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When we discuss “anti-wrestlers” in MMA, what typically comes to mind are fighters who neutralize offensive wrestling with their footwork and distance management. Some of them, like Jose Aldo, are excellent defensive wrestlers whose lateral movement compliments a strong defensive wrestling game, allowing them to comfortably chip away at elite wrestlers in the pocket. Others like Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson are relatively poor defensive wrestlers who compensate with distance, denying entries into the takedown by remaining far away and constantly taking angles.
Shamil Musaev is an up and coming Dagestani fighter who has looked dominant against solid competition, making his way to the finals of PFL’s Welterweight tournament with wins over previously undefeated Murad Ramazanov and four-time All American wrestler, Logan Storley. Musaev is the Sanda type of Dagestani rather than the wrestling type, but he’s looked flawless in shutting down the elite wrestling of Ramazanov and Storley.
Musaev is another in a long and ever-growing line of Sanda converts to MMA, but he’s poised to be one of the most successful. In 2012, Musaev won a gold medal in Sanda at the Junior Wushu World Championships, forecasting his potential in the sport. He would later win the Russian National Championship, but he doesn’t appear to have been selected to compete at the Wushu World Championships at any point despite his place on the Russian national team. Given how consistently Russia wins medals at the world championships, if he’d stuck with the sport he likely would have ended up a medal hopeful, but a full time MMA conversion put those dreams to rest.
Musaev is an interesting sort of anti-wrestler who meets takedowns head on with strength and impressive defensive wrestling rather than strictly through distance. But his Sanda background also gives him some unique tricks on the feet that make him a nightmare for wrestlers to deal with.
Like most Russian Sanda fighters, Musaev likes to set up an extra step outside jabbing range and lure opponents onto him, working with first-layer counters and mid-range mixups. He’s not strictly an outfighter however - he’ll give ground and circle away when pushed, but he’s also comfortable standing his ground and making aggressive opponents work for their space.
The ability and willingness to stand one’s ground is a great benefit against the aggressive cage-wrestlers that proliferate in today’s MMA. Many of the sport’s top wrestlers no longer pursue takedowns in open space very hard, instead looking to keep their man on his heels and corral him to the perimeter. Once there, they can shoot in on the hips, even if it’s not a clean entry, and let momentum do the work of pushing him to the cage where they can either take advantage of the rebound action with an immediate takedown, or hold him in place while they remain free to chain together takedown attempts.
But a short bit of distance on the initial entry makes a lot of difference. If you’re caught on your heels near the cage with no ground left to give, you end up hitting the cage off balance, unable to immediately fight for grips or activate your hips. If the wrestler can get their preferred grips on the entry, it can make defending the takedown almost impossible.
By forcing opponents to take more shots in open space, Musaev gives himself room to stop their momentum and put himself in a better position to start defending the takedown once he hits the cage:
Ramazanov shoots from far away in open space. He manages to snatch a leg, but Musaev hops back, drops his hips, and meets him with a cross-face that stop his forward momentum. Now instead of plowing straight into the cage, Ramazanov has to bear Musaev’s weight and slowly build his base back up. Musaev’s back hits the cage gently, with enough space and time to fight Ramazanov’s left hand at the wrist or take an underhook before he’s established strong grips that he can immediately turn into a takedown.
If a wrestler is struggling to get close enough to the cage for a comfortable shot, the obvious solution is to stick a few punches behind their shot to distract and back their man up. But Musaev has proven able to deal with that well too:
It’s difficult to circle past a takedown attempt while cornered, but opening up with strikes always leaves some room to slip out the side or underneath. Musaev will quickly flash his guard up before circling out, at the same time dropping his hands to downblock and intercept the takedown attempt. The downblock once again halts their momentum and creates a barrier before they reach his hips, giving him separation or at least a strong grip to work from in defending further attempts.
Most of the strong wrestlers Musaev has faced so far have been poor strikers, so a more well-rounded fighter might be able to work their way in methodically and create better openings onto his hips. But at the same time, a more methodical approach gives Musaev time and space to work with his striking as well, and once a wrestler has his back on the cage, he has excellent defensive instincts in extended wrestling exchanges.
But before we look more at the intricacies of Musaev’s takedown defense in layered exchanges, let’s take a look at how his unique striking form prevents wrestlers from creating strong opportunities in the first place.
