After 25 years of MMA.. One thing is painfully apparent...

Kafir-kun said:
Well Khabib's background is in combat Sambo and he's beaten many wrestlers as did Fedor


GSP himself credits that to his karate background, not his wrestling. Its because of his footwork, he's able to get in and out in a way that allows him to avoid takedowns and secure them. He said as much on Rogan's podcast and I remember Sherk years ago saying it was GSP's footwork that most impressed him.

If you look at most wrestlers, their takedown average is actually low because they often have to chain wrestle to get the guy to the ground. But GSP is different, he has a very high rate of success especially given how often he attempts takedowns and that's because of his unique skill set, coming form karate, that guys with a wrestling background don't have.
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Well to be fair, Sambo is very similiar to wrestling.
 
rb3b3 said:
Well to be fair, Sambo is very similiar to wrestling.
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Its also similar to Judo and BJJ and even has elements of boxing.

Sambo/=wrestling

To be fair Khabib did compete in wrestling as well but he also competed in Judo and has a black belt in it. He himself credits his success to combat sambo though.
 
No shit. Pankration has been a thing for thousands of years.
 
rb3b3 said:
To me it really was shocking... Before there was any ufc, i had always thought a black belt karate dude would fk anyone up in their path. I never thought a wrestler would be able to beat up any black belt in any discipline. Here we are now 25+ years later and yet like i said wrestlers are still dominating this sport. I first took interest in this sport because like so many others, i wanted to see what style of fighter would be the best style in a street fight and this was the closest thing to a street fight.

I wouldve never figured wrestling background would be the best of any mixed martial art to have. i wrestled right up until my senior year of highschool, so
maybe thats why i never really thought much about it.
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Perhaps it was more obvious to me because I wrestled as a kid and people stopped messing with me when they saw me dump a few guys on their heads.

As our wrestling coach said, people tend to not mess with wrestlers.
 
This goes out to everyone commenting in this thread...

If you were a Pro MMA fighter, which 2 disciplines would you pick to have as your backgrounds??? Your only allowed to pick
2!
 
Wrestling will definitely be solved one day in this sport!
 
If you could knee a downed opponent to the head that's what would happen with every stuffed takedown... would have been interesting to see how much of a difference it would have made.
 
rb3b3 said:
Its just crazy to think that over all these years, wrestlers still take the cake as a whole in general.. So if you go to the best fighters of all time the majority are wrestlers.

1) GSP, Amazingly no wrestling background but yet won the majority of his fights by wrestling, even outwrestling decorated wrestlers.. Its still mind boggling to me.

2) Fedor, sambo

3) Mighty Mouse wrestling. Was finally beat by u guessed it a wrestler lol

4) DC, wrestler

5) Khabib, Sambo

* I can not have any cheaters on my all time p4p list.
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Keep going and you can include Dillashaw (wrestler), Hughes (wrestler), Jones (wrestler), Cain (wrestler), Cruz (wrestler). There are only so many fighters you can include in the greatest ever list that weren't wrestlers.
 
rb3b3 said:
After 25+ years, it is painfully apparent that fighters with a wrestling background have continued to dominate this sport. Who wouldve ever thought that wrestling which was never really considered a martial art, would be the absolute BEST background a fighter can have in any mma discipline.

Maybe in another 25 years, Fighters will develop a style that will be a nightmare for ALL fighters who excel at wrestling.
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Wrestlers don't always win
 
Wrestlers dominate now because the ufc almost monopolized the sport and they dictated their rules. What if pride had never died?
 
I find and hold this view only to those who have not fully trained and mastered in Martial Arts or only taking parts that suited them or the style or techniques they desire to focus on.

But its not the historical truth going back to ancient Chinese martial arts teaching the four combat zones (Ranges)
  1. Kicking Range
  2. Punching Range
  3. Close Quarter Range
  4. Ground Range
Over the years many things have changed in modern evolution M.A its all about BJJ and MMA but its all broken and separated parts of M.A from traditional foundations..... topic to deep for here I guess.
 
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That's what always made me think Conor would lose earlier than he did. Wrestling has always dominated and he doesnt really have good wrestling. Looks like he can keep the fight up vs decent wrestlers. The times he fought guys with legit wrestling accolades he was taken down easily. I remember Dennis Siver taking him down a couple times in their fight.

Only exceptions are guys with great striking and great bjj like Anderson. Which again, Conor's BJJ is mediocre at best by professional standards.
 
trident said:
While this has been known for some time, it's not just wrestling, its wrestling practice at an early age that builds the mind to endure great degrees of discomfort.

While this is true in all sports, wrestling has always been the king.

It doesnt surprise me at all.
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I remember our ex soviet coach would have us lie next to each other while we take it in turns rolling over everyone else until we all crossed the mat. You’d stick your elbows into people’s backs etc and just toughen up.

Later doing bjj for the first time whenever someone would attempt to “grind me down” I’d almost laugh. The level of their “grind” was below standard wrestling, I could take that shit all day, it was a rest to me.
 
Ghostoftheville said:
Keep going and you can include Dillashaw (wrestler), Hughes (wrestler), Jones (wrestler), Cain (wrestler), Cruz (wrestler). There are only so many fighters you can include in the greatest ever list that weren't wrestlers.
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yup exactly right!
 
Its not really the style its the person using it. Some talented strikers with good TDD smoke wrestlers and some wrestlers are good enough to still get the TD against some strikers.
 
GSP paved the way for the best mma fighters. Wrestleboxers who can dominate positions and either point fight to a UD or finish if it presents itself
 
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