University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestler Bryce Carr stood near the edge of McKenzie Arena's wrestling mats Monday afternoon, having just secured a chance to capture third place in the Southern Scuffle's 184-pound division.
Around his head was a gauze wrap stained with blood from a head butt Carr endured during a Sunday match. Then there was the cut on his cheek, which also had required stitches. Fresh blood oozed from his nose.
And they think football is a physical sport.
"I'm fine, I can still wrestle," Carr said with a grin. "This event is big-time. All the big dogs come here to wrestle."
All the big dogs. No. 1 Oklahoma State. No. 5 Missouri. No. 8 Cornell. No. 9 Lehigh. No. 13 Minnesota. No. 16 Stanford. No. 21 Appalachian State. No. 22 Northern Iowa. No. 24 Virginia. No. 25 Drexel. And that doesn't include always salty UTC, Duke, North Carolina, Navy and Penn, to name only 15 of the 23 elite wrestling programs in attendance.
Monday night's finals wrapped up the sixth Scuffle to call our Scenic City home. It previously resided in Greensboro, N.C. But when UNC Greensboro dropped its wrestling program, Chattanooga rolled out its wrestling mats and began to host what some believe may be the sport's best in-season tournament.
Christian Pyles, the esteemed writer for florwrestling.org - which is sort of the ESPN of collegiate wrestling - said of the event, "The Scuffle is one of, if not the toughest in-season tournament in the country."
For proof, he recalled the first of Cornell senior Gabe Dean's Scuffle titles at 184 against Penn State's Ed Ruth, who had an 84-match win streak dating back to 2011 before Dean stunned him in the 2014 event.
"Any time you have this much talent, you have upsets galore," Pyles continued. "Ruth was thought to be unbeatable, but Dean beat him."
For the record, Dean beat Oklahoma State's Nolan Boyd in Monday's final to become the first wrestler to go unbeaten in four straight Scuffles.
What's also unbeaten, according to Oklahoma State fan and Tulsa resident Jimmy Ober - who was making his fourth trip to the Scuffle with his father and wife _ is "the Southern hospitality. Everyone is so friendly and accommodating. And Chattanooga is really pretty."
Ober, who travels to the nationals every year, also had high praise for the event itself, saying, "It's run really well for a two-day tournament."
Cleveland, Ohio, residents Rob and Rebecca Schenk completely agree with Ober. In town for a second straight year to watch their son Alec wrestle at 184 for Duke, they also expect to see younger son Evan wrestle at 174 when he begins college next year at Gardner-Webb.
"I love this town," Rebecca said. "We've gone to Aretha Frankenstein's for breakfast the last two mornings."
"We've eaten at Champy's, too," said Rob. "Great chicken."
Missouri coach Bryan Smith has been bringing his Tigers here for years.
"The first year or two, you'd walk around town and no one would say anything," he said. "Now, the minute someone sees you they'll ask, 'Are you here for the Scuffle?' They know about it. Everybody here treats you really great. It's not only one of the most competitive tournaments in the country except for the NCAAs, it's one of the best-run tournaments."
Chattanooga may also be the perfect size to host such an event.
"It's a great city for this," said CMP Clothing's Cliff Fretwell, whose company helps sponsor the Scuffle. "It's self-contained. It's not in the middle of nowhere, but it's also not in the middle of New York City. It's easy to get in and out of, a great venue, and the level of talent is like a mini NCAA field."
Scuffle officials also are not afraid to mix things up in hopes of lifting interest in the product.
While wrestling tournaments almost always end with the heavyweight championship match, the Scuffle moved Monday's heavyweight match to the front, which meant the 197-pound match would end it.
"If it's good for the sport, I love it," said Missouri's Smith. "It keeps things exciting."
That's always been the goal of UTC coach Heath Eslinger, who did so much to secure the Scuffle for Chattanooga when it left Greensboro.
"What we hear is that this has become a great event," said Eslinger, a former Southern Conference wrestler of the year. "There's a difference in a great event and a great tournament. We've gone from being a wrestling-rich community in the South to the best (in-season) wrestling tournament in the country."
Eslinger added that the reasons for that dynamic are many.
"We've always had great local support," he said. "Our facilities are conducive to a tournament like this. And our downtown atmosphere creates the aura of a championship-style event."
For a town that's lost so many other quality sporting events through the years, it's nice to know we're back to being a big dog in at least one collegiate sport.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.