Are US elite wrestlers overrated?

[Baianada]

We've seen GSP ragdoll All Americans like it was nothing, last night Jones put DC on his ass an embarrassing amount of times, even John f*** Fitch had his way with supposedly elite US wrestlers.

I guess being an elite American wrestler is not that much of an accolade these days. Tough men training out of MMA gyms are beating them at their own game.

 

[CarbonIsotope**]

Yes. Its commonly known that the elite Ncaa,nfaa,,nghaa,vnfghaa,gjhdsdfas undefeated american wrestlers pretty much always gets ruined Outside of the US when they enter world championship and such things. Only wrestling other americans is a massive sense of false security.

Wrestling is easy when you don't have to worry about eastern europeans.

 

[yookfarb]

Jon Fitch and Jon Jones probably spent 10000 hours of wrestling practice b4 ever walking in an MMA gym.

 

[robotsonic]

I was shocked by the crappy cardio, they both looked gassed by the 3rd.

 

[GordaoPreguico]

Yes. Its commonly known that the elite Ncaa,nfaa,,nghaa,vnfghaa,gjhdsdfas undefeated american wrestler pretty much always gets ruined Outside of the US when they enter world championship and such things.

Wrestling is easy when you don't have to worry about eastern europeans.

 

[Bogeyman]

Absolutely overrated to an insane level.

 

[ufcfan4]

Some guys' elite wrestling skills translate better to mma than others. But Cormier's was one of the guys who did translate very well so to see Jones stifle him and put him on his back was definitely impressive as hell.

Jones and Barao might be the only two elite guys who I can think of who have never had to fight off their back at all in their UFC runs because they are never taken down or taken down for any prolonged period. Jones has pulled guard a couple of times and was taken down very briefly by Gus but that was it.

 

[CarbonIsotope**]

Lol. And every other match before he got too old? Hell, every single "Round" in every single match before he got too old? :icon_chee

 

[SODACKER]

Yes. Its commonly known that the elite Ncaa,nfaa,,nghaa,vnfghaa,gjhdsdfas undefeated american wrestlers pretty much always gets ruined Outside of the US when they enter world championship and such things. Only wrestling other americans is a massive sense of false security.

Wrestling is easy when you don't have to worry about eastern europeans.

You know that Jon Jones (a guy who didn't even wrestling at high college level) just out wrestled DC who is an extremely accomplished international wrestler right?

 

[BrazilianDude]

They are good. It's the myth of the NCAA guy who can't be taken down that is wrong. Yoel Romero got taken down a bunch of times and he is a higher caliber wrestler than anyone else in the UFC.
MMA is a very complex sport. There are a lot of things to worry about at the same time.

 

[Frank23]

Jon Jones' base is wrestling.

 

[MrCarano]

No, you can't make a blanket statement like that.

It's not like guys like Bones and GSP sucked in the NCAA. They just never got the chance.

Also, it's not just Americans, and it's not just wrestlers.

Yoel Romero is a Cuban with better wrestling creds than DC. He's not taking guys down at will, either.

You also see the same thing with some guys who are high level at BJJ or MT/kickboxing having trouble putting guys away at their own game.

It's MMA, it's about how well you can mix things up.

 

[DiegoLunes]

Jon Fitch and Jon Jones probably spent 10000 hours of wrestling practice b4 ever walking in an MMA gym.

This.

They aren't tough guys that train at mma gyms. They are wrestlers themselves.
Jones is even a Jr. college national champ.

 

[Steve08]

You know that Jon Jones (a guy who didn't even wrestling at high college level) just out wrestled DC who is an extremely accomplished international wrestler right?

He got a national championship, that's high level even if the letters "NJCAA" hurt your feelings.

And yeah, he outwrestled him by catching a kick then waiting until he was gassed. Such an achievement!

 

[Silverhawk]

They are good. It's the myth of the NCAA guy who can't be taken down that is wrong. Yoel Romero got taken down a bunch of times and he is a higher caliber wrestler than anyone else in the UFC.
MMA is a very complex sport. There are a lot of things to worry about at the same time.

Too much sense for Sherdog.

 

[Steve08]

Yes. Its commonly known that the elite Ncaa,nfaa,,nghaa,vnfghaa,gjhdsdfas undefeated american wrestlers pretty much always gets ruined Outside of the US when they enter world championship and such things. Only wrestling other americans is a massive sense of false security.

Wrestling is easy when you don't have to worry about eastern europeans.

That's not actually true, it's just not really possible to completely dominate the field when Russia, Cuba and Iran are competing too.

All those nations have beaten each other in the Olympic or World finals at one point or another.

 

[CarbonIsotope**]

Yoel Romero is a Cuban with better wrestling creds than DC. He's not taking guys down at will, either.

He is if he wanted to.

He wouldn't have gotten taken down the few time he has if he didn't throw a bunch of kick neither.

 

[ContinueZero]

They're still high level wrestlers but this shows the evolution of MMA. The same thing happened with Jiu Jitsu it was dominant at one point but fighters found ways to defend and counter and better ways to incorporate it to MMA. There's a difference between high level wrestlers and high level mma wrestlers.

 

[ElusiveRiddum]

What elite wrestlers did Fitch have his way with? The only elite US wrestlers GSP faced were Hendricks and Kos and he certainly didn't have his way with Hendricks. Jones has DC and Chael. The only thing that proves is that you have to be a freak of nature to beat an elite US wrestler in an MMA fight. So no, they aren't overrated.

 

[Bogeyman]

Jon Jones' base is wrestling.

He has good wrestling but he's not basing his whole game around it. He wrestled with Cormier because it's the only thing Cormier can do. Jones is good everywhere.