MMA community reacts to US wrestler Tamyra Mensah-Stock winning a gold medal at Tokyo Olympics

On Tuesday, wrestler Tamyra Mensah-Stock finished her first Olympic campaign in ideal fashion when she won a gold medal in the women's 68-kilogram freestyle final. She is the first Black woman and only the second woman to win a gold medal in Olympic wrestling for the United States.

Mensah-Stock defeated Blessing Oborududu 4-1 when she seized points in dominating fashion with two takedowns in the first period. As usual, the MMA community was quick to react on social media. UFC president Dana White was quick to congratulate Mensah-Stock on her achievement and sent a heartfelt message:

"Congratulations Tamyra Stock for being the first black woman to win a wrestling gold medal. I love your energy, I love your positivity, and we couldn’t have a better representative of our country."

Congratulations Tamyra Stock for being the first black woman to win a wrestling gold medal. I love your energy, I love your positivity, and we couldn’t have a better representative of our country. pic.twitter.com/NE2S2tpBe0
— danawhite (@danawhite) August 3, 2021

Kurt Angle, the veteran WWE superstar who won the freestyle wrestling gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics, commended Tamyra Mensah-Stock on her thrilling victory.

Congrats to Tamyra Mensah-Stock on being the first American Black Woman in history to win Olympic Gold in wrestling!!! Awesome!!!!! #olympics #usawrestling pic.twitter.com/zGdpv3loQW
— Kurt Angle (@RealKurtAngle) August 3, 2021

"Congrats to Tamyra Mensah-Stock on being the first American Black Woman in history to win Olympic Gold in wrestling!!! Awesome!!!!!" - Exclaimed an ecstatic Kurt Angle via Twitter

The official Twitter handle of the UFC also commended Tamyra Mensah-Stock.

Congratulations are in order to @MensahTamStock for proudly representing the US and winning gold!

Your positivity and energy is contagious! 🇺🇸🏅 pic.twitter.com/c6XGjiBI0g
— UFC (@ufc) August 4, 2021

Others among the MMA community who took to social media to congratulate Mensah-Stock were Terrance McKinney and UFC lightweight fighter Justin Gaethje.

Congratulations to Tamyra Mensah-Stock for being the first black female wrestler to get Gold at the Olympics, your energy is beautiful sis 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥https://t.co/zDJn0sfVyS
— Terrance McKinney (@twrecks155) August 3, 2021

Some inspirational stuff. To succeed in wrestling at that level requires commitment and dedication most wouldn’t dare accept. She should give herself more credit but then again she would never be so great without that mindset. https://t.co/GC6LNULjFi
— Justin Gaethje 🇺🇸 (@Justin_Gaethje) August 4, 2021

Tamyra Mensah-Stock failed to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics

After winning an event in her 68-kg weight category, Tamira Mensah-Stock could not make it to the Olympic finals. In fact, none of the athletes from the United States secured a spot to compete in the relevant 68kg weight category at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Not losing hope, she spent her time in Brazil learning and practicing as a partner for her teammates who were eligible to compete in other weight categories of the wrestling competitions at the Rio Olympics.

In 2019, however, she was one of the three gold medalists for the United States in the women's freestyle category at the world wrestling championship.