Rosemount MMA Fighter Ends Best Season With Tough Loss

Rosemount's mixed martial arts star Mike “The Marine” Richman narrowly lost one of the biggest fights of his career on April 4 in front of a blood-hungry Atlantic City, N.J., crowd and a national television audience.

But the 28-year-old 2003 Rosemount High School graduate was not overly dispirited when the judges handed him a 30-27 defeat, giving his opponent, Frodo Khasbulaev of Russia, the $100,000 stake, and ending his best season to date.

“I took the defeat with grace,” Richman told Sun Thisweek. “I’m ready to start healing and training again.”

Richman told the paper that the hardest part of the match was when a punch landed awkwardly atop Khasbulaev's head.

“I could feel my hand crumble,” he said. “It was a hard stinging pain. I backed up and tried to compose myself. I tried not to show I jacked up my hand.”

Richman, who joined the Marine Corps at 18, has seen his MMA fighting career take off in recent years.

“Hopefully I can continue to represent Rosemount and put it on the map,” he said. “I get asked a lot: ‘Where is Rosemount? Why don’t you just say you live in Minneapolis?’ I get the opportunity to tell people where it is. I’m going to keep going. Hopefully next year I’ll get another shot at the finals.”