The narrative that Ankalaev is a Great Wrestler

[Lord Pyjamas]

To play devils advocate Jan was taken down by ease by old man Glover, and controlled on the ground by out of prime Luke for a entire round, and Rakic had 4 minutes of control time against Jan

I would not call Jan agile on the ground, more of a hammer there.
Poatan has better physical tools to be agile and scramble from the ground with his only purpose being to get up.
That goes a long way when wrestling and great job playing the devils advocate.

 

[Chael_Sonnen]

To play devils advocate Jan was taken down by ease by old man Glover, and controlled on the ground by out of prime Luke for a entire round, and Rakic had 4 minutes of control time against Jan

I don't think Luke got him down though? I remember Luke trying really hard to get him down and failing, and then getting KO'd. But I agree with your point, that Jan is pretty not great on the ground.

 

[Portland8242]

He doesn't grapple cause he usually beats everyone's ass on the feet.

 

[Domitian]

He's a decent wrestler, Alex is a terrible wrestler.

Alex's TDD isn't the worst ever or anything. His opponents are a combined 9/30 on TD attempts against him in his time in the UFC.

 

[orca]

He controlled Jan pretty well in those last 2 rounds & no doubt could do the same to Alex Pereira if he had to.

the same jan who controlled pereira and had a very close fight with pereira

 

[orca]

Alex's TDD isn't the worst ever or anything. His opponents are a combined 9/30 on TD attempts against him in his time in the UFC.

jan and izzy the only fighters who tried to take him down and they took him down

 

[Domitian]

jan and izzy the only fighters who tried to take him down and they took him down

You can look this stuff up pretty easily

Michailidis 2/7
Bruno Silva 2/8
Strickland none
Israel first fight 1/4
Israel second fight none
Jan 3/8
Jiri first fight 1/3
Hill none
Jiri second fight none

70% TD Def

Stats | UFC

 

[BowserJr]

If Ankalev is the best wrestler at LHW right now what would guys like Couture, Hendo, Rashad, Tito, Arona, Randleman do to these guys. Heck even Phil Davis and Bader would wreck ship

No wonder DC dominated with ease... I was never a fan of wall n stall or lay n pray but divisions are far less interesting when there is no style diversity

 

[omawho402]

The narrative isn't really that he is a super duper rassler. The narrative is that he most likely has competent wrestling and that could easily be enough to spell disaster for a guy like Poatan.

People are so dramatic, I'm glad you made this post. The key word being competent. Plus, being from Dagestan I'd have to assume he at least knows a little bit.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

Yeah his TD% is 31 lol. Definitely overhyped, although his striking is underrated so it balances out quite well

If you have strong top control which he does 31% is pretty good. I'm pretty sure DC who's know as a great wrestler only has like 40%

 

[SamuraiBro]

I’d say he’s decent, but not as good as the others from that region

 

[Doctor Grudge]

jan and izzy the only fighters who tried to take him down and they took him down

That isn't true lol. Talk about selective memory.

Even just thinking about it logically, it would be highly unlikely. Hm...Glory double champ with nuclear hooks and kicks, but bad ground game - yeah, no one thought to take him down.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

If you have strong top control which he does 31% is pretty good. I'm pretty sure DC who's know as a great wrestler only has like 40%

40% is quite a bit better, and DC has fought more fighters with wrestling backgrounds. Cormier also spent most of his career fighting bigger men at heavyweight.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

If Ankalev is the best wrestler at LHW right now what would guys like Couture, Hendo, Rashad, Tito, Arona, Randleman do to these guys. Heck even Phil Davis and Bader would wreck ship

No wonder DC dominated with ease... I was never a fan of wall n stall or lay n pray but divisions are far less interesting when there is no style diversity

I like how you say "heck even" as if Phil Davis wouldn't turn half those guys into pretzels in terms of wrestling. Literally the only thing he was good at.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

40% is quite a bit better, and DC has fought more fighters with wrestling backgrounds. Cormier also spent most of his career fighting bigger men at heavyweight.

My point is a takedown success rate of 30% or more is actually good. It's not like TDD where you have to have like 70ish% or better for it to be considered good. Getting takedowns is much harder than defending them so if you can get close to 1 out of every 3 you are doing well unless your top control sucks then it can be a problem.

 

[BabyBlue_Bomber]

Don’t know…

But his striking is mainly what got him where he is…

 

[Chagaev]

He's not a great wrestler and doesn't have an iron chin either. That's why a fight with Pereira would be interesting.

 

[bng]

if Uncle Cry'ev was a great wrestler he would've gone pro

 

[Istryker]

You can look this stuff up pretty easily

Michailidis 2/7
Bruno Silva 2/8
Strickland none
Israel first fight 1/4
Israel second fight none
Jan 3/8
Jiri first fight 1/3
Hill none
Jiri second fight none

70% TD Def

Stats | UFC

Lot of strikers..

 

[Istryker]

If Ankalev is the best wrestler at LHW right now what would guys like Couture, Hendo, Rashad, Tito, Arona, Randleman do to these guys. Heck even Phil Davis and Bader would wreck ship

No wonder DC dominated with ease... I was never a fan of wall n stall or lay n pray but divisions are far less interesting when there is no style diversity

You're vastly underrating ankalevs wrestling and skills