Why does wrestling style not seem to matter in MMA as much as BJJ style?

[FootstompShonie]

Watching Kron Gracie today, I thought, as noted by many others, that his style of BJJ is what makes him so dangerous in MMA. It’s quite aggressive and he also has a wonderful closed-guard attack scheme which can be rare in a lot of other BJJ practitioners.

It seems to me many guys who are fantastic at BJJ can’t transfer over their skills if their style doesn’t fit MMA. Which makes sense.

But, in wrestling you have guys like Ryan Bader, who said in almost 100 NCAA matches he NEVER even attempted a double-leg takedown in a match. His style was about head-and-arm takedowns and very stalling-like if you will.

Yet in MMA he rather easily just switched-up and transferred wrestling skills he never even utilized in a real match. Right from the start he was power double-legging guys, because obviously he trained in despite not doing it in actual matches.

But BJJ guys never seem to be like bader, if they were guys who attacked off their back they stay like that. If their leg lock specialists they stay like that. Obviously as black belts they are training every facet of BJJ, but don’t seem willing to abandon or change-up their tactics.

Why do you think it’s so much easier for wrestlers to adapt their style so easily to MMA compared to BJJ practitioners who seem more “set” in their ways and can’t become more aggressive or change the way they were in traditional BJJ matches?

 

[MartinGibson86]

The best MMA fighters ever started with folkstyle wrestling.

Deal with it...you anti-American twats lol.

And I'm a liberal, Trump hating lefty.

Folkstyle> all else

 

[jko1355]

The best MMA fighters ever started with folkstyle wrestling.

Deal with it...you anti-American twats lol.

And I'm a liberal, Trump hating lefty.

Folkstyle> all else

I think you are drunk mate.

 

[Congo66]

Any wrestling > no wrestling.
And as long as you can take someone down that's all that matters.

The BJJ guys can't do shit if they can't get a fighter down and while failing to get fighters down they either get knocked out or gas out.

 

[TheHolyWarAngel]

because bjj seems to helps more at preserving your conscious when knocked down

 

[MartinGibson86]

I think you are drunk mate.

lol...an the ugly American (as far as sports go) shines through lol

 

[Werdun]

Maia changed dramatically his style. In bjj and adcc he was known as a guard player, later in mma he switched from sweeping the opponent to taking them down himself.

 

[FootstompShonie]

Maia changed dramatically his style. In bjj and adcc he was known as a guard player, later in mma he switched from sweeping the opponent to taking them down himself.

Eh he still has one of the worst takedown percentages in the entire UFC, 25% on over 250 attempts,he's had multiple fights where he went 0 for 10.

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

I don't understand the subtleties between the grappling arts too well, I do know that Kron Gracie looked probably two levels above Caceres today, I wonder if there's a featherweight who can meet his match on the mat?

 

[Arzachel]

I never thought about this, but you bring up some good points. I think it has to do with the fact that BJJ is more complex in nature and therefore more prone to producing specialized grapplers.

 

[TheHotorious]

Hey. Kron fought a white belt bum. Any top 10 will easily destroy that filthy gracie

 

[Werdun]

Eh he still has one of the worst takedown percentages in the entire UFC, 25% on over 250 attempts,he's had multiple fights where he went 0 for 10.

Against top level wrestlers yes. Against mediocre he usually has great success. At middleweight obviously Anderson completely nullified his wrestling

 

[ocean size]

Watching Kron Gracie today, I thought, as noted by many others, that his style of BJJ is what makes him so dangerous in MMA. It’s quite aggressive and he also has a wonderful closed-guard attack scheme which can be rare in a lot of other BJJ practitioners.

It seems to me many guys who are fantastic at BJJ can’t transfer over their skills if their style doesn’t fit MMA. Which makes sense.

But, in wrestling you have guys like Ryan Bader, who said in almost 100 NCAA matches he NEVER even attempted a double-leg takedown in a match. His style was about head-and-arm takedowns and very stalling-like if you will.

Yet in MMA he rather easily just switched-up and transferred wrestling skills he never even utilized in a real match. Right from the start he was power double-legging guys, because obviously he trained in despite not doing it in actual matches.

But BJJ guys never seem to be like bader, if they were guys who attacked off their back they stay like that. If their leg lock specialists they stay like that. Obviously as black belts they are training every facet of BJJ, but don’t seem willing to abandon or change-up their tactics.

Why do you think it’s so much easier for wrestlers to adapt their style so easily to MMA compared to BJJ practitioners who seem more “set” in their ways and can’t become more aggressive or change the way they were in traditional BJJ matches?

I'd argue that almost there whole of wrestling is applicable (or can intuitively be adapted) to fighting under a broader ruleset but that isn't the case with sport juijitsu.

If you don't agree with me, take a moment to mull over the following two words: "donkey guard"

 

[BJJ_Rage]

Eh he still has one of the worst takedown percentages in the entire UFC, 25% on over 250 attempts,he's had multiple fights where he went 0 for 10.

That is because he went against twood Colby and ya man in a row. Damian spams tds because his objective isn’t many times to take his opponent down, is just to clinch, from there he can either pull hg to sweep or go for a single. So numbers mean shit when taking about Maia. His strategy was shut down by twood first, who after stoping the initial shoot, instead of trying to out wrestle.maia, he just backed off...

 

[BJJ_Rage]

Wrestlers turn better strikers, because as an sport, it creates better athletes, tougher and stronger than bjj. Also, fighting off your back means you are losing, bjj guys have to adapt their guard game to Mma, because you can’t hang in close guard. It’s quite simple.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

Not all wrestling styles transfer to MMA as well. Mark Munoz for example had underwhelming wrestling in general because he was more of a defense first wrestler who focused on being fast on the mat(not takedowns/TDD). Wrestling is more structured and creates stronger athletes who have competed more. It's physically and mentally more demanding and a lot of wrestlers have been doing it for much longer than bjj players.