Who Is Senator Markwayne Mullin? How Much Has He Trained in MMA?

US Senator Markwayne Mullin recently made headlines after a verbal altercation at a senate hearing. While debates escalating at a senate hearing are not news, why was Mullin’s case special? The simple reason was that he was ready to throw hands during a senate hearing at the U.S. Capitol. As news of this encounter surfaced, so did Mullin’s MMA background, which piqued quite some interest on social media.

Markwayne Mullin is a businessman and politician who is also a member of the Republican Party. Moreover, the Oklahoma GOP Senator is the first native American US senator since Ben Nighthorse Campbell. Mullin is the second Cherokee Nation citizen to be elected into the Senate. However, very few people know that he was also an MMA fighter and a wrestler.

Markwayne Mullin is undefeated in MMA

The Tulsa native senator had a squeaky-clean MMA record before diving into the world of politics. Over six months in 2006-07, Markwayne Mullin competed in a total of three mixed martial arts fights under the Xtreme Fighting League banner. Impressively, Mullin won all three bouts, finishing each of his opponents within two rounds.

Markwayne Mullin’s three fights were against fighters named Bobby Kelley and Clinton Bonds(x2). He registered two submission wins and one via knockout. However, his Senate Biography claims that Mullin has a 5-0 record in MMA, whereas combat sports websites have listed him with three professional fights. Meanwhile, the US senator’s total fight time was less than 10 minutes and none of his fights went the distance.

Apart from competing in MMA, he was also a wrestler. He learned to wrestle through elementary and middle school and even switched schools four times after the one he was attending canceled its wrestling program.

He has remained active in the wrestling community even after he retired from competing. Mullin continues to coach his children and other young athletes in wrestling tournaments across the country on weekends. He was also inducted into the Oklahoma Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2016. While his fight career is in the past, Mullin recently made waves after challenging a leader of a labor union.

US senator almost comes to blow with the Teamsters leader

There was a lot of tension at Capitol Hill this past Tuesday. A fistfight was almost about to break out between Markwayne Mullin and the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Sean O’Brien. The senator recalled an old conversation he had with the labor union’s president on social media.

They were discussing competing against each other in an MMA fight over a heated back-and-forth during a congressional hearing that spilled onto social media in the past.

Markwayne Mullin read the tweet that Sean O’Brien posted. It wrote: “Greedy CEO who pretends like he’s self-made. What a clown & fraud. Always has been, always will be. Quit the tough guy act in these senate hearings. You know where to find me. Anyplace, anytime, cowboy.”

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This did not sit well with Mullin as he got up from his chair and challenged O’Brien to a fight. However, Senator Bernie Sanders was there to save the day, as he put an end to that confrontation.

Things could have gotten out of hand pretty quickly. When someone who has experience in combat sports training is involved, it is all the more serious. However, things did not escalate into a fistfight and no one was hurt.

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