It presents an uncomfortable dilemma for strikers worried about their opponent’s takedowns. On one hand they want to get their hurting strikes off quickly to threaten the wrestler and make him hesitate, but on the other hand, every time they do it leaves them open to a shot. Ronda Rousey made a career off exploiting this dynamic - she would point her lead hand straight out and wait for her opponent’s wide right to fall on her shoulder to enter the clinch. When they flicked out a jab or lead hook she’d often look confused or helpless, but her foes could never stay disciplined for long before trying to bonk her with a big right hand.
Shamil Musaev has an interesting solution to the problem - he rarely bothers sitting down on his rear hand, and when he does he makes sure to be sneaky about it.
Musaev is an interesting sort of striker in that he does most of his hurting work with his lead hand and from outside the pocket. Most lead hand-heavy fighters are big pocket punchers who get low and throw their weight behind the left hook, but that doesn’t mesh well with Musaev’s Sanda background, as Sanda is a very transition-heavy art without lots of extended pocket exchanges.
His rear hand is mostly used for feinting and setup work. Instead, his money punch is the leaping lead hook, fired while hopping in from just outside the pocket:
Musaev usually covers his entry by flashing his right hand, distracting his opponent and loading his weight onto his lead hip to spring into the hook. Feinting the rear hand often gets his man giving ground and he can adjust the distance he takes with the hop to track them.
The dynamic of feinting a shorter rear strike and springing into a longer lead punch is one that will catch a lot of fighters by surprise. In MMA, many are used to seeing the opponent’s rear hand as the longest power punch they have to worry about, and the typical finisher to a combination, as MMA fighters are wont to throw themselves off balance into the rear hand power shot. Pat Curran used to exploit this often by using his rear hand to close distance into a jab, and opponents would always look surprised that he was still on them after his right hand fell short.
It seems like the committed leap on his lead hook would expose Musaev to reactive takedowns, but it ends up being a good deal safer than stepping into a hard rear hand. A big problem with the long rear hand is that it’s easy to let the weight fall forward of the lead foot, which almost guarantees an easy takedown on a well-timed level change, as the weight is stuck too far forward to recover the hips in time.
The front-to-back weight transfer of the leaping hook prevents the hips and shoulders from squaring and exposing an easy double. The natural motion of the strike also keeps the weight centered, leaving one in a strong position to start recovering their weight, especially since the bounce in coils the lead leg to spring back out if a takedown is sensed. Try it out yourself and you’ll note that it’s actually pretty hard to throw this strike without ending up in decent position to move in any direction - if you try to throw your weight past your lead foot or lean it back over your rear foot while hopping in, it just feels awkward and unnatural.
Here Ramazanov times a takedown underneath the hook, but it’s no problem for Musaev who lands in position to spring backwards and get his hands and hips in front of the shot. The leaping hook does put the attacker in range for a takedown attempt, but remember, Musaev isn’t the type of anti-wrestler who looks to deny the conditions for a shot in the first place. Instead, he wants to force wrestlers to shoot on him while he’s in strong position to stop them so he can beat them up in response. And that’s exactly what he does here, using his hips to halt the momentum and a whizzer to pull him to an upper body clinch where he can keep beating Ramazanov up while he fruitlessly pursues the takedown.
Wrestlers often look for back-to-front weight transfer to time their takedowns so they can catch the hips squaring. Musaev rarely gives them those clean weight transfers to time, but his right hand feints draw them into taking poor shots that he can punish:
Musaev shows the right hand from in close where it’s an immediate threat, and Ramazanov responds by covering up and ducking in on the hips. But it was only a feint and Musaev blasts him with a short lead hook on the way in. He anticipates Ramazanov ducking in and throws the hook short with a tight elbow, which gets his hooking arm in between himself and Ramazanov and turns it right into a downblock that stops him from getting chest to chest.
The most consistent hurting shot off Musaev’s rear hand is his uppercut. The rear uppercut functions mostly to punish level changes in Musaev’s game. Rear uppercuts have several distinct advantages against wrestlers that the straight or overhand lacks. The upward trajectory threatens to create a hard collision with anyone ducking onto it, training opponents to be wary of shooting either through smacking them in the face, or a near whiff that carries the promise of future collisions. The weight need not be thrown forward to land it, and the elbow remains tight to the ribs, which means it can be easily converted into a downblock or underhook if the opponent times a shot.
