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Dagestani Striking
- Thread starter BJJ4Tone
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I've always knew that...however, I'm not a usual sherbro, since I know what Dagestan is actually like. The fighting culture there is like nowhere else in the world, there is a combat school of some sort on every corner, and every male kid is enrolled or fighting on the streets.
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I've commented before on the threat of wrestling-based striking. In the early days, guys like Randleman or Couture could land strikes because their opponents were unable to defend and negate the takedown threat. Mostly, these wrestlers used striking to effect a takedown.
Today, most top-tier strikers are able to do both quite well. But the elite wrestlers and grapplers (especially coming from Dagestan) have evolved the wrestling-based striking again. Rather than simply using striking to get the takedown, they are using a takedown threat to set and and execute fight-ending strikes.
Today, most top-tier strikers are able to do both quite well. But the elite wrestlers and grapplers (especially coming from Dagestan) have evolved the wrestling-based striking again. Rather than simply using striking to get the takedown, they are using a takedown threat to set and and execute fight-ending strikes.
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I would favor Usman Nurmagomedov over both in a pure striking match
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Much better I agree.
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Yeah, if he and Usman are best friends, I'm sure he's on the same path. Already a belt-holder at age 24.
But the most important thing...
Championship hairline.
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Correct.
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Umar Nurmagomedov and Zabit definitely come to mind -- they for sure have a style that somewhat goes along with some of them; very aggressive and dynamic; not afraid to stand in the pocket, especially if it's going to set up a level change entry to a takedown. I personally love it -- a bit sloppy at times, but very fun to watch and a lot of success from some of them. I've also noticed for the more "spin shit" types that it sometimes depletes their gas tank.I think for most people, when they hear or see "Dagestan", they think wrestling. And rightfully so, as Dagestan has produced some of the best freestyle wrestlers and MMA wrestlers of all-time. And definitely the highest concentration of all-time-great wrestlers, considering what a tiny area it is.
But I feel like more attention should be paid to Dagestani striking.
There are a lot of guys from Dagestan with above-average-to-elite striking.
Between Islam and Khabib, they out-struck Edson Barboza, Conor McGregor, Charles Oliveira and Alexander Volkanovski, all of whom are considered to be among the best strikers ever. (Sure, Khabib's striking was ugly as fuck, but it was very effective (largely because of the pressure he used and because of the constant threat of the takedown)).
But guys like Umar Nurmagomedov, Zabit Magomedsharipov, Muslim Salikhov, Magomed Ankalaev, Shara Bullet, etc. all have very good striking. Much better than the average UFC/Bellator fighter.
Usman Nurmagomedov has some of the best striking I've ever seen. His speed, timing, flexibility and insticts are unreal.
Is it time to change the narrative about what Dagestanis only being wrestlers?
TL;DR
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Those guys will fight anyone anywhere. Like they'll even attack a bunch of people getting off of a plane at the airport !
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They think wrestling when they hear or see "Dagestan" in MMA simply because the most famous fighters from there were trained by Khabib's dad, who specialized in wrestling. There's an equal number of non wrestlers from there though. It's a good area for pretty much all martial arts.
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It's like a striking version of Sambo. They're wearing TKD clothes, founded by Karate guys, but they compete in Sanda.
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Yeah. I've seen sanda before, and what I was saying is that these dagestani guys have a striking style that reminds me a lot of sanda.
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Sambo it's Wrestling with sub + Striking Sambo Guys are tough standing and in Grappling.
People fall in Love with Sambo Grappling and forget they are scary strikers.
Maybe they're not at the level of a Kickboxing champion standing, but Sambo fighters have good striking.
Sambo train everything since childhood.
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zabit has been training kung fu since he was a kid, cannot remember if it was wushu or something else but i think there is a short documentary about it. the idea that dagestan is priomarily wrestling/grappling is not true, there seem to be alot of striking arts. russian boxing is of course also incorporated in some of these fighters.
you cannot compare a chael sonnen striking vs what the dagestani's do......the level of ignorance of some of the previous posters before you that only point to 'the threat of the takedown' is mind boggling.
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Sambo it's Wrestling with sub + Striking Sambo Guys are tough standing and in Grappling.
People fall in Love with Sambo Grappling and forget they are scary strikers.
Maybe they're not at the level of a Kickboxing champion standing, but Sambo fighters have good striking.
Sambo train everything since childhood.
Yeah Sambo basically seems like amateur MMA to me, so it's no surprise it's the best base for MMA.
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Sambo it's Wrestling with sub + Striking Sambo Guys are tough standing and in Grappling.
People fall in Love with Sambo Grappling and forget they are scary strikers.
Maybe they're not at the level of a Kickboxing champion standing, but Sambo fighters have good striking.
Sambo train everything since childhood.
No.
When you say "sambo", you're talking about combat sambo.
Combat sambo is like MMA, but even fewer rules (soccer kicks, headbutts, low blows, etc, all legal).
It's not a style of its own, per se (although combinations that are unique to combat sambo have developed over the years).
It's a ruleset in which different styles compete, as is MMA.
Khabib & company were wrestling specialists (with a lot of judo influence) who competed in dozens of combat sambo matches. They were not good strikers, hence why they went to AKA to improve.
Fedor, despite also being a combat sambo fighter, had a completely different style than the above mentioned because his base was different.
The styles go on and on, differing a lot.
What is helpful about combat sambo in MMA is not that it's a style of its own that they all train from childhood... It's that it's a ruleset that gives them a lot of experience in MMA type contests before they ever step foot in MMA itself.
