Jeff Blatnick
Encyclopedia
Jeff Blatnick is a former American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Super Heavyweight
Wrestling weight classes
-For men's freestyle and Greco-Roman:Currently, men's freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling is divided into four main age categories internationally: schoolboys, cadets, juniors, and seniors....

 Greco-Roman wrestler
Greco-Roman wrestling
Greco-Roman wrestling is a style of wrestling that is practised worldwide. It was contested at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been included in every edition of the summer Olympics held since 1908. Two wrestlers are scored for their performance in three two-minute periods, which can...

 and sports commentator. He won NCAA Division II heavyweight wrestling championships in 1978 and 1979 and an Olympic gold in 1984. As a commentator, Blatnick worked UFC 4
UFC 4
UFC 4: Revenge of the Warriors was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on December 16, 1994, at the Expo Center Pavilion in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The event was seen live on pay-per-view, and later released on home video.-History:UFC 4 used an eight-man tournament...

 through UFC 32
UFC 32
UFC 32: Showdown in the Meadowlands was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey on June 29, 2001...

 for the Ultimate Fighting Championship
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world that hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport...

. He was born in Niskayuna, New York.

Wrestling

Blatnick began his career wrestling in 1973 at Niskayuna High School
Niskayuna High School
Niskayuna High School is a secondary school in Niskayuna, New York.- History :Niskayuna High School was founded in 1954.Niskayuna High School is to receive $53.2 million to undergo repairs and updates including 8 new classrooms and a new media center, it was completed in April 2011.- Academics :In...

 in Niskayuna, New York
Niskayuna (town), New York
Niskayuna is a town in Schenectady County, New York. The population was 20,295 at the 2000 census. The town is located in the southeast part of the county, north and east of the city of Schenectady, and is the easternmost town in the county-History:...

. While wrestling for Niskayuna, Blatnick became the state heavyweight champion in 1975.http://www.wrestlinghalloffame.org/awards/?dm&honoree=152 After graduating from Niskayuna, he attended and wrestled for Springfield College
Springfield College
Springfield College is a private, coeducational university located in the City of Springfield, Massachusetts. Springfield College is most famous as the site where the sport of basketball was invented...

 in Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...

. After winning national titles in NCAA Division II, he qualified for the 1980 Olympic team
1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...

 which boycotted the games. In the summers of 1980-81 he worked as a bouncer at the Thirsty Whale in Minocqua, WI. In 1982, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma
Hodgkin's lymphoma
Hodgkin's lymphoma, previously known as Hodgkin's disease, is a type of lymphoma, which is a cancer originating from white blood cells called lymphocytes...

, prompting the removal of his spleen
Spleen
The spleen is an organ found in virtually all vertebrate animals with important roles in regard to red blood cells and the immune system. In humans, it is located in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. It removes old red blood cells and holds a reserve of blood in case of hemorrhagic shock...

 and appendix
Vermiform appendix
The appendix is a blind-ended tube connected to the cecum , from which it develops embryologically. The cecum is a pouchlike structure of the colon...

.

After radiation therapy helped to hold the cancer in remission, Blatnick competed in and won a gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

 in the 1984 Olympic Games
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...

 in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

. He and his teammate, Steve Fraser
Steve Fraser
Steve Fraser was the 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling in the 198 lb weight class. A native of Hazel Park, Michigan, Fraser was a Michigan High School Athletic Association state wrestling champion and later an All-American in wrestling at the University of Michigan...

, were the first Americans to ever win gold in Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling history. Blatnick retired from wrestling after a second round with cancer, which required chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....

. He served as a television commentator during the 1988 Summer Olympics
1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...

.

Mixed martial arts

From 1994 to 2001 for UFC 4
UFC 4
UFC 4: Revenge of the Warriors was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on December 16, 1994, at the Expo Center Pavilion in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The event was seen live on pay-per-view, and later released on home video.-History:UFC 4 used an eight-man tournament...

 to UFC 32
UFC 32
UFC 32: Showdown in the Meadowlands was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey on June 29, 2001...

, Blatnick served as a commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world that hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport...

, and was officially named as the commissioner
Commissioner
Commissioner is in principle the title given to a member of a commission or to an individual who has been given a commission ....

 of the UFC during UFC 17
UFC 17
-External links:**...

. During this time he was involved in the development of the modern rules
Mixed martial arts rules
Most rule sets for mixed martial arts competitions have evolved since the early days of vale tudo. As the knowledge about fighting techniques spread among fighters and spectators, it became clear that the original minimalist rule systems needed to be amended...

 of the sport.
Jeff authored the Mixed Martial Arts Council Manual. Jeff is licensed as a referee and judges with the New Jersey commission.

At present, Jeff Blatnick is a varsity wrestling coach at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School where the head coach is Steve Jones. and also works as a motivational speaker
Motivational speaker
A motivational speaker or inspirational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. In a business context, they are employed to communicate company strategy with clarity and help employees to see the future in a positive light and inspire workers to pull...

. He resides with his wife, son, and daughter in Clifton Park, New York
Clifton Park, New York
Clifton Park is a town in Saratoga County, New York, United States. According to the United States Census Bureau, the 2009 population estimate for Clifton Park was 36,469. The name is derived from an early land patent...

.
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