Shamil Musaev is an up and coming Dagestani fighter who has looked dominant against solid competition, making his way to the finals of PFL’s Welterweight tournament with wins over previously undefeated Murad Ramazanov and four-time All American wrestler, Logan Storley. Musaev is the Sanda type of Dagestani rather than the wrestling type, but he’s looked flawless in shutting down the elite wrestling of Ramazanov and Storley.
Musaev is another in a long and ever-growing line of Sanda converts to MMA, but he’s poised to be one of the most successful. In 2012, Musaev won a gold medal in Sanda at the Junior Wushu World Championships, forecasting his potential in the sport. He would later win the Russian National Championship, but he doesn’t appear to have been selected to compete at the Wushu World Championships at any point despite his place on the Russian national team. Given how consistently Russia wins medals at the world championships, if he’d stuck with the sport he likely would have ended up a medal hopeful, but a full time MMA conversion put those dreams to rest.
Musaev is an interesting sort of anti-wrestler who meets takedowns head on with strength and impressive defensive wrestling rather than strictly through distance. But his Sanda background also gives him some unique tricks on the feet that make him a nightmare for wrestlers to deal with.
Like most Russian Sanda fighters, Musaev likes to set up an extra step outside jabbing range and lure opponents onto him, working with first-layer counters and mid-range mixups. He’s not strictly an outfighter however - he’ll give ground and circle away when pushed, but he’s also comfortable standing his ground and making aggressive opponents work for their space.
The ability and willingness to stand one’s ground is a great benefit against the aggressive cage-wrestlers that proliferate in today’s MMA. Many of the sport’s top wrestlers no longer pursue takedowns in open space very hard, instead looking to keep their man on his heels and corral him to the perimeter. Once there, they can shoot in on the hips, even if it’s not a clean entry, and let momentum do the work of pushing him to the cage where they can either take advantage of the rebound action with an immediate takedown, or hold him in place while they remain free to chain together takedown attempts.
But a short bit of distance on the initial entry makes a lot of difference. If you’re caught on your heels near the cage with no ground left to give, you end up hitting the cage off balance, unable to immediately fight for grips or activate your hips. If the wrestler can get their preferred grips on the entry, it can make defending the takedown almost impossible.
By forcing opponents to take more shots in open space, Musaev gives himself room to stop their momentum and put himself in a better position to start defending the takedown once he hits the cage:
Ramazanov shoots from far away in open space. He manages to snatch a leg, but Musaev hops back, drops his hips, and meets him with a cross-face that stop his forward momentum. Now instead of plowing straight into the cage, Ramazanov has to bear Musaev’s weight and slowly build his base back up. Musaev’s back hits the cage gently, with enough space and time to fight Ramazanov’s left hand at the wrist or take an underhook before he’s established strong grips that he can immediately turn into a takedown.
If a wrestler is struggling to get close enough to the cage for a comfortable shot, the obvious solution is to stick a few punches behind their shot to distract and back their man up. But Musaev has proven able to deal with that well too:
It’s difficult to circle past a takedown attempt while cornered, but opening up with strikes always leaves some room to slip out the side or underneath. Musaev will quickly flash his guard up before circling out, at the same time dropping his hands to downblock and intercept the takedown attempt. The downblock once again halts their momentum and creates a barrier before they reach his hips, giving him separation or at least a strong grip to work from in defending further attempts.
Most of the strong wrestlers Musaev has faced so far have been poor strikers, so a more well-rounded fighter might be able to work their way in methodically and create better openings onto his hips. But at the same time, a more methodical approach gives Musaev time and space to work with his striking as well, and once a wrestler has his back on the cage, he has excellent defensive instincts in extended wrestling exchanges.
But before we look more at the intricacies of Musaev’s takedown defense in layered exchanges, let’s take a look at how his unique striking form prevents wrestlers from creating strong opportunities in the first place.
