UFC needs to start having mandatory wrestling classes for all fighters

[ShaggyDoyle]

It seems once you have a strong wrestling base, you have a very high chance to dominate the division. We saw this first hand with Jon Jones.

Now we are seeing Merab, Islam, Khamzat and many other wresters completely dominating the division. Some utilizing lay and pray + love taps to get easy wins over fighters that are mostly strikers.

This has ultimately made many fights subjectively boring to most fans and for wrestlers to just take the fight to the ground for easy wins over strikers. Thus, resulting in less exciting K.O. finisher fights. If the UFC wants to mitigate wrester's dominants, they need to make wrestling a mandatory part of all fighter's training or for the very least employ Pereria's strategy of having strong take down defense to force wrestlers to stand and bang.

 

[Tito Tapped]

Any UFC fighter on the roster has full access to the Performance Institute. They can go take all the wrestling classes they want.

 

[deman]

They need to start calling more rounds draws. If you're holding somebody down with minimum damage, that's a stalemate. You're not winning the "fight".

 

[Zanmato]

They need to start calling more rounds draws. If you're holding somebody down with minimum damage, that's a stalemate. You're not winning the "fight".

If you had ever been underneath a wrestler trying to get out but unable to do so I don't think you'd say you weren't in a fight. It's absolutely brutal and demoralising. JDM looked like a kid that was in trouble, waiting for his dad to get home and just heard the door opening. He was mentally devastated

 

[DrRodentia]

I'm fairly certain that any serious fighter in 2025 understands the importance of wrestling and trains it extensively.

Doesn't mean that there aren't going to be guys that have been doing it there whole lives and that there is sometimes a skill gap that is near impossible to close.

 

[deman]

If you had ever been underneath a wrestler trying to get out but unable to do so I don't think you'd say you weren't in a fight. It's absolutely brutal and demoralising. JDM looked like a kid that was in trouble, waiting for his dad to get home and just heard the door opening. He was mentally devastated

Running a marathon is brutal, demoralising and tiring too. We still dont call it a fight because it isnt.

 

[DrRodentia]

They need to start calling more rounds draws. If you're holding somebody down with minimum damage, that's a stalemate. You're not winning the "fight".

How do you not give the edge to the person forcing their opponent into a position where they literally can't do anything? Why would you reward the person being physically dominated in any way? How is taking away all of the offensive weapons of your opponent not favorable in a fight, regardless of excitement for the viewer?

 

[Zanmato]

Running a marathon is brutal, demoralising and tiring too. We still dont call it a fight because it isnt.

Because you are straining against your own efforts, not fighting against the efforts of another man, which is what makes it a fight

 

[DrRodentia]

Running a marathon is brutal, demoralising and tiring too. We still dont call it a fight because it isnt.

This is a false equivalency, but what if another person forced you to run a brutal, demoralising marathon? And you had no choice in the matter, because you had no way to stop it from happening. Running a marathon is a choice; being forced by another person to go through those feelings is not. That's the fight part.

 

[deman]

How do you not give the edge to the person forcing their opponent into a position where they literally can't do anything? Why would you reward the person being physically dominated in any way? How is taking away all of the offensive weapons of your opponent not favorable in a fight, regardless of excitement for the viewer?

Because you're not competing in the spirit intended. You're doing it to restrain and subdue him, not beat him up. Yeah, the opponent is tired but so are you. It's a defensive tactic and a stalemate in that sense.

 

[deman]

This is a false equivalency, but what if another person forced you to run a brutal, demoralising marathon? And you had no choice in the matter, because you had no way to stop it from happening. Running a marathon is a choice; being forced by another person to go through those feelings is not. That's the fight part.

The other guy is running the marathon too. He's too tired too. The fact he's initiating it is neither here nor there. If anything, it should count against him because he's actively trying to avoid a fight.

 

[DrRodentia]

The other guy is running the marathon too. He's too tired too. The fact he's initiating it is neither here nor there. If anything, it should count against him because he's actively trying to avoid a fight.

MMA at its core is supposed to be the most realistic representation of fighting and self defense. Restraint without taking damage, in real life, is just about the best example of self defense in a fight situation that there is. You don't restrain someone in real life and come out unharmed walking away feeling like a loser.

I'm not saying it's exciting to watch, but I am saying that it's on the person being restrained to fight his way back to having the advantage.

 

[deman]

MMA at its core is supposed to be the most realistic representation of fighting and self defense. Restraint without taking damage, in real life, is just about the best example of self defense in a fight situation that there is. You don't restrain someone in real life and come out unharmed walking away feeling like a loser.

I'm not saying it's exciting to watch, but I am saying that it's on the person being restrained to fight his way back to having the advantage.

See a lot of real world fights that look like this, do you? They dont even look like this when trained MMA fighters clash in the outside World. A matted octagon lends its to this very UNREALISTIC fighting style where u can dive for a single leg and scramble around on the floor in a manner that would blow your knees out in a real environment

 

[Clark Rogers]

Think you meant mitigate dominance, bro.

You don't mitigate 'dominants.' I'm just saying.

 

[DrRodentia]

See a lot of real world fights that look like this, do you? They dont even look like this when trained MMA fighters clash in the outside World. A matted octagon lends its to this very UNREALISTIC fighting style where u can dive for a single leg and scramble around on the floor in a manner that would blow your knees out in a real environment

No I don't. In MMA I see very high skilled guys doing stuff on a mat, as you say. It's an unrealistic situation; a simulation in a controlled environment.

But in real life I've certainly seen guys get controlled and restrained and demoralized, though. That happens all of the time. Nobody sees those situations and thinks those altercations were a stalemate.

 

[ShaggyDoyle]

Any UFC fighter on the roster has full access to the Performance Institute. They can go take all the wrestling classes they want.

The Dagestani fighters are grappling everyday, while a lot of these stand and bang are not. Make it mandatory that you must train in grappling everyday.

 

[Scheme]

They need to start calling more rounds draws. If you're holding somebody down with minimum damage, that's a stalemate. You're not winning the "fight".

That would encourage a lot of guys to sit in the bottom and do nothing

 

[Alpha_T83]

Or just call rounds draws.

Why does Islam win a round because he gets 1 takedown, lands 2 rabbit punches, and just wrestles out the round? So dumb.

I mean, this is another fight where it wouldn't have mattered, because Jack literally had no moments in the fight at all. But in other fights like Volkov vs Almeida, wrestlers need to stop being given rounds just for control. 10-10 round -- you didn't do enough to deserve the round.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Go watch RAF

 

[egk]

LOL As if taking wrestling classes makes up for wrestling since before you could walk. They all train it. One camp by someone like JDM or Dricus isn't going to close the gap with guys like Islam or Khamzat.