How much does weight matter in grappling?

LoveSherdogThisTime

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One of the most memorable moments from the trilogy between Stipe and Cormier is when Cormier showed off his strength by lifting Miocic up for a good while then slamming him to the ground. At the time, I couldn't believe it since in the first fight, Miocic completely outpowered Cormier in their grappling exchanges.

Was it because of the weight loss? Stipe weighed about 12 pounds less than how much he weighed in the first fight. Was it because he became more passive and overreactive due to the fear of getting knocked out?

Anyways this had me wondering, how much does weight matter in grappling? Do you think people in general overvalue technique too much?
 
Of course DC could slam Stipe, he slammed Barnett!

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Weight matters a lot. The extra weight comes with extra strength. Most wrestling/grappling heavy styles are about control. Harder to take down and control a bigger/stronger fighter. The size/strength advantage will neutralize the technique advantages mostly if they have decent enough technique. This is why you don't see fighters with those fighting styles moving up in weight much, you usually see striking based fighters move up to challenge bigger/stronger fighters. DC was always a HW, he just cut to LHW because of Cain. Jones moved up but took him over a decade and fought a fighter with no grappling skills. Mostly the fighters that move up or champions that try and win the belt in the division up are striking based fighters or other well rounded fighters that aren't just relying on their grappling.
 
Hong Man Choi took Fedor down multiple times with 0 wrestling skill by simply leaning on him.




With enough size/strength advantage you can overcome any amount of skill deficit. Give Art Jimmerson the size, strength and durability of a grizzly and a 10 min crash course on the basic rules and he'll win ADCC absolute gold.
 
Hong Man Choi took Fedor down multiple times with 0 wrestling skill by simply leaning on him.




With enough size/strength advantage you can overcome any amount of skill deficit. Give Art Jimmerson the size, strength and durability of a grizzly and a 10 min crash course on the basic rules and he'll win ADCC absolute gold.

How about Art Jimmerson and Fred Etish, but they're both on PCP?
 
Hong Man Choi took Fedor down multiple times with 0 wrestling skill by simply leaning on him.




With enough size/strength advantage you can overcome any amount of skill deficit. Give Art Jimmerson the size, strength and durability of a grizzly and a 10 min crash course on the basic rules and he'll win ADCC absolute gold.


There's plenty of examples of small guys taking down enormous men and athletes too though, you sound silly.

Also Hongman Choi was a fucking wrestler in Korea you goof. He was an Ssireum national champion before he switched over to MMA and K1, which is similar to Sumo.

Lastly @LoveSherdogThisTime size matters a lot in grappling, people tend to believe it matters much more than in striking.
 
If your name is Tim Boetsch, weight don't mean a thing.
 


Guys like Yoel, Bo Nickal, Satoshi Ishii and many others would be able to take down guys like Hafthor and Eddie Hall no problem. Maybe once you get to welterweights it'd get harder but I'd still wager some guys would be able to get it done. Once you get to LWs I'd be way more skeptical if dudes like Islam, Khabib, Chandler, Arman would be able to or not.
 
A lot of grapplers if they didn't have size advantage:
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When the skill levels are very different, it doesn't always matter as much but it's still a factor. I've grappled against guys who are newbs but much heavier/stronger, and they can be a handful and, if they start going apeshit, can be really dangerous. When the skill levels are about even, that extra weight is a huge factor.
 
Both guys with great technique but one weighting 50 lbs more, the one weighting more will also know how to make you carry that weight and will have a much better shot. If you are some 280 lbs slob with shit technique, your weight matters shit.

Technique and explosiveness are way more meaningful.
 
It matters a lot if there isn't a huge skill gap. There is a reason Khabib never moved up on the highest level. I also think Khamzat won't be as dominant at MW.
 
Weight matters a lot. The extra weight comes with extra strength. Most wrestling/grappling heavy styles are about control. Harder to take down and control a bigger/stronger fighter. The size/strength advantage will neutralize the technique advantages mostly if they have decent enough technique. This is why you don't see fighters with those fighting styles moving up in weight much, you usually see striking based fighters move up to challenge bigger/stronger fighters. DC was always a HW, he just cut to LHW because of Cain. Jones moved up but took him over a decade and fought a fighter with no grappling skills. Mostly the fighters that move up or champions that try and win the belt in the division up are striking based fighters or other well rounded fighters that aren't just relying on their grappling.
True. Grappling dominant fighters tend not to do well when moving up. Chris weidman and luke rockhold were big mws and could outgrapple the mws, but they couldnt at LHW.
 
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