Shot Selection
A committed rear hand is probably the easiest trigger for a wrestler looking to shoot in on the hips. Working behind the lead hand keeps the hips and shoulders bladed, making it harder to find a clean double leg, but sitting down on the rear hand squares them right up. If a wrestler can time the hips squaring up with their level change, the entry comes easy and the takedown practically finishes itself.It presents an uncomfortable dilemma for strikers worried about their opponent’s takedowns. On one hand they want to get their hurting strikes off quickly to threaten the wrestler and make him hesitate, but on the other hand, every time they do it leaves them open to a shot. Ronda Rousey made a career off exploiting this dynamic - she would point her lead hand straight out and wait for her opponent’s wide right to fall on her shoulder to enter the clinch. When they flicked out a jab or lead hook she’d often look confused or helpless, but her foes could never stay disciplined for long before trying to bonk her with a big right hand.
Shamil Musaev has an interesting solution to the problem - he rarely bothers sitting down on his rear hand, and when he does he makes sure to be sneaky about it.
Musaev is an interesting sort of striker in that he does most of his hurting work with his lead hand and from outside the pocket. Most lead hand-heavy fighters are big pocket punchers who get low and throw their weight behind the left hook, but that doesn’t mesh well with Musaev’s Sanda background, as Sanda is a very transition-heavy art without lots of extended pocket exchanges.
His rear hand is mostly used for feinting and setup work. Instead, his money punch is the leaping lead hook, fired while hopping in from just outside the pocket:
Musaev usually covers his entry by flashing his right hand, distracting his opponent and loading his weight onto his lead hip to spring into the hook. Feinting the rear hand often gets his man giving ground and he can adjust the distance he takes with the hop to track them.
The dynamic of feinting a shorter rear strike and springing into a longer lead punch is one that will catch a lot of fighters by surprise. In MMA, many are used to seeing the opponent’s rear hand as the longest power punch they have to worry about, and the typical finisher to a combination, as MMA fighters are wont to throw themselves off balance into the rear hand power shot. Pat Curran used to exploit this often by using his rear hand to close distance into a jab, and opponents would always look surprised that he was still on them after his right hand fell short.
It seems like the committed leap on his lead hook would expose Musaev to reactive takedowns, but it ends up being a good deal safer than stepping into a hard rear hand. A big problem with the long rear hand is that it’s easy to let the weight fall forward of the lead foot, which almost guarantees an easy takedown on a well-timed level change, as the weight is stuck too far forward to recover the hips in time.
The front-to-back weight transfer of the leaping hook prevents the hips and shoulders from squaring and exposing an easy double. The natural motion of the strike also keeps the weight centered, leaving one in a strong position to start recovering their weight, especially since the bounce in coils the lead leg to spring back out if a takedown is sensed. Try it out yourself and you’ll note that it’s actually pretty hard to throw this strike without ending up in decent position to move in any direction - if you try to throw your weight past your lead foot or lean it back over your rear foot while hopping in, it just feels awkward and unnatural.
Here Ramazanov times a takedown underneath the hook, but it’s no problem for Musaev who lands in position to spring backwards and get his hands and hips in front of the shot. The leaping hook does put the attacker in range for a takedown attempt, but remember, Musaev isn’t the type of anti-wrestler who looks to deny the conditions for a shot in the first place. Instead, he wants to force wrestlers to shoot on him while he’s in strong position to stop them so he can beat them up in response. And that’s exactly what he does here, using his hips to halt the momentum and a whizzer to pull him to an upper body clinch where he can keep beating Ramazanov up while he fruitlessly pursues the takedown.
Wrestlers often look for back-to-front weight transfer to time their takedowns so they can catch the hips squaring. Musaev rarely gives them those clean weight transfers to time, but his right hand feints draw them into taking poor shots that he can punish:
Musaev shows the right hand from in close where it’s an immediate threat, and Ramazanov responds by covering up and ducking in on the hips. But it was only a feint and Musaev blasts him with a short lead hook on the way in. He anticipates Ramazanov ducking in and throws the hook short with a tight elbow, which gets his hooking arm in between himself and Ramazanov and turns it right into a downblock that stops him from getting chest to chest.
The most consistent hurting shot off Musaev’s rear hand is his uppercut. The rear uppercut functions mostly to punish level changes in Musaev’s game. Rear uppercuts have several distinct advantages against wrestlers that the straight or overhand lacks. The upward trajectory threatens to create a hard collision with anyone ducking onto it, training opponents to be wary of shooting either through smacking them in the face, or a near whiff that carries the promise of future collisions. The weight need not be thrown forward to land it, and the elbow remains tight to the ribs, which means it can be easily converted into a downblock or underhook if the opponent times a shot.
