To say former Hazel Park High wrestler Eric Queener is in it for the danger might be a little extreme. But the Warren Fitzgerald wrestling coach and United States Army sergeant discovered upon his return from active duty in Iraq in 2008 that he requires a certain level of excitement in his life.
“I like the adrenaline rush,” admits Queener. “I was a very competitive wrestler in high school and when I got out of the military in 2008, I tried to coach and fill that competitive edge. I went to a couple of mixed martial arts shows and was enthused by the atmosphere. I really missed that from high school wrestling.”
Former Troy Athens wrestler and Hazel Park wrestling coach Mike Conflitti, who has been involved with MMA for the past few years, helped Queener get acquainted with the sport.
Last summer, Queener was in attendance at one of Conflitti’s fights in Detroit and ended up in the cage himself. For Queener, the experience was transformational. He won the fight, but more importantly he recaptured the excitement he used to feel on the Hazel Park mat.
“It was the rush I was looking for since I got back from Iraq,” says Queener, who now has a 3-1 MMA record. “I was in the airborne division and I was a Ranger in the Army and was involved in the surge to Baghdad. When I came back home I was working in a bank and I was really looking for that adrenaline rush.
“I got more than I could have expected out of that first fight. It was almost like walking out on stage at The Palace again for the state wrestling championships.”
Queener’s wrestling experience helped him tremendously. He had also done some jujitsu while in the Army with the 82nd Air Brigade. The transition from grappler to MMA fighter seemed to be a natural one. Wrestling was the foundation for all of the other elements of MMA.
“Wrestling gives you a strong base, especially in amateur MMA fighting,” says Queener. “You know your center of balance and if you know the wrestling moves to take someone to the ground, you have the competitive edge. It’s all about being able to control your body, fielding the reactions that you get, and thinking two moves ahead of your competitor. That is all stuff you learn in wrestling.”
The toughest thing for Queener was having to un-learn some of his wrestling moves in order to be able to incorporate boxing, kickboxing and other fighting techniques into his repertoire.
He had to go from the wrestler’s crouch to a more vertical “boxer’s stance.” He also had to learn that some of his best wily wrestling moves “particularly defensive moves “would not work as well in MMA because so many other techniques come into play.
“There are some things you have to change up, particularly some of the situations you put yourself in,” says Queener. “Like head placement; in wrestling having your head outside on a shot is a benefit but in MMA that would make you susceptible to a guillotine. I’ve only been fighting for eight months, but I’ve wrestled for 12 years so the muscle memory that you use when you put someone in a double leg, you don’t even think about the move, you just do it. So to make one small change for MMA, you have to break 12 years of muscle memory.”
Queener’s most recent fight at Gibraltar Trade Center in Mount Clemens in early December is his only loss to date. Queener admits he took the fight on short notice and should have trained more going into it. He also ended up going against Michigan State University wrestler Bobby Nash who was a two-time state champion for Roseville High School.
But the loss did not discourage Queener. He plans to take what he learned from the experience and move forward.
“The one guy I was supposed to fight backed out and I got paired with Bobby who is really good,” said Queener. “I took the fight on short notice and it was just too many nerves going into that one. Next time I know that I need more notice and more time to prepare.”
Queener has bonded with a couple of other wrestlers-turned-MMA-fighters Darren and Dean Cruickshank and together, they formed the D.C. Prodigies club so they can train together and, sometimes, fight together. Darrin is a finalist for the Ultimate Fighter and Queener feels lucky to be able to train with the brothers who wrestled for Westland John Glenn.
He also has a sponsor now: Michigan-based vitamin company Proven 4, with which Conflitti is also involved. Queener donates 10 percent of everything that comes through his page on the Proven 4 web site at, proven4.com/pages/eric-queener-team-P4, to the Wounded Warriors project to help veterans.
His only regret? That he did not catch on to MMA sooner.
“I wish I would have started earlier,” says Queener. “This is something great for wrestlers to do in the off season if they don’t like running track or playing baseball. If you can get into the training part of it when you are 16 or 17, you would gain so much strength.”
Queener already has a couple of fights set for 2012. He will be at the Masonic Temple in February and at the Gibraltar Trade Center in Mount Clemens again on March 31.
“You only live once,” says Queener. “I have so many friends who say they want to try MMA but it is easy for a guy to say they are going to get in the cage, it’s not easy to actually make the move and do it. I figure why not just do it and say that you did it!”
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