MMA/BJJ Wrestling
Wrestling has shown a lot of its power within other sports and martial arts such as Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (BJJ) and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). This is because wrestling gives an athlete the ability to control where the fight goes as well as can be pivotal in controlling the tempo of the fight.
The main differences between wrestling and BJJ are 3 things, 1. the use of the gi, 2. the use of submissions and 3. Wrestlers are not allowed to fight off their backs on the ground….that said, wrestling can be an excellent tool for BJJ practitioners to dominate their opponent and take the opponent down into a superior ground position as well as give a competitor a rock solid defence against takedowns.
Wrestling for BJJ differs from regular wrestling in that the practitioner must be aware of certain submissions such as the guillotine, rolling kneebars and kimura as well as take downs should take into consideration the opponent can fall into the guard and use this as a position to attack submissions from.
Some of the biggest names in BJJ practice wrestling such as Buchecha, Gordon Ryan, Dillon Danis, Cyborg and Romulo Barral - all of which have used wrestling to beat and control their opponents when standing up with much success.
MMA
Wrestling for MMA has become one of the pillars of MMA and if a fighter has wrestling in their toolbox, they for sure will have a better chance of winning. Everything from scrambling off the ground, scrambling off a takedown to a better string position, controlling the clinch, controlling the opponent off the cage, breaking difficult grips, throwing and takedowns is what wrestling provides an MMA fighter. Many MMA champions either come form a wrestling background or have started to heavily train wrestling as they realize that wrestling simply is the most effective art in the cage and ring. Fighters such as Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier, Randy Couture, Mark Coleman, Rashad Evans, Henry Cejudo, Yoel Romero and dozens more have found success using the techniques, conditioning and mentality of wrestling to their advantage in the ring.
MMA wrestling techniques differ as they take into consideration 3 elements that are not in wrestling which are the use of the cage, the ability to strike and the element of submissions. This means that techniques differ a bit as well as strategies, the stance is different as it must entail the ability to both deliver and block strikes and finally the clinch is different as there is the ability to use wrestling grips and controls to dirty box the opponent.