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  • Photo: Photos/John Sachs

    Mark Palmer •

    Photo: Photos/John Sachs

    Caldwell, Bunch to face each other at Bellator 143

    Two former college wrestlers with impressive mat credentials -- Darrion Caldwell, and Shawn Bunch -- will face each other in a preliminary event at Bellator 143 later this month, according to multiple media reports, and the Bellator website.

    Ex-wrestlers Darrion Caldwell and Shawn Bunch will battle at Bellator 143 (Photos/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)
    Bellator announced the addition of the Caldwell vs. Bunch bantamweight bout to its Sept. 25 card to be held at State Farm Arena in Hidalgo, Texas, along with a preliminary heavyweight match between Chase Gormley and Dan Charles. Bellator 143's top-of-the-card event will feature another bantamweight match-up with Joe Warren, a former University of Michigan All-American, taking on L.C. Davis.

    Caldwell is arguably one of the most accomplished wrestlers to come from North Carolina State. The native of Rahway, N.J. completed his collegiate career with a 109-13 overall record, for a winning percentage of .893, second in school history to Sylvester Terkay, 1993 NCAA heavyweight champ who later entered professional wrestling and MMA. While wrestling for the Wolfpack, Caldwell was a three-time Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) champ and a two-time NCAA All-American. He won the 149-pound title at the 2009 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, upsetting top-seeded defending champ Brent Metcalf of the University of Iowa, 11-6.

    Bunch wrestled at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania, where he compiled an impressive overall record of 132-24. He was a four-time Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) champ, a four-time NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships qualifier, and two-time NCAA All-American, placing second at the 2005 NCAAs, and third in 2006. In June 2012, Bunch just missed out on making the U.S. men's freestyle team to compete at the 2012 London Olympics at 60 kilos/132 pounds.

    Both Caldwell and Bunch are coming off wins from the same MMA event, Bellator 137, in mid-May. The former NCSU Wolfpack wrestler now known as "The Wolf" earned a unanimous decision over Rafael Silva ... while "Bunch the Great" scored a decisive victory on points vs. Rolando Perez.

    The two former collegians made their pro MMA debuts in fall 2012. The 27-year-old Caldwell sports a perfect 7-0 record since his first match in Sept. 2012 at Legacy Fighting Championships 14. Bunch, 32, who launched his career at Bellator 82 in Nov. 2012, is now 4-1 overall. He joins a number of former Edinboro wrestlers who have entered MMA, including Josh Koscheck and Chris Honeycutt.
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