How Would Olympic Style Wrestling Par Terre (Mat/Ground) Skills Translate to MMA?

[dsdoubled]

I think the popular opinion is that American Folkstyle wrestlers will always have the advantage over other wrestling stylists when it comes to controlling and dominating an opponent from on top in MMA. I think this is usually true. However, I found myself wondering how the skills of a foreign (outside the USA) wrestlers entering MMA would hold up if they wanted to employ a Khabib style gameplan and dominate their opponent from on top with position and GnP.

There is no riding in freestyle and Greco roman wrestling but these wrestlers do have skills/strength/muscle memory when it comes to working on the mat from on top. I tend to think that if a wrestler has spent most of their life turning and/or pinning a resisting opponent on the mat, it shouldn't be too hard to point those skills and attributes at trapping an opponent underneath them in MMA and dominating with GnP and sub threats. Especially Greco guys who are known to be incredibly strong with their squeeze and bodylock. I think if you can gutwrench, front headlock, chest lock, headpinch, and pin world class athletes, you should be able to use those skills in MMA.

I want to hear what some of you other guys think about this.

 

[dsdoubled]

There are quite a few world class Greco and freestyle wrestlers from Europe and Asia getting into MMA at the moment and though they seem to usually prefer to clinch and strike, I want to see them work from top position.

 

[Eisenhans]

Well, from what I have seen, Greco-Roman guys can just outmuscle everyone - they just slam through the guard like it's not there, for example. But there's also the fact they can easily transition to Catch if they want.

 

[yetanother]

Having rolled with an olympic greco medalist and seeing lesser greco guys roll the par terre doesn't translate to grappling at all. They are grapplers and have a lot of upper body strength so they can like kimura you from closed or bridge you over from side control but when starting out absolutely sucked on top and get swept by blue belts.

 

[dsdoubled]

Having rolled with an olympic greco medalist and seeing lesser greco guys roll the par terre doesn't translate to grappling at all. They are grapplers and have a lot of upper body strength so they can like kimura you from closed or bridge you over from side control but when starting out absolutely sucked on top and get swept by blue belts.

Well, for some reason I wasn't really thinking itd translate to grappling as much as it would MMA. The broader, less restrictive, rule set would seem to be more fitting. You can strike and slam and use other more violent techniques.

 

[dsdoubled]

Having rolled with an olympic greco medalist and seeing lesser greco guys roll the par terre doesn't translate to grappling at all. They are grapplers and have a lot of upper body strength so they can like kimura you from closed or bridge you over from side control but when starting out absolutely sucked on top and get swept by blue belts.

And don't hold out on us, who'd you roll with ?

 

[yetanother]

Well, for some reason I wasn't really thinking itd translate to grappling as much as it would MMA. The broader, less restrictive, rule set would seem to be more fitting. You can strike and slam and use other more violent techniques.

Power and explosiveness translates to MMA better.

 

[yetanother]

And don't hold out on us, who'd you roll with ?

KSW's latest star.
Getting tapped by him with some kesa gatame arm lock he learned of youtube after trying to and having him to do a full blown celebration and grab my purple be t claiming he is now national champ was a pretty low if memorable moment. I have to start working on those no-gi subs seriously at some point

 

[dsdoubled]

KSW's latest star.
Getting tapped by him with some kesa gatame arm lock he learned of youtube after trying to and having him to do a full blown celebration and grab my purple be t claiming he is now national champ was a pretty low if memorable moment. I have to start working on those no-gi subs seriously at some point

I had a feeling it was him. Total beast and looking great in MMA so far. I actually remember reading quite a while ago, before he was done wrestling, that he was trained in the old school Shooto system were you earn ranks and such.

 

[yetanother]

I had a feeling it was him. Total beast and looking great in MMA so far. I actually remember reading quite a while ago, before he was done wrestling, that he was trained in the old school Shooto system were you earn ranks and such.

Not sure if we are talking about the same guy. He lost in his last fightt and he sure as hell didn't do Shooto.

 

[dsdoubled]

Not sure if we are talking about the same guy. He lost in his last fightt and he sure as hell didn't do Shooto.

Hahaa I assumed it was Damian Janikowski.

 

[yetanother]

Hahaa I assumed it was Damian Janikowski.

He lost in his last fight.

 

[dsdoubled]

He lost in his last fight.

Still, Id say his MMA career is going well. He ha looked great overall.

 

[MadSquabbles500]

But doesnt murkan HS folkstyle have some rules regarding matwork that you dont see in MMA or submission grappling?

Watching some college wrestling, I have noticed, the wrestler on the bottom, or on his knees in that position I guess call the referees, wont attack the top wrestlers hands and handfight with them. I am not sure what the rule is regarding that. I have heard on this forum, in HS folkstyle, the bottom guy cannot "clam up".

I have also seen some guys lay flat on their stomachs, and try to crawl out. But before lying flat, it seemed there were other option. I just not sure why they did that. If someone can explain rules to me, I appreciate.

 

[dsdoubled]

But doesnt murkan HS folkstyle have some rules regarding matwork that you dont see in MMA or submission grappling?

Watching some college wrestling, I have noticed, the wrestler on the bottom, or on his knees in that position I guess call the referees, wont attack the top wrestlers hands and handfight with them. I am not sure what the rule is regarding that. I have heard on this forum, in HS folkstyle, the bottom guy cannot "clam up".

I have also seen some guys lay flat on their stomachs, and try to crawl out. But before lying flat, it seemed there were other option. I just not sure why they did that. If someone can explain rules to me, I appreciate.

 

[MadSquabbles500]

Informative, but they only go through scoring criteria as opposed to illegal/legal tech. Sport BJJ has very few illegal tech in regards to scrambling, turnovers, etc. I just want to compare and contrast the two.

In freestyle, I believe you can win with pin, but I hardly ever see it. Its mostly top guy rolling the bottom guy around. The bottom guy hardly ever tries to get out of rolls.

 

[yetanother]

Still, Id say his MMA career is going well. He ha looked great overall.

KSW is super low level so he is a match for everyone there because he is an actual athlete and won't quit when tired while rolling etc.
The guy who beat him wasn't a full time athlete (makes his money from crime).

 

[dsdoubled]

Informative, but they only go through scoring criteria as opposed to illegal/legal tech. Sport BJJ has very few illegal tech in regards to scrambling, turnovers, etc. I just want to compare and contrast the two.

In freestyle, I believe you can win with pin, but I hardly ever see it. Its mostly top guy rolling the bottom guy around. The bottom guy hardly ever tries to get out of rolls.

Im not certain about the banned techniques in NCAA wrestling. But I know you're right about freestyle. Pins do happen but are less common then winning by points. In freestyle the wrestler being taken down will almost always try their hardest to go belly down and stall while waiting for the refs stand up. Only its not looked at as stalling as much as it is considered defense. The object for the bottom wrestler is to not get turned no matter what. The top wrestler doesn't get long to work if their not successful in turning their foe.

 

[dsdoubled]

Not sure if we are talking about the same guy. He lost in his last fightt and he sure as hell didn't do Shooto.

Take a look at this. I believe this is the shooto I was referring to.

https://translate.google.com/transl...Janikowski-fina%C5%82-Shooto-2010&prev=search

 

[ArtemV]

I am sure they would do just fine. For.example, the Japanese (and ex-collegiate wrestlers from the US) teams seem to have better groundwork compared to other countries. They have nice turnovers and usually try to pin more often than most.

But some mma experience/bjj would be needed to secure and dominate positions though. Romero is a good example of this. He can barely keep his opponents down.