Can we stop shitting on wrestlers now?

[popac]

I think this will be skewed by the effectiveness of a martial art. For example, kung fu is a common fighting style and given the many kung fu vs mma/boxing freak show fights in China, I'd reckon a lot of kung fu practitioners will want to make the ufc. However, judging by how the freak show fights go, I don't think you can judge kung fu as super effective just given on the few people with the background who have made it.

I’m not sure you get what I mean. Suppose most UFC fighters have some wrestling background. Is it surprising that most UFC champions also have some wrestling background? Perhaps having a wrestling base is good for MMA fighters, so there are lots of wrestlers in the UFC. But then, *perhaps*, the proportion of wrestlers among UFC champions is not much different than the proportion of wrestlers among UFC fighters

To your point, if Kung Fu is garbage even at the highest levels (not just at freak shows), and somebody can become a UFC champion whilst relying primarily on kung fu, I’d count that as very surprising tbh

 

[Iroh]

People are gonna shit on everything here. Asking them to stop has never proven effective.

 

[SuperAlly]

The fighting style that produced the most champions by far. It would be nice to see how many came from a NCAA background. View attachment 874654

Edit:
https://mmasucka.com/2019/05/02/folkstyle-wrestling-ufc-champions/
Another estimation involving select wrestlers that wrestled in high school and all ncaa wrestlers. The final number is 33 champions (more than the number on the graph)

I thought Machida was also Karate?

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

Of course he has integrated wrestling into his skillset, but that doesn't make him a wrestler as you said before
His base and primary style is his karate kick boxing, although he did mix in some great TD in his fight with Gastelum

So he wrestles but he's not a wrestler, right. Agreed his base is that karate sort of style, but guys do evolve. GSP is one of the greatest MMA wrestlers of all time but his base is karate as well.

 

[TerryBogard]

Wrestling is by far the best martial arts.