Get Reacquainted with Darrion Caldwell

We’re less than a week away from the debut of Real American Freestyle Wrestling (RAF) and their RAF 01 card. One of the unique aspects of RAF is that it showcases wrestlers who have transitioned out of the wrestling world and have focused on other ventures, such as MMA. This opens up the possibility of having “dream” matches between wrestlers of different generations.

One of the primary examples of this is the bout that pits 2025 world team member Real Woods against Darrion Caldwell.

Since Caldwell won his NCAA title in 2009 and completed his collegiate career two years later, I thought it was fitting to provide a primer on the man. We’re more than 15 years removed from Caldwell on the collegiate mats and that’s a couple of generations worth of fans in the wrestling world. There are some high school wrestlers who probably weren’t born when Caldwell was wrestling. Even your college wrestlers are probably not familiar with Caldwell.  Also, wrestling media and technology has made huge strides since 2007-10. Were he active a decade later, his matches would be all over Flo and YouTube.

So, for those who are not familiar with Caldwell, here’s a primer on his background and accomplishments, along with some videos of him in action.

Caldwell was a three-time New Jersey state champion who signed with NC State. He did so under the assumption that he would be allowed to play football and wrestle. I’ve always been fascinated with this. A guy who started his collegiate career wrestling at 141 legitimacy “could” have played football in the ACC? No offense to these guys, but no one ever thought that Jesse Mendez, Yianni, or Nick Lee would play big-time college football. But for Caldwell, it seemed like “why not, maybe he could.”

As a true freshman, Caldwell won the first of his four ACC titles at 141 lbs. He advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals (more on that later) and ended up a match shy of the NCAA podium.

In 2008, Caldwell moved up to 149 lbs and finished fifth in the greatest NCAA bracket of all time. The remaining All-Americans were (Brent Metcalf/Bubba Jenkins/Jordan Burroughs/Josh Churella/Dustin Schlatter/Lance Palmer).

It’s important to note that Caldwell wrestled in a different ACC and NC State program. The Wolfpack are now routinely in the top 10 and crank out AA’s every year. He was the first NC State wrestler to get on the podium since Sylvester Terkay did so in 1993.

Caldwell is best remembered for the 2009 NCAA finals when he upset undefeated Brent Metcalf and shocked the wrestling world. The final seconds of the bout are memorable in that Caldwell went to do a series of flips and was pushed mid-air by Metcalf.

After winning the NCAA title, Caldwell injured his shoulder in a skateboarding accident and missed the entire 2009-10 season and received a redshirt.

Caldwell wrestled for parts of the 2010-11 season and captured his fourth ACC crown; however, he wasn’t totally healthy. Despite the limited match count, Caldwell held the #1 seed at the 149 lb weight class. Caldwell won his first match, but had to default out of his Round of 16 contest against Eric Grajales and didn’t wrestle for the remainder of the tournament.

One of my favorite “what ifs” in wrestling is what if Caldwell had been healthy at the NCAA Tournament that season. That was a bracket won by sophomore Kyle Dake. How would that match play out? Does Caldwell prevent Dake from winning a title that year? Dake was coming off a loss to Kevin LeValley two weeks prior. Dake was the #4 seed, so the pair could have met in the semis.

Caldwell was active on the freestyle circuit for a few years, but went to MMA full-time in 2012. In 2017, Caldwell won Bellator’s bantamweight title.

Now that you have some background information on Caldwell, here are some videos of him in action:

2006 Dapper Dan - Caldwell vs. Andy Rendos (Future 2x AA for Bucknell)

This was my first time seeing Caldwell in person. I thought he looked more like a 135 lber than a 152, but he quickly showed his athleticism. We’ll talk about it later, but Caldwell was a master of the spladle and is seen here baiting Rendos to take that leg.

2007 NCAA Quarterfinals - Caldwell vs. Ryan Lang (Northwestern)

Two minutes and 29 seconds of the best action you’ll see in an NCAA bout! For context, Lang was the undefeated #1 seed at 141 lbs and coming off a Big Ten title. Caldwell with some stuff you wouldn’t expect to work against a wrestler of Lang’s caliber. This is probably the first time that most fans outside of New Jersey or North Carolina got to see Caldwell in action.

2007-08 Regular Season - Caldwell vs. Brent Metcalf (Iowa)

Speaking of spladles. Some more controversy involving Caldwell/Metcalf. Caldwell locks up the spladle, but should it be a pin? This was one of Metcalf’s first official collegiate bouts. He had to sit out the 2006-07 season after transferring from Virginia Tech to Iowa. His debut with Iowa was one of the most highly anticipated over the last 20 years.

2008 NCAA Championships: Quarterfinals - Caldwell vs. Dustin Schlatter (Minnesota)

This is not a highlight reel Caldwell match. That being said, I thought it was one of his most impressive wins as he beat the returning champion, Schlatter, at a slower paced match that would typically favor the Minnesota wrestler.

2008 NCAA Championships: Semifinals - Caldwell vs. Bubba Jenkins (Penn State)

This is actually a loss for Caldwell, but one of my favorite matches to watch. Both guys bring the action and make for some memorable moments. Jenkins will also be affiliated with RAF as a color commentator.

2009 NCAA Championships: Quarterfinals - Caldwell vs. Jake Patacsil (Purdue)

Just Caldwell doing some of the things we’ve been accustomed to seeing from him against a tough competitor in Jake Patacsil.

2009 NCAA Championships: Finals - Caldwell vs. Brent Metcalf (Iowa)

This is the match! I hope everyone reading this has seen it a few times. For his exploits in this match, Caldwell was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler at the 2009 NCAA Championships.