{"id":34200,"date":"2013-04-23T11:42:44","date_gmt":"2013-04-23T16:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/uncategorized\/2013\/04\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/"},"modified":"2014-07-29T09:12:17","modified_gmt":"2014-07-29T16:12:17","slug":"joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Pascale Says Goodbye to Pool, Focus Turns to Mixed Martial Arts Octagon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PHOENIX, Arizona, April 23. JOE Pascale, who turned heads during his preparation for the 2012 Olympic Trials with his thick facial hair and large frame, announced his retirement from competitive swimming today, turning his full attention to mixed martial arts.<\/p>\n<p>Pascale didn&#039;t start taking swimming seriously until late in high school, but he was impressive enough to earn a place on Auburn&#039;s swim team. He found a new life as a mixed martial arts competitor when he left Auburn in 2005, but returned to swimming in a quest to make the 2012 Olympic team.<\/p>\n<p>Pascale placed 140th in the 50 free in Omaha, but kept swimming. His final meet was the Arena Grand Prix in Mesa two weeks ago, and though he did not swim in a championship final, he was hoarded by young fans in the autograph zone.<\/p>\n<p><img src= http:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/media\/Pascale_Joe2013.jpg \/><br \/>\n<i>Image courtesy Joe Pascale<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Now, at age 29, he&#039;s returning to MMA cage fighting. He&#039;s been training full force at a gym in Virginia since the Arena Grand Prix, though he has not said when his first MMA bout will take place.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p>I&#039;ve retired from competitive swimming. Was a wild ride &#038; have gr8 memories! Now 2 focus 100% <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search\/%23MMA\">#MMA<\/a>. Plz keep following me on this journey.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212; JOE PASCALE (@JRPascale) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JRPascale\/status\/326672504179531778\">April 23, 2013<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Watch this recent SwimmingWorld.TV interview with Pascale from the 2012 Tom Dolan Invitational:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/blip.tv\/play\/hKkHg4ulZgI.x?p=1\" width=\"470\" height=\"380\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PHOENIX, Arizona, April 23. JOE Pascale, who turned heads during his preparation for the 2012 Olympic Trials with his thick facial hair and large frame, announced his retirement from competitive<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,7,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-usa","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Joe Pascale Says Goodbye to Pool, Focus Turns to Mixed Martial Arts Octagon - Swimming World<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Joe Pascale Says Goodbye to Pool, Focus Turns to Mixed Martial Arts Octagon\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PHOENIX, Arizona, April 23. JOE Pascale, who turned heads during his preparation for the 2012 Olympic Trials with his thick facial hair and large frame, announced his retirement from competitive\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swimming World\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-23T16:42:44+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-07-29T16:12:17+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Archive Team\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@swimmingworld\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Archive Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Archive Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/794d59f870d64f0d99b6c19bcc198ae7\"},\"headline\":\"Joe Pascale Says Goodbye to Pool, Focus Turns to Mixed Martial Arts Octagon\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-23T16:42:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-07-29T16:12:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/\"},\"wordCount\":233,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"-Home Slider\",\"USA\",\"zz Import (Home Page)\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/\",\"name\":\"Joe Pascale Says Goodbye to Pool, Focus Turns to Mixed Martial Arts Octagon - Swimming World\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-23T16:42:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-07-29T16:12:17+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Joe Pascale Says Goodbye to Pool, Focus Turns to Mixed Martial Arts Octagon\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Swimming World\",\"description\":\"The Global Leader in Aquatic News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Swimming World\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg\",\"width\":1799,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"Swimming World\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/swimmingworld\",\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/swimmingworldmag\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SwimmingWorldSPI\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/794d59f870d64f0d99b6c19bcc198ae7\",\"name\":\"Archive Team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6954d08fa89e8fe6d2fbf8f02cb5500?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6954d08fa89e8fe6d2fbf8f02cb5500?s=96&d=blank&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Archive Team\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/swimmingworldmagazine.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/author\/archive\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Joe Pascale Says Goodbye to Pool, Focus Turns to Mixed Martial Arts Octagon - Swimming World","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Joe Pascale Says Goodbye to Pool, Focus Turns to Mixed Martial Arts Octagon","og_description":"PHOENIX, Arizona, April 23. JOE Pascale, who turned heads during his preparation for the 2012 Olympic Trials with his thick facial hair and large frame, announced his retirement from competitive","og_url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/","og_site_name":"Swimming World","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld","article_published_time":"2013-04-23T16:42:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-07-29T16:12:17+00:00","author":"Archive Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@swimmingworld","twitter_site":"@swimmingworld","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Archive Team","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/"},"author":{"name":"Archive Team","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/794d59f870d64f0d99b6c19bcc198ae7"},"headline":"Joe Pascale Says Goodbye to Pool, Focus Turns to Mixed Martial Arts Octagon","datePublished":"2013-04-23T16:42:44+00:00","dateModified":"2014-07-29T16:12:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/"},"wordCount":233,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["-Home Slider","USA","zz Import (Home Page)"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/","name":"Joe Pascale Says Goodbye to Pool, Focus Turns to Mixed Martial Arts Octagon - Swimming World","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-04-23T16:42:44+00:00","dateModified":"2014-07-29T16:12:17+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/joe-pascale-says-goodbye-to-pool-focus-turns-to-mixed-martial-arts-octagon\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Joe Pascale Says Goodbye to Pool, Focus Turns to Mixed Martial Arts Octagon"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/","name":"Swimming World","description":"The Global Leader in Aquatic News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Swimming World","url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/SWorld_BLKBKG-1.jpg","width":1799,"height":900,"caption":"Swimming World"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld","https:\/\/x.com\/swimmingworld","https:\/\/instagram.com\/swimmingworldmag\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SwimmingWorldSPI"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/794d59f870d64f0d99b6c19bcc198ae7","name":"Archive Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6954d08fa89e8fe6d2fbf8f02cb5500?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6954d08fa89e8fe6d2fbf8f02cb5500?s=96&d=blank&r=pg","caption":"Archive Team"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/swimmingworldmagazine.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/author\/archive\/"}]}},"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p56Jja-8TC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34200\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}