Justin Wren is beginning a dangerous homecoming tour.

The 21-year-old former ISU wrestling recruit hasn’t fought since July 26 of last year, but has two upcoming fights within six days. Wren (9-1) is the headliner for this Saturday’s mixed martial arts fight night at Hilton Coliseum, then will fight the following Thursday in his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas.

The 6-foot-3, 250-pounder has traveled from coast-to-coast, training with some of the best talent in the country.

This Saturday, he’ll fight 6-foot-5, 26-year-old Zak Jensen (10-3), who has to cut approximately 20 pounds to meet the 265-pound limit, according to the fight’s promoter, Nick Gamst.

Wren hasn’t liked what he’s seen from the former Augsburg wrestler.

“I’ve never really had a fight where I disliked the guy, but I definitely don’t appreciate anything [Jensen] does,” Wren said. “He’ll pray before the fight, knock the guy out — a guy that should have never been in there, and then stand over him, and flip him off and say ‘F you’ and all this stuff. And then in the interviews after the fight, he says things like ‘There’s no disrespect; everyone picks each other up, helps each other out. Let’s grab a beer together.’ Then his very next fight, he prays, knocks the guy out and stands over him and mocks him again. So I don’t have too much respect for this guy. I won’t feel too bad if I inflict some pain.”

Life as a fighter is easier when you’re good at what you do.

After training with the Iowa State wrestling team during the 2006-07 season, Wren abandoned a scholarship offer to pursue a career in fighting, and has since become an up-and-coming contender in the heavyweight division.

He suffered his first loss in May of 2007 — soon after he left Ames. At that time, Wren had little fight experience or training, but an upper-respiratory infection and a case of shingles further handicapped his chances.

He didn’t want to fight, but promoters convinced with extra money and a promise that he’d be the main event at their next show.

“I would say that I was pretty humble, but I wasn’t humble going into that fight,” Wren said. “Everyone was telling me this guy wouldn’t get out of the first round with me, so I went into the fight thinking ‘OK, I’m just going to end it in the first round like I always do. So I dominated the first round — it was like a 10-8 round, I think, and then the second round I just didn’t have any energy. The ref wanted to stop it before I went out there, because he knew I was sick. And I was almost throwing up in the corner.”

Wren lost 27 seconds later by TKO, and said his opponent, Matt Thompson, has refused the request for a rematch. He learned to not trust promoters, and won three fights over the next 14 months.

He said his last win — a second-round TKO over 32-year-old Chris Guillen — surprised the promoter, who then asked Wren to fight five-time UFC champion Tim Sylvia.

A win over Sylvia could have brought instant recognition, sponsorship money and a payday “3 to 5” times bigger than Wren has ever gotten before. He spoke with his coaches and considered the offer for a week, but turned it down and requested an undercard appearance instead.

“I’m 21; he’s a five-time champion. There’s no need to rush it,” Wren said. “If those opportunities are coming to me when I’m 21, I’m looking towards the future.”

Even if he won, Wren said, he didn’t feel ready to fight a string of elite opponents. His goal is to be a top-10 ranked heavyweight by the time he turns 24 or 25.

His will turn 22 on April 27.

When he was 13, Wren bought “three or four” UFC videos at a flea market with the entire sum of his allowance. He hid them from his parents, who didn’t approve, and watched them when they weren’t around.

On several occasions, his dad would find him watching the tapes, then take them away.

“My mom would tell him ‘Your son is going to do that someday,’ Wren said. “I’d say no, but inside I was like ‘Ya. Definitely.’”

Wren started wrestling as a freshman and initially stopped going after a few practices, but a coach sold him on the idea by saying that it’d help him get into fighting.

Wren quickly excelled in the sport, placing first in Greco-Roman and second in freestyle. By the time he finished high school, he had won 10 Texas state titles (4 Greco-Roman, 3 freestyle and 3 folkstyle). He also won two Junior National Greco-Roman Championships, which drew the attention of the Olympic Training Center. He was recruited to attend the Northern Michigan Olympic Education Center, where he trained in the Greco-Roman style.

Wren transferred to Des Moines Area Community College, where he attended classes in Boone while waiting for a scholarship from Iowa State.

He trained with the Iowa State heavyweight David Zabriskie, and coaches Cael Sanderson and Tim Hartung outside of normal practice time, to avoid NCAA infractions.

“When he came here, Zabriskie hadn’t established himself as who he is. I mean he was real tough, but he was still kind of small, but Zabriskie kept getting better,” Sanderson said. “Maybe I shouldn’t say that, but Wren was teetering back and forth on just going into fighting or wrestling.”

Wren took his first fight in August of 2006, when his friend was incapacitated by a staph infection. A promoter asked him to step in, and he won by TKO in less than two minutes. Just over a month later, Wren fought under a similar circumstance, and his passion continued develop. He had a 5-0 record by the end of the school year.

“I kept telling him, ‘You’ve got to be careful, dude,’” Sanderson said. “You’re going to get hurt for one, and it was at the time — and I think it still is — it was legal through the NCAA for him to get paid, because it’s separate. But I don’t know if they’ve changed the rule… I kept hearing that he was sneaking off and doing fights, and he was winning, and I think he just realized he could do well and he loved it.”

Wren said he “would have loved to have been a Cyclone” but has no regrets in giving up his dream to become an NCAA Champion for the chance become a more well-rounded fighter. He is anxious to get back in the cage, as his last two fights have fallen through.

Wren said he has spent his money wisely, and is training 2-3 times each weekday with cardiovascular activity on Saturdays. He teaches MMA classes at UFC veteran Travis Lutter’s gym, and is also a youth group leader at the Gateway Church near Forth Worth.

The church is supportive of what he does, Wren said, since he can reach a lot of people “that my pastor might not.” He said most people don’t think he’s a fighter. “Especially the people I go to church with, then they find out and say ‘Oh, you do that!?’”