What skillset is needed to beat the top-level Dagestanis in their prime?

[mkt]

Why do they have to be from D1? A lot of guys would destroy Jon Fitch in wrestling who never wrestled in D1.

The relationship between elite American wrestler and good MMA guy is misunderstood. A large reason why so many of the top fighters in the UFC were American and had wrestling backgrounds is because the UFC signed a large amount of them, and the talent pool of athletes were lower in general.

Having athletes with NCAA backgrounds was a way to legitimize MMA. That's really the major reason why the UFC pushed wrestlers so hard. Khabib isn't dominant because he's the best wrestler. Khabib would destroy Josh Koscheck in a fight, and Koscheck is definitely a superior wrestler.


Abdulmanap consistently generates guys who win the national and world sambo championship, meaning they beat other Dagestani, Russians, FUSSR people. So it's more than just the fact they grow up with wrestling.

That's fine. I just said D1 because that's been common over the years. Of course Jones was juco, Usman was D2 and GSP had no amateur background (but that's very unusual).

My point was simply bringing in American guys who are already good wrestlers and developing them for MMA. It used to be a thing, but not much any more.

 

[SkinnyClaw]

Someone with the skills of Charles Oliveira and the mentality of Dustin Poirier. Charles had the skills, but not the mentality. Dustin had the dog, but not the skills.

 

[Chayanne]

According to the ancient Greek historian Plutarch, who wrote several centuries after Sparta’s heyday in the 400s B.C., Spartans began developing soldiers shortly after birth, when male infants were evaluated by Spartan elders. The “well-built and sturdy” children were allowed to live, while those who were deemed unhealthy or deformed were left at the foot of a mountain to die.

At age seven, Spartan boys were turned over by their parents to the state, where they were organized into companies that lived, studied and trained together.

“The boy who excelled in judgement and was most courageous in fighting was made captain of the company,” Plutarch wrote. “The rest all kept their eyes on him, obeying his orders and submitting to his punishments, so their boyish training was a practice of obedience.”


The Dagestani mentality is somewhat comparable to that of the Spartans mentality, in which they are trained from an early age.

 

[biscuitsbrah]

Big tall kickers

 

[Gregoire1]

 

[IronGolem007]

...............

I'm thinking someone will need power in their hands and amazing offensive AND defensive grappling to stand a chance at winning more than just the rare lucky punch. But it just doesn't seem like this combo exists yet.

Pretty much.

Put more succinctly, a world-class puncher with serious anti-grappling.

Makhachev is a sitting duck for a KO, as the first one against improved. He was literally dropped by Volkanovski.

As such, I think Ilia Topouria has a real shot at knocking out Islam. (If they were genetically the same size, I would bet the farm on Topouria. Only his smaller size make me worry for him.)

 

[dildos]

A good pair of fists.

Anyone can be knocked out.

 

[rear naked ankle pick]

Im sick and tired of those 5'5 midgets hugging each other on mountains since their birth. Any real man with normal height would kill them

 

[Kwic]

Ask Black Beast for his secret technique "just get up".

 

[Bork Neslar]

Stiking, grappling and a strong christian faith.

 

[Ghosty]

merab will show soon better ''genetics''

 

[RichardHarrow]

Dunno, some well rounded tough dude probably

 

[RockyLockridge]

Deterring takedowns. Either by stuffing them or hurting them so that instincts tell them not to take you down

 

[chinarice]

Ilia will finish Islam if he stays at LW for 2 more years

 

[plataoplombo]

Someone like Chuck. Just a constant sprawl and brawl.

 

[Bilzerian]

Better wrestling. Simple but difficult

 

[nostradumbass]

Which ones? Nobody's going to consistently beat them, but anybody can get KO'd, and all of them give extended periods of striking.

 

[Cartiac]

Someone like Chuck. Just a constant sprawl and brawl.

The problem is Chuck's techniques were developed against American style wrestling that is based on lower body control for takedown leverage.

Dagestani wrestling follows a more Greco Roman style, initiating from an upright position and then tripping or dragging their opponent down. Initiating from upper body control also enables them to wrap up the lower body with their legs on the way down into very dominant ground control.

Given the nearly perfect record of Abdulmanap trained fighters, there is not an answer to what skillset is needed to defeat them because no one has figured that out yet.

 

[joy2day]

Easily GSP's skillset.

He was as good as any of them at wrestling and was a far better striker. He would have jabbed any of them into oblivion.

 

[fedorthegoat777]

A gun permit.