The Greatest Upset in the history of the NCAA. The one match, the one match that could’ve done it all. Gable Steveson’s legacy would have been that of gold with no losses in his entire NCAA career. His collegiate wrestling comeback would have been the greatest ever. One match, one takedown, and one man stopped it all. Wyatt Hendrickson got such a grip on Gable’s leg in the last 21 seconds on the mat that it brought down both the man and his dreams of being undefeated. But for Wyatt, what does it feel like to defeat such a champion?

The Oklahoma wrestler appeared on the MMA Fighting YouTube Channel where he said, “I knew that I knew was the time was coming down. It was time for my shot. I got the leg. I got the takedown in my brain. You know, I was just, it was go mode. Okay. Chop the wrist, keep him down,” That was his plan but the real moment to use the brain came when Gable started to give back, Wyatt said, “And the only time I really had to think was, you know, as soon as he was starting to stand up, cause I had a death grip on him. You know, I felt like a Python.” 

Wyatt tells that he was wrapped around the former Minnesota wrestler, and when he started to get up, he had two choices. Those being, “I could hold them down and try to keep pushing them. Or I could get a big lift in return. Um, you know, the big lift in return probably would have been a great ending.” The big lift would have made this match like one of those dreams. But the then air force wrestler chose to be better safe than sorry. 

Captain America also talked of the grip that actually won him the match in that YouTube video. If you see the match, once he had that grip, he never let go. Not until he was the new NCAA champion. He said, “I knew I had a good grip on him. I knew he was feeling my pressure. So it was just, it was a long 20 seconds. Also that was a long 20 seconds. It went kind of fast. You might be on the street. Like it was super slow, but also like, it was the same thing just of just like holding on, you know? Um, but it was, uh, it was exciting.” Twenty seconds is not much, but holding a grip for 20 seconds could win your NCAA title. The grip wasn’t the only thing that won him that meet.

Wyatt knew that the match wasn’t over; he knew “if he got up, that’s overtime ” and Gable did try to, he almost did. But the Oklahoma wrestler made sure he stayed down. He thought to himself, “He is not getting up. I am winning this match. It’s over, but I still got to follow through with that.” It’s one thing to say, and it’s only to do, Wyatt says it and he did it. He made up his mind in the last fifteen seconds, citing, “you know,  a 10 to 15 seconds, but I made up my mind. Like this guy is not getting up. I’m finishing it right here, right now.” Another interesting thing about that he got the will to win this match from the Bible.

Wyatt Hendrickson’s biblical inspiration to win

A week before the NCAA final, Hendrickson sat in a church. His pastor brought a guest speaker to preach to the congregation who talked of the story of David and Goliath. The Oklahoma wrestler drew parallels from the story towards his NCAA final. Hendrickson was David in his eyes.

He said, “Nobody wanted to fight (Goliath). He’s giant, and he’s been killing people, and there’s David… this little shepherd. I saw myself when I was hearing that sermon.” You might guess who Goliath might be in this adaptation. The 2025 NCAA champion continued, “I talk about people saying, ‘Oh, this is Gable, he’s gonna win,’ all that stuff. I kinda felt similar. But the people who believed David could kill Goliath, were David, his family, and his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” It can’t get any truer than this because not many believed that Wyatt would have won the meet against Gable, but he did.

Wyatt had a vision of victory. He had told his peers that he was going to win, just like David. He said, “David had a vision of victory — you have to see it and you have to believe it. That’s exactly what I needed to hear the week before the national tournament.” Whatever the inspiration might be, Wyatt has lived up to his nickname of Captain America. He stood up in a meet no one would’ve bet on him and he delivered the unthinkable. He moved the mountain that didn’t budge for 73 straight matches. What is your opinion on this win? Let us know.