trophy winner in the second period of his final NCAA matchup. With all eyes on that match he rose to the occasion and dished out the sweetest revenge there is.

Competing as a sophomore at the 2021 NCAA National Championships David Carr captured his first NCAA title and the entire wrestling landscape knew it wouldn’t be his last. Carr’s charisma, personality and exciting style made him one of the new faces of the sport. The Iowa State Cyclone entered the next two seasons as the favorite to win the title again but what people didn’t expect was the birth of one of the biggest rivalries in recent memory beginning in 2023 with University of Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole.

First meeting on February 15, 2023, Carr bested O’Toole and then defeated him again in the Big 12 finals. Surprising nobody, O’Toole and Carr would lock horns again in the National Title match. O’Toole would choose a good time to get his first win over Carr and take home his first NCAA Title.

Carr and O’Toole would next meet again at the 2024 Big 12 Championship where O’Toole would again defeat Carr and knot the series up at 2-2. With only one chance left to take home his second NCAA title and all roads were likely leading to O’Toole yet again. As fate would have it, the two were set to put their rivalry to bed in the 2024 semifinal matchup.

Carr, the betting underdog, sealed the series in dramatic fashion with a come from behind victory by the score of thanks to a closing-seconds takedown and punched his ticket to one last Finals matchup where he would claim his second and final NCAA championship.

When the lights are brightest Carr and Jenkins have always been at their best. When circumstances are more than even most elite wrestlers are familiar with, they get it done and now they meet for the first time.

Both men stack up well on paper and now, with RAF Welterweight gold on the line, they two will square off to find out who the real “Big Moment King” is.

Catch David Carr vs Bubba Jenkins for the RAF Welterweight Championship, Saturday, February 28 ONLY on Fox Nation!

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