No Husker wrestler ever had a better single-season record than Matt Lindland’s 36-1 mark (.973 winning percentage) in 1993. Though he suffered his only defeat in the NCAA Championships and didn’t medal, Lindland went on to experience plenty of wrestling glory — earning gold medals at the 1999 and 2000 Pan American Games, winning U.S. amateur national titles in 1995 and 1997-99 and a World Cup title in 1996.

His wrestling career reached its zenith in 2000, when he joined his Husker teammate Rulon Gardner on the U.S. Olympic Greco-Roman team for the Sydney Games. Lindland earned a silver medal.

Long before the Games, Lindland  branched out into mixed martial arts fighting. Starting in 1997, Lindland took to the MMA ring and became a professional athlete. He’s compiled a 19-4 record that ranks him as one of the top middleweights (185-pounders) in the world.

Last year, Lindland joined the International Fight League (IFL), which brings a team approach to the MMA world. Each fight card includes two dual matches between teams of five fighters. The IFL will be soon offered on cable TV network Fox Sports Net and on MyNetworkTV beginning in April or May.

Journal Star writer Karl Vogel recently caught up with the former Husker, who is known in the ring as “The Law.” He and his family live in Oregon City, Ore.

How are things going for “The Law?”

Couldn’t be better. My life is awesome. I get to beat people up and get paid for it. Is there anything better than that?

Where did that nickname come from?

It’s because I lay down the law in the ring. Actually, it comes from the (Olympic Trials) controversy in 2000. The way the match was judged, I knew I was right, everyone who was there knew I was right, except the USOC and USA Wrestling. They appealed it almost all the way to the Supreme Court, and I still won.

You’re 36 now. So what’s an old Olympic wrestler doing still scrapping for a paycheck?

I’m finally getting paid for competing. I wasn’t even getting paychecks when I was doing the wrestling thing.

I got started (in MMA fighting) when I was still wrestling. I had goals set for the Olympics and the worlds, but I tried it (MMA fighting) in 1997, and found out it was something I wanted to do. But I was focused on my Olympic goals and didn’t pursue it. Mostly because the money wasn’t there then or in 2000, when I got out of wrestling. But the industry is changing. I got in at a good time. I wish I was a little younger, or got into it a little earlier. For guys coming out of college or for wrestlers who don’t want to go to college, it’s a good opportunity. It’s a better avenue instead of wrestling the best guys in the world for nothing. Fight one fight, get paid. It’s a beautiful thing.

What attracted you to this type of a sport?

Same thing that attracted me to the sport of wrestling — getting to compete one-on-one with guys of equal caliber and equal skills.

So, why would you leave wrestling if it offered the same things?

For six years, I was the No. 1 (wrestler) in the country at 76 kilos or 85 kilos. But the governing body has never made it marketable, never promoted its best athletes. Some of those guys are really tough, probably the best athletes in the world. But nobody’s paying them or coming out to watch them to compete. I’m not doing it (MMA fighting) to get the fame, but without it you don’t get the money.

The first time you fought in a MMA match, did you have any reservations?

No. Not the way I wrestled. I liked to inflict pain on my opponents anyway. I thought, ‘I’m already doing that in my sport, but I get to add new skills.’ In wrestling, you don’t get to punch someone or kick them in the face. In mixed martial arts, you get more tools to work with.

What about the training, how much different is your regimen than it was for wrestling?

There were more skills to learn than what I already knew. When I got to the level I did in wrestling, it wasn’t adding new skills (in practice), just refining my skills and doing them better. In this sport, I had to learn new things … mostly the striking arts.

It wasn’t a big adjustment. Everything in sports is about body mechanics and the mechanics of wrestling and MMA are quite a bit the same. Snatching someone of equal weight and throwing them over your head, like you can do in Greco-Roman, it’s not much different than throwing a punch, it’s just a different technique.

This sport is kind of the triathlon of combative sports. Wrestling is one aspect, but we also have to know boxing, submission wrestling and there are so many skills you take from different martial arts. Take judo throws. 

What was the transition like, going from competitor to coach?

I was a Husker (assistant) coach for four years. I had Brad Vering (2000 NCAA champion at 197 pounds) and multiple all-Americans. And I taught Justin Ruiz, who’s on the U.S. national team now. I was a fairly successful coach through the years. It’s an easy transition to go from wrestler to wrestling coach. Then I moved on and really started immersing myself in this sport, moved away from wrestling and coaching.

Talk a little about Ryan Schultz (a lightweight fighter and a North Platte native). You coached him as an assistant here at NU. What’s he like as an MMA fighter?

He’s always had a scrappy attitude that made me think he could turn into a fighter. An exceptional athlete, and the IFL is giving him a chance to showcase his skills.

