As a freshman in high school Robles had a record of 5–8 and ranked last in the city of Mesa, Arizona,[4] disadvantaged by being 10 pounds underweight for his weight class.

After intensive training, Robles found that he could use his unusually high center of gravity to defend against attack, and became skilled at several offensive moves including one he created.

[5] Robles won a national championship as a senior,[2] finishing his high school wrestling career with a record of 129–15.

[2] Robles redshirted as a freshman at Arizona State University, and finished 6th in the 2006 FILA Junior World Championships in the 55 kg Freestyle Wrestling category.

[5] He started his collegiate wrestling career in 2007–08, where he was nationally ranked[3][5] and finished the year with a record of 25–11, falling just short of being named as an All-American.

[13] In March 2023, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's production company Artists Equity announced in partnership with Amazon MGM Studios that they would produce a biopic based on Robles's book also titled Unstoppable, with Jharrel Jerome and Jennifer Lopez slated to portray Robles and his mother Judy, respectively.