Which style of wrestling do you guys do? I was watching some highlights of freestyle wrestling and man are those guys unreal. If I did freestyle id for sure break my neck.:icon_sad: I noticed alot of MMA guys came from greco roman backgrounds such as Lindland, Henderson and Couture. Anybody come from freestyle wrestling backgrounds? And which style would you say is better suited for MMA?
I would say Greco works more for MMA (a lot of clinch work against the cage), as freestyle is just an evolved form of folkstyle (amateur) with different scoring, and an appreciation for back exposure, rather than control. Folkstyle is geared towards controlling the opponent, freestyle gives out points for any exposure of the shoulders past 90 degrees to the mat (folk is 45 degrees).
Both are well suited for MMA. Wrestling is wrestling, the only difference is the rules. Most high level collegiate wrestlers compete in freestyle and greco in the offseason to expand their game. The fighters you listed are all excellent wrestlers and I'm sure competed in all three forms of wrestling throughout their wrestling careers. As far as solely freestyle wrestlers or people known for their freestyle; Coleman, Randleman, Kid Yamamoto, Mark Kerr, and several others I'm sure I'm forgetting.
Personally, I hate greco since you aren't allowed to use your legs at all. Freestyle has much less strict rules and is more approachable in my opinion.
