How Daton Fix Has Already Helped Jax Forrest

STILLWATER — Daton Fix was the last superstar of the John Smith Era of Cowboy wrestling, but now Fix is making an impression one of the first superstars of the David Taylor Era.

Jax Forrest said he has known and trained with Fix for a few years, but the relationship really started to blossom over the past year when Forrest trained in Stillwater around the U.S. Open and the World Championships.

“He helps me so much with the wrestling piece and just the mental piece because everything that I can accomplish, that I want to accomplish, he’s been there,” Forrest said Wednesday. “He’s been in that position. He helps me a lot. He’s really smart. He’s quiet, but once he starts talking, we’ve connected a lot just on the mat, off the match being with each other a lot. My mindset in these big moments I think is so much better because of him.”

Forrest is right in that the path he is walking is one Fix has been down for the most part.

Both were viewed as top recruits. Fix won a U20 World gold in 2017 — the year going into his true freshman season in Stillwater. Forrest won U23 gold last year ahead of joining the Cowboys at the semester.

Fix has won a Senior World medal (silver in 2021) and is a five-time NCAA All-American. Fix is also a five-time Big 12 champion, and while Forrest joked how he can’t catch Fix in that aspect, the OSU freshman will have an opportunity to win his first conference title this week as the Cowboys head to Tulsa for Big 12s.

On top of their similar resumes to this point, the two also wrestle at the same weight: 133 in college and (primarily) 61 kg in freestyle. They were a match away from wrestling each other in the semifinals of the U.S. Open last year, but Fix was injured in his quarterfinal match with Ben Davino. Forrest beat Davino (now a freshman at Ohio State) in the semi on his way to winning the bracket.

“It’s been crazy because we’ve been in the same weight for a couple tournaments, and then something goes wrong where we don’t wrestle,” Forrest said. “So, I think it’s just kind of we’re supposed to help each other out and not supposed to wrestle in a match. Just supposed to beat each other up in the wrestling room.”

All of this attention surrounding a kid who should be closing out his senior year of high school might seem like a lot, but Forrest has had a spotlight on him for a while now because of his successes in high school and on the freestyle scene.

Forrest has about 72,000 followers on Instagram. For example, if you combined follower counts from Drew Mestemaker, Caleb Hawkins and Wyatt Young (perhaps OSU’s three most popular football transfers this offseason) and then doubled that number, it’s still about 8,000 behind Forrest.

Still, enrolling in college early and Forrest’s dominant start has only continued to gain eyeballs. Taylor said he’s seen the humble Forrest handle that extra attention well.

“I think the biggest difference is being in college, it’s like a fanbase,” Forrest said. “Like, fans of the team. Now that I’m on the team, they like me. Kinda like that. But coming through high school, they more just liked the way I wrestled vs. being a part of the Oklahoma State fanbase. Now I’m here, so I’m partnered with that vs. it’s just me when I was coming through high school, on the world team, stuff like that.”

Tying it all together, Fix (who has 99,000 Instagram followers, for what it’s worth) has long had the social media handle of @_Greatest_Ever_ in his pursuit of, well, becoming the greatest ever.

That, too, is something Forrest is seeking.

“I just want to be the best,” said Forrest, not smugly but just matter of fact. “I want to be the greatest of all time. I want to accomplish what Coach David has. I want to be an Olympic champ, I want to be NCAA champ. And I just want to be a little different in how I do it. I don’t want to go through and do it normal. I don’t wrestle normal. I don’t want my career to be normal. I want to go through and just be different and just be the best that I can be.”