Siamak "Matt" Ghaffari ( ; fa, سیامک غفاری, ; born November 11, 1961, in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

Imperial State of Iran Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texas ...

) is an Iran-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

amateur wrestler Amateur wrestling is a variant of wrestling practiced in collegiate, school, or other amateur level competitions. There are two international wrestling styles performed in the Olympic Games: freestyle and Greco-Roman. Both styles are under the ...

, MMA Fighter and

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

. Matt Ghaffari was a two-time USA Olympic team member, obtaining a silver medal in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games. Ghaffari is the most accomplished Greco-Roman wrestler in U.S.A. history with three American records.

Early life

Born in Tehran, Iran, Ghaffari came to the United States of America at a young age, he attended

Paramus High School Paramus High School is an American four-year comprehensive public high school, located in Paramus, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Paramus Public ...

Paramus, New Jersey Paramus ( Waggoner, Walter H ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1966. Accessed October 16, 2018. "Paramus – pronounced puh-RAHM-us, with the accent on the second syllable – may have taken its name from 'perremus' or 'perymus,' Indian for ...

Amateur wrestling career

Representing the United States at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games and 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games, Ghaffari reached the final of the heavyweight Men's Greco-Roman 130 kg division, where he lost 0–1 to Russian Aleksandr Karelin in overtime.Robbins, Liz
"OLYMPICS; Wrestler Two Victories From Dream"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', June 24, 2000. Accessed October 17, 2007. "To advance, Ghaffari had to pull out a trick he first used two decades ago at Paramus High School in New Jersey.... At 38, and a loss away from retirement, Ghaffari is still crafty and accomplished, compiling more Olympic and world championship medals than any other Greco-Roman wrestler with four." Ghaffari was a seven-time United States wrestling champion and a two-time USA Olympic Committee Greco-Roman Athlete of the Year. In 2013, Ghaffari was inducted in the

National Wrestling Hall of Fame The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum and hall of fame for amateur wrestling, headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2010, it began operating the Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. History The museum was awarded to Stillw ...

as a Distinguished Member.

Mixed martial arts career

In 2002, Ghaffari fought in the Tokyo Dome in front of 28,000 spectators at a

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

bout in UFO- Universal Fighting-Arts Organization against

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

Olympic Silver Medalist

Naoya Ogawa (born 31 March 1968) is a Japanese Olympic and world champion judoka, retired professional wrestler, and mixed martial artist. He won a total of seven medals at the All-Japan Judo Championships (second only behind Yasuhiro Yamashita), and set a r ...

. Ghaffari managed to take Ogawa down and attack him with a brief

ground and pound Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

, but back to standing, Ogawa landed a punch which shifted Matt's left eye

contact lens Contact lenses, or simply contacts, are thin lenses placed directly on the surface of the eyes. Contact lenses are ocular prosthetic devices used by over 150 million people worldwide, and they can be worn to correct vision or for cosmetic ...

and forced him to quit.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center , 0–1 ,

, TKO (

punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

) , UFO Legend , , align=center , 1 , align=center , 0:56 ,

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Professional wrestling career

In 1996, Ghaffari was scouted by

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

promotion

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nation ...

and was featured in several

vignettes Vignette may refer to: * Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy * Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters * Vignette (literature), short, i ...

, but did not sign up with the company. After his stint in MMA, Ghaffari started to work in the Japanese promotion

Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE (stylized as Pro Wrestling ZERO1), formerly known as Pro Wrestling Zero-One and Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max (stylised in all capital letters) and often referred to simply as Zero1, is a Professional wrestling in Japan, Japanese professional wrest ...

, where he won the

NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship The Intercontinental Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team title in Japanese promoting Pro Wrestling Zero1, typically reserved for (but not exclusive to) heavyweight (>) wrestlers. It was created on June 14, 2001, three month ...

with Tom Howard on December 15, 2002, by defeating

Shinya Hashimoto was a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter and actor. Along with Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh, Hashimoto was dubbed one of the "Three Musketeers" that began competing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in the mid-1980s and dominated the prom ...

and old opponent

. They held the championship until April 29, 2003, when they lost it to Hashimoto and Ogawa. In 2004, Ghaffari made an apparition for HUSTLE, pinning Ogawa after a beatdown from the

heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower Human leg, leg. Structure To distribute the compressive for ...

faction Monster Army (

Mark Coleman Mark Daniel Coleman (born December 20, 1964) is an American retired mixed martial artist, professional wrestler and amateur wrestler. Coleman was the UFC 10 and UFC 11 tournament champion, the first UFC Heavyweight Champion, and the Pride Fig ...

Kevin Randleman Kevin Christopher Randleman (August 10, 1971 – February 11, 2016) was an American mixed martial artist, professional wrestler, and former UFC Heavyweight Champion. Randleman's background was in collegiate wrestling, in which he became ...

, Dusty Rhodes Jr.,

Giant Silva Paulo César da Silva (born July 21, 1962) is a Brazilian former national basketball player for the Brazilian national basketball team and later mixed martial artist and professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Giant Silva. He stands ...

and

Dan Bobish Daniel Emerson Bobish ( ; born January 26, 1970) is a retired American mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. He was competing in the Super Heavyweight (no limit) division. He is a former King of the Cage Super Heavyweight Champion. ...

Championships and accomplishments

(1 time) – with Tom Howard ** ZERO-ONE O-300 Super Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghaffari, Matt 1961 births Living people Olympic competitors from Iran who represented other countries Olympic silver medalists for the United States in wrestling Paramus High School alumni People from Paramus, New Jersey Wrestlers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 1996 Summer Olympics American male sport wrestlers Iranian emigrants to the United States Iranian male mixed martial artists American male mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing Greco-Roman wrestling Mixed martial artists utilizing collegiate wrestling American male professional wrestlers Iranian professional wrestlers World Wrestling Championships medalists Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in wrestling Sportspeople of Iranian descent Wrestlers at the 1991 Pan American Games Wrestlers at the 1995 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games