The Wrestler's Dominance

In current MMA many people wouldn't argue with the fact that the sport can be split into two main areas these being ground fighting and stand up.  I believe this is wrong.  There is a third area that links these two together which is often referred to as the world of take downs.

Wrestling is massive within MMA this dominance is due to two quite obvious reasons.  Firstly, the UFC is an American company and wrestling is simply huge in the states.  Almost all high schools and the equivalent to our secondary schools teach and compete in wrestling.  The UFC has therefore become simply the best way other than the almost theatrical WWE for wrestlers to make a living.  Secondly and most importantly to ourselves as British MMA practitioners is that there is a gaping hole in martial arts that involve "simply taking an opponent down".  The Muay Thai clinch work is probably the next closest thing but is far from a complete art.

Now how do we, here in the UK with virtually no wrestlers of any note deal with this counteract good wrestlers.  The Americans were incredibly quick to unfairly mock Dan Hardy's lack of wrestling after his courageous battle with GSP.  The answer lies in one of Britain's best kept martial arts secrets. Judo.

Judo is simply the perfect way of combating a wrestler and "lay and pray" fighters. Judo teaches an aggressive no- nonsense ground game linked with probably the most advanced system of take downs and defence of any martial art.  If you need evidence of this just watch some of Karo Parysian's earlier fights in the UFC and the outstanding ease of which he takes down all-american wrestlers. 

So why, why do we in the UK, not learn Judo?  To be honest I do not know. It may be the fact that Judo clubs are rightly proud of their sport and feel no need to jump on the MMA bandwagon and in my own experience can be intolerant of "cage fighters". 

However this should not put us off.  In the UK we have a booming and quality Judo association.  It is often cheap to participate and very effectively run.  The training is fantastic for fitness with the focus on using Judo to fight.  It is one of the few martial arts where you actually have to fight for your belts.  For any aspiring MMA fighters or even just for people looking to improve their game Judo should be a must.  It also complements perfectly Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the two together are probably the perfect partners.

So remember fight hard, fight smart.

www.britishjudo.org.uk

Yak