He was a Junior National Champion as a senior in high school, and then was a standout wrestler for the University of Iowa.

[2] After college, he competed in freestyle wrestling in the men's senior level, and went on to become the USAW National Champion in 1989 at 180.5 lbs.

[citation needed] Having trained Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Renzo Gracie,[4] Chiapparelli got into MMA when he was asked by his friend and wrestling colleague Tom Erikson to corner him in his debut for the 1996's MARS tournament.

[5] It was soon joined by Erikson, Dan Henderson, Randy Couture, Frank Trigg and Vladimir Matyushenko, among others.

[6] Chiapparelli had his first and only MMA match on September 13, 2003, beating Luiz Pantera in the Jungle Fight promotion in Brazil.