Bellator must have needed another rock star wrestler after snatching up superstars Ben Askren and Joe Warren, so they signed rising star Eric Larkin this past August. Larkin, a 4-time All-American, 4-time Pac 10 champ and 3-time National USA Wrestling Team Member, wrestled for Arizona State and also worked there as an assistant wrestling coach for four years.

Larkin made his MMA debut in April of this year, and has already accumulated two wins, defeating Bob “the Assassin” Tuttle by rear naked choke in April and Bruce Johnson by TKO in May. Both fights ended in the 1st round. Although it may be too soon to say that Larkin will crush all competition in his weight class, he does appear to have a very bright future.

Because of my admitted Arizona bias, I decided to double-check with a wrestling expert, Intermat Wrestling owner Andrew Hipps, before declaring Eric Larkin the next big thing as far as MMA prospects go. Hipps confirmed my suspicions. Here’s what he had to say:

Eric Larkin has as much or more potential as any of the former Arizona State wrestlers who are having success in MMA. He’s the most credentialed, technical, and talented wrestler in that group. Larkin is a very gifted athlete with a burning desire to be the best. He’s never been afraid of competition and putting it on the line. As a 20-year-old kid, Larkin burst onto the international scene and placed third at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. That’s an incredible feat for a U.S. wrestler at that age. As a senior at Arizona State, Larkin was pound-for-pound the best college wrestler in the country. Larkin was good enough to make World and Olympic teams, but was never able to get to that level because of all things in his life he was balancing.

As a wrestler, in addition to being a very gifted athlete with burning desire to be the best, he was extremely technical and smart. Many of the attributes that made him very successful as wrestler should also make him very successful as a fighter. If Larkin remains motivated, he has the ability to become one of the best fighters in the world.

Larkin faces submission specialist Marcus Andrusia (1-0) for Bellator 28 in New Orleans this Thursday. He began wrestling at Apollo Middle School and Sunnyside High School in Tucson, Arizona. That’s where I used to teach, so that’s where we began when I caught up with him Friday afternoon.

When did you start wrestling?

I started wrestling at Apollo in 7th grade.

What were you like in middle school? Would you have been one of my detention kids?

No, I was a good kid. I actually had straights A’s, all through middle school and even through high school. I was a good kid.

Bellator has referred to you as a wrestling prodigy in their press releases. Would you agree with that characterization?

Yeah. I mean, I’ve wrestled for 20 years now and I was pretty successful in college and in high school. I wrestled quite a bit internationally and never quite made the Olympic team, but I was right there and beat some of the guys that went to the Olympics. I just never really put it together and made it to where I wanted to be.

Yeah, you were always just on the cusp of breaking through to the senior level in freestyle wrestling. What do you think prevented you from reaching your full potential?

I would have to say just my life and my family life. Right now I have four boys, me and my wife both work. And it was just time–I wasn’t able to travel and train like the other guys could. They’d go to the Olympic Training Center all the time, go on winter tours and stuff like that. It was just hard for me to do that. I couldn’t leave my wife at home at the time in 2008; I had 3 kids and it was just tough. I didn’t get to go away and train like I needed to and I just tried to do it on my own here. I mean I was still right there but I just kind of half-assed it. I think if I was able to put more time in it and just focused on that and maybe been a bit more selfish I would’ve been able to do it. I think that’s what kept me from doing it.

Your weight class was always really stacked, too.

Yeah, everyone in my weight class beat everybody. Well, at least like the top seven guys. Everybody was always losing and getting beaten; it was never like there was a real dominant guy at the weight class.

Any thoughts on your upcoming match this Thursday?

No, not really. I’m just training to fight the best people. I’ve got this guy, and I just got a win. Hopefully I’ll finish it in the first round.

How would you characterize your fighting style? Do you stick to the basics or are you more dynamic than some wrestlers?

I’m trying to be. I’m trying to pick up all the aspects; I think I throw a lot more kicks than a lot of the wrestlers do. I work with a Muay Thai coach Dan Brandt, and I do a lot of kicking and stuff like that, setting up my punches and takedowns from there. I’m sure I’m going to get more well-rounded as I go along, but of course I’m always resort back to my wrestling roots and take people down and try and punch them in the face.

How’s your stand-up game?

It’s coming along, I’m feeling really comfortable sparring. I enjoy it; it’s something different than just wrestling and I like learning, so it’s coming along.

How did you start training at the Lion’s Den?

When I stopped wrestling in 2008, I took some time off and Simpson actually called me and said they were looking for someone to coach over at the Lion’s Den. So I started coaching over there and that’s how I started training over there. I was already coaching and wrestling all the time and so I found some training partners for myself. But I go to the Training Room on Mondays and Fridays and run over there with CB and Bader, and I go to Rage in the Cage and hit mitts with Danny over there, so I’m kind of all over the place until they get this gym opened up, Power MMA, down the street. I’ll end up going over there but I’ll still go to Lion’s Den because they have a lot of guys my size.

Anybody you want to thank?

Dave Martin is my manager, and all of my training partners, too, Aaron Simpson and CB Dollaway and Ryan Bader, Jesse Forbes, Henry Cejudo and my coaches Dan Brandt and Brian Davis from the training room.

Watch Eric Larkin take on Marcus Andrusia this coming Thursday at Bellator 28, airing on Fox Sports Net.