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Pima Effect
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The Pima Effect is a term within the mixed martial arts community to describe a phenomenon where every single fighter to come out of the Pima Community College wrestling team has experienced extreme media and financial success. History The Pima Community College wrestling team was established in the 1960's. Upon its early establishment, they have coached hundreds of All-American wrestlers to place in the NJCAA National Tournament. During the 1980's Community College wrestling in Arizona had begun to fade, and by the 1990's it all but disappeared, leaving only Phoenix College, which finally lost their team in 1999. However, despite the loss of community college wrestling teams within the state, Pima Community College started up a wrestling club in 2000. With no instate competition the college instead competed against D1 teams like Arizona State University. Due to their club status they received no school funding, and therefore very rarely competed in any actual wrestling competition except the NJCAA regional and national tournaments. Due to the lack of wrestling competition in Arizona, many of the wrestlers began to compete in local MMA competitions across the state for such promotions as Rage in the Cage, and grappling tournaments like Desert Quest. This form of competition became Pima Community College's main practice and preparation for the national wrestling tournament. The Pima Effect After using up they’re two or three years (depending upon redshirt) of NJCAA wrestling eligibility, the Pima wrestlers would compete full time in mixed martial arts competition. Even the wrestlers who would transfer to 4 year universities would still compete in their off seasons. Surprisingly all of the Pima Community College wrestlers who would continue to compete in MMA, would gain surprising success. Many gained popularity through The Ultimate Fighter reality television show on Spike TV. Others would skip this step and go directly to the big show and compete for Zuffa immediately in either the UFC or the WEC. Criteria The actual criteria for a Pima effect to happen involves the following. Wrestler attends Pima Community College. Wrestler then goes All-American in the NJCAA national wrestling tournament. Wrestler then competes in Rage in the Cage. Wrestler then goes undefeated in said promotion. Wrestler is then contracted by Zuffa. Fighters Wrestlers who have completed the proper criteria: Drew Fickett-3rd in NJCAA tournament in 2001. (18-0-1/18-1* before Zuffa) Jesse Forbes-4th in NJCAA tournament in 2004. (3-0 MMA Comp. before Zuffa) Jamie Varner-2nd in NJCAA tournament in 2005. (11-0-3/11-1-2** MMA Comp. before Zuffa) Efrain Escudero-7th in NJCAA tournament in 2006, 1st in 2007. (10-0 MMA Comp before Zuffa) *Drew Fickett's loss against Edwin Dewees was highly disputed and listed as a NC in some media outlets. Zuffa did not count the lost against him. **Jamie Varner was not of legal age when he fought and lost to Jesse Moreng. Varner had done this before but had a signed parental wavier. For this fight the wavier was not on file and was ruled a NC. It is still recorded as a loss in some media outlets, including Zuffa. Pending: Travos Degrout-4th in 2007, currently 7-1/7-0-1 in MMA competition. Although not technically undefeated, the one loss is a DQ loss for unsportsmanlike conduct in a very disputed decision. Listed as a No Contest in some media outlets, makes it unclear how Zuffa would categorize the match.(Travis still wrestles for Embry Riddle). Possible Exceptions Some Pima wrestlers did not meet this criteria but still managed to have success. Richi Hightower and George Roop both attended Pima CC before being casted in Spike TV's The Ultimate Fighter reality show. Neither went All-American or Undefeated. Danny Martinez was 7th in NJCAA tournament in 2006. He was picked up by Zuffa in 2007, but already sported a 13-2 record. There are still other Pima CC wrestlers who are having great success in the underground MMA circuits that have yet to be called up. These include Jose Cortez (5-1) and Ryan Kelly (7-0). Kelly is a two time NJCAA Qualifier, and Cortez is an AZ state champion with a win over Drew Fickett. Possible Criteria Change Lately because all, but two (Efrain and Jesse), have disputed "undefeated" records before being picked up by the UFC, many MMA fans have changed the criteria for a Pima Effect. Under this change a wrestler no longer must go undefeated in MMA. To achieve this type of Pima Effect a wrestler must attend Pima Community College, go All-American, compete in Rage in the Cage, and then become contracted by Zuffa. Many MMA fans and journalist have incorrectly used the Pima effect when referring to George Roop, which means that the criteria may possibly be shortened to simply just Attending Pima, competing in Rage in the Cage, and then getting contracted by Zuffa. Pima Effect Becomes Absolute Sadly, in 2008 Pima Community College lost its wrestling club. The original team had been cut because of Title IX. Under the college bylaws, Pima CC Wrestling was only given club status for a 6-year period, followed by another 2-year extension. Within that time Pima CC was to influence other Arizona community colleges to start their own teams, eventually leading to an all AZ region, at which point Pima would once again be given team status. After failed attempts to start teams at Glendale CC and Yavapai CC, as well as failed attempts to reinstate the Mesa and Phoenix CC wrestling teams, Pima was shut down." Due to Pima's demise, aside from Degroat, there can be no more Pima Effects, unless the criteria is changed. Trivia *On December 13th 2008, during the the brodcasting of The Ultimate Fighter Finale, Mike Goldberg referenced the Pima Effect while commenting on the main event of Efrain Escudero vs. Phillipe Nover. 
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