How important is wrestling ability in No-Gi competition?

Steveston

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I would like to compete in a No-Gi competition but I wanted to know how important wrestling ability is since I don't have a wrestling background, my MMA gym offers wrestling once a week but I cannot attend that class. What do you guys say? Thanks
-UniqueSteez.
 
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pretty important. can depend on the rules though and who your opponents are. if you have never wrestled before than you are best off learning one takedown and practicing it a lot. if it doesnt work in the competition just pull guard.
 
It really depends on how you match up with the guy in front of you.

Generally, the higher level you compete at in no gi, the more important wrestling will be as a part of your skillset, but even at the very highest level, many guys are still pretty mediocre wrestlers.
 
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I might get slammed for this, but i'm gonna disagree with most people here and say it's not really super important.

You can always pull guard, especially if there is no penalty for doing so.

Of course I would recommend you get good at wrestling and there is a lot of cross over, both standing and on the ground. Doing both will make you a far better grappler, but is not necessary to compete.
 
I might get slammed for this, but i'm gonna disagree with most people here and say it's not really super important.

You can always pull guard, especially if there is no penalty for doing so.

Of course I would recommend you get good at wrestling and there is a lot of cross over, both standing and on the ground. Doing both will make you a far better grappler, but is not necessary to compete.
Thank you for the advice I appreciate it.
 
From a practical standpoint, you better either have good wrestling or a really good guard, because if you aren't able to wrestle you almost have to pull guard.

There are a number of effective meta games for no-gi, one of them is top heavy wrestler, another is guard pulling leg locker (you can certainly also look for sweeps from guard). If you aren't very good at wrestling and you want to win matches, especially under ADCC rules, you might start working on your leg locking.
 
From a practical standpoint, you better either have good wrestling or a really good guard, because if you aren't able to wrestle you almost have to pull guard.

There are a number of effective meta games for no-gi, one of them is top heavy wrestler, another is guard pulling leg locker (you can certainly also look for sweeps from guard). If you aren't very good at wrestling and you want to win matches, especially under ADCC rules, you might start working on your leg locking.

This is a far better description of what I was trying to say.
 
In all my nogi matches in the heavyweight and superheavyweight division, a recurring them has been that if I pull guard, I lose. And my guard is one of my better areas - it's just that in a nogi situation you have less control on the bottom without gi grips, guys are sweaty, and in most cases the rules don't allow the best leg lock attacks.

This could be a factor in my weight division - bigger guys are tougher to sweep and naturally spend more time on top so work their passing more. But every time I've wrestled and tried to stay on my feet, I've won. Either they pull guard, I sprawl on them, or I take them down and pass to an advantageous position.

Funnily enough in the gi it's the opposite - my win record is better when I pull guard with some solid grips. Only been training 5 years so there are still holes in my game though, YMMV.
 
I would like to compete in a No-Gi competition but I wanted to know how important wrestling ability is since I don't have a wrestling background, my MMA gym offers wrestling once a week but I cannot attend that class. What do you guys say? Thanks
-UniqueSteez.

Depends on how good your guard is.
If it's excellent you would have just sat on your butt anyway.
If it's crap wrestling is important.
It's also helpful to be able to connect sweeps to takedowns.
 
how many wrestlers have won prestigious no gi grappling comps compared to those with a base in a submission grappling art?
 
how many wrestlers have won prestigious no gi grappling comps compared to those with a base in a submission grappling art?

All of them, since if they cross train, that makes them wrestlers /logic.
 
most people cross train, looking at last adcc results its fair to say cobrinha is the only one who doesnt cross train in wrestling, so didnt rafa, resulting in a match of 2 guys refusing to pull guard :eek:
 
yes people cross train so they are equal at wrestling as they are bjj
 
Completely depends on the rules and your game. If you're a guard puller and there's no penalty for pulling guard, then it's only about as important as your Judo is for a gi match.

Keep in mind, it's also very useful for finishing certain sweeps, but aside from that I wouldn't let it stop me from entering a tournament.
 
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