Sure, it will wane as it has in the past, and it will come back as it has in the past. The pendulum will always swing back and forth and wrestling will always be a great base for MMA.
Wrestling participation rates have been plummeting throughout the United States there's a good chance that it ends up surviving in the strip malls of America taught as a martial art but I think we are definitely seeing it Contracting in the school system and its relevance for MMA will be diminishing as less and less athletes have access to high-quality low-cost wrestling training through the school system
One could easily argue that it was over fluffed to begin with and was simply in the right place at the right time
Just consider if we had pancrace, combat sambo or shooto in America prior to the UFC
they would be by far the most effective base for MMA
Its not style so mutch as compared to what kind of people are training in it and their sheer overwhelming numbers as compared to people who have to pay for training in Americas strip mall martial arts community
the fact is the greatest grapples and strikers will never do that good in MMA because they are over specialized in there particular disciplines whether it's wrestling, boxing, muay thai or BJJ they all have fatal flaws
MMA requires a generalist and that is something the top tier athletes in their respective sports will never be by definition
The crying shame is we don't have proper MMA training in the United States as we still continue to break it into multi discipline practice
The day I'm driving down the street in small town America and I see a SHOOTO gym will be the day Americans begin to dominate MMA
Until that day will practice
BJJ on Monday
wrestling on Tuesday
standup on Wednesday
and actually think we are MMA fighters
The only thing dumber is thinking someone who specializes in just one of those disciplines is going to be dominant in MMA
Wrestling is a good base for MMA but it's not the BEST base for MMA like people believe it is