Ryan’s kind of what we like to call “heavy-handed,” he has a big right hand and likes to knock people out. That’s what I want to do every time. It’s exciting, but it doesn’t always work that way, and that’s where Ryan has to learn to adapt. I want to get him back to using his wrestling skills, get back to his bread and butter.

Some Internet sites have noted that your style is a little unconventional for MMA, but that you’ve been extremely successful in the ring. Why is it that it works for you but others don’t copy it?

My stand-up style, I didn’t learn it as a fighter, but I brought it with me from a wrestling background. I’m not going to stand and try to knock out a guy who’s been training in the striking arts his whole life. I’m going to try to get into clinch fighting, like we use in Greco, use my stand up to get into the clinch position. It’s not wise for a guy to take me down right off the bat if his background is in fighting because I know what to do when I get down to the mat.

I’m a well-rounded fighter at this point in my career. I still don’t want to stand and trade with the best guys in the business. It’s about picking your spots. I have this little philosophy that always seems to work — “Hit him and don’t get hit. Better to be the hammer than the anvil.”

What’s it like stepping into the ring for a fight?

It’s a culmination of what you’ve been training for. It’s a chance to display all your skills. You want to be able to dominate your opponent and punish him. The other guy steps into the ring hoping to beat you up and you want to do the same to him. It just gets your blood flowing.

To this day, I’m surprised guys still show up. I know they’re getting paid to be there and some of them have the skills, but it still surprises me. I see the other guy step through the ropes and all I think is, “Doesn’t he know what’s going to happen to him?”

You were a Husker and Olympic teammate of Rulon Gardner. What was your reaction when he beat “the Russian Bear,” Alexander Karelin?

I wasn’t really that shocked. I know he (Rulon) trains hard and has a big heart. It created a big media buzz and, I think, it changed Rulon a little bit. Not in a bad way, just made him a little more aware of his surroundings.

Just recently, there was a lot of talk about the Chuck Liddell-Tito Ortiz rematch, and MMA events are drawing huge audiences on TV, getting bigger audiences than boxing. Why are MMA events thriving, and what can boxing learn from your sport’s success?

Boxing’s not so much doing things wrong. They’re just not doing it any different than they’ve always done them.  Right now, there’s no star out there that people want to see. When Mike Tyson wasn’t knocking guys out anymore, there wasn’t a reason for the average guy to want to watch boxing. Now, the people who watch boxing, they’re my age or older.

We get younger crowds, with a lot of 18-to-34-year-old men. That’s our base, our target audience, because they are the ones with the most disposable income, and those are the guys who are watching the sport.

Speaking of Liddell, he’s part owner of a bar, Dillinger’s, here in Lincoln. Could you see someone like him pouring drinks?

Pouring drinks? Nah. I could see him standing on the other side of the bar. In fact, I have seen him on the other side of the bar. (Laughs).

What about Liddell, how important is he to your sport?

He was promoted very well and he helped to make it the popular sport that it is. He and I are ranked the same in our respective weight classes, but he’s been promoted by a big organization (Ultimate Fighting Championships) and has made a bigger name for himself. People like to watch the heavyweights, even though the lighter guys are quicker and offer more kinds of action. It’s a lot about marketability, and Chuck is the king.

Are you locked down with the IFL?

Not really. You could say I’m one of the first free agents in mixed martial arts. I have no long-term contracts to fight for any one promoter or organization. I can fight for any promoter who wants the best middleweight in the world to fight their guys. Being the No. 1 guy in the world and a free agent means I can go where the best talent is.

What about the team concept? Does it fly with MMA fans?

It’s different enough from what other promoters are doing and it’s nice they have cable TV to promote the guys and build them up. (Being on FSN) is a beautiful thing. The UFC being on Spike! is what exploded the growth of this sport. It allowed people to get familiar with the sport in a comfortable manner. Without free taste of the product, a lot of people are going to be hesitant to buy something that costs $40 a pop.

What do your kids think about dad fighting?

To them, it’s just dad’s job. My son’s a freshman in high school, and he just started wrestling the last two years. My daughter’s 12 and she’s been doing martial arts since I got started in it. She’s big into riding horses, but she told me she’s looking to have her first kickboxing match.

What about people who think your job is sending the wrong message to your kids about fighting?

Those people, they misunderstand so much. They think my sport is just violent and brutal, but it’s not. It teaches kids values — hard work, training, confidence, all those things that made America strong but that we’re forgetting about as a society. It’s what made our country the strongest in the world. We’re the No. 1 country in the world because we’re good at competition.

Some people say this isn’t a positive thing, but it’s one of the most positive things we’ve done in sports for years. We’re competing and trying to be the best that we can. We’re bringing it back and putting it in people’s faces.

They say fighting sends the wrong message. Well, it’s wrong if your kid fights because somebody tried to take his Tonka truck, but if someone was trying to put my daughter in a real truck, I have the confidence in her that she has the martial arts skills to defend herself.