Jeffrey Carl "Jeff" Blatnick (July 26, 1957 – October 24, 2012) was an American super heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler and sports commentator.
[5] After winning national titles in NCAA Division II, he qualified for the 1980 Olympic team, but did not get a chance to compete because the USA boycotted the games.
After radiation therapy helped to hold the cancer in remission, Blatnick competed in and won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California.
With help from referee John McCarthy and then UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, Blatnick created a manual of policies, procedures, codes of conduct and rules, many of which exist to this day.
[5] He sat cageside in Atlantic City months later, when UFC held its first event regulated under the unified rules, headlined fittingly by two outstanding wrestlers, Kevin Randleman and Blatnick's favorite fighter, Randy Couture.
[1][3] Nick Lembo, the man who runs the New Jersey athletic control board, wrote, "(Jeff) would urge people to stop calling the sport No Holds Barred, in order to help it grow and gain acceptance.
On July 11, 2015, at the UFC Hall of Fame event in Las Vegas his widow, Lori, accepted the award on Blatnick's behalf.
[8][1] At the time of his death, Blatnick was a varsity wrestling coach at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School, and also worked as a motivational speaker.
Blatnick Park contains several baseball and softball fields, an 18 hole disc golf course, a pavilion and picnic area, and a small section of the Mohawk Hudson Hike/Bike Trail.