Waaaagh! Wrestlers. They’re a tricky sort, and as big names like Randy Couture, Matt Hughes, and Brock Lesnar have shown. The purpose of this article is to help fighters who have difficulties in dealing with wrestling based mixed martial artists. Certainly, I don’t know it all. Hopefully though, you’ll get some tips and ideas to take to the mat and gain an upper hand against wrestling MMA’ers.
In part 1, I discussed the basic wrestlers strategy, side control management, preventing the guard pass, and striking from the guard.
In part 2, I want to add some details about dominant positions, submissions from the ground and elaborate a bit about the standing striking game.
More and more guys are coming into the pro-am levels of MMA with strong wrestling backgrounds. A lot of wrestlers have been shooting for double leg take downs, asserting the single collar tie, and cradle-pinning opponents since 10 years old, some even starting even earlier. Possibly the womb.
It’s no mystery why wrestling for MMA is powerful, so I’ll omit going over that. The purpose of this article is to help those who have difficulties in dealing with wrestling based mixed martial artists.
Going for a clinch and an upper-body throw is fundamental MMA. Sometimes you can’t shoot in for leg takedowns – maybe your opponent is a great sprawler or has such a reach advantage on you that you can never quite make it into shooting distance (rule of thumb, if you can’t punch him, you can’t successfully shoot in for a takedown).
Here are a few vids on taking your opponent to the ground.
There is a reason you see a lot of guys in MMA with strong collegiate wrestling backgrounds. Taking a fight to the ground is an essential skill. Here’s some good info on how to get it done via the double leg takedown.
The Classic
A few pointers:
Drop your level by bending the knees, not bending at the waist.
Keep the curve in the small of your back, and drive the takedown with your legs.
Once you’ve shot in deep and have control, “cut the corner” – push his weight back and around his back leg (like a door swiveling open)
Let your weight slam into him
Wrestle into side control
Double Leg Slam
Here’s a nice animation from the show Human Weapon that illustrates a more athletic, lift and slam variation double leg. Matt Hughes comes to mind. Also, it’s got two extra moves in the vid too – icing on the cake.
A few pointers:
Keep your head glued to his body – you don’t want an arm sneaking down an attempting a choke
Make sure to get his center of gravity disconnected from the ground while lifting him up
Get at least one leg totally off the ground before you start to “cut the corner”
Double Leg with Sweep Assist
This is a great variation if your opponent is good at sprawling.
Learning to pummel, or in other words, learning to break clinches/holds and gain your own dominant position while standing is very important. When you get tied up by an opponent, he’s going to be working his game plan – which probably includes brutally kneeing you to the face dozens of times. Since this isn’t part of your plan, learning to pummel is a good idea.
When you first start into clinching and pummeling with a partner, go easy. If you’ve never sparred with guys who wrestle by tying you up like this, your neck will be very sore the day after. To strengthen your overall clinch and pummeling performance, workout the neck with proper back bridging. NOTE: It’s very important to do this correctly by bridging with your forehead on the ground, pushing your nose to ground instead of bridging on the top of your head – see Matt Furley’s book Combat Conditioning for more detailed instruction.
Here’s a vid with fighter Yves Edwards showing the basic plumb clinch and pummelling.
Here’s a video of Daniel and Jenny working the pummel for several minutes. Watch how they work the head, push off from the hips, and use angles to break out. Copycat what they do to train your pummel and clinch. Flow from one tie up to the next, just grappling. Later you incorporate practicing strikes, but for now, just get the motions down.
If you want more info on pummeling, consult either Randy “The Natural” Couture’s book Wrestling for Fighting or this devilishly under-priced Amazon.com download, Learn to Fight and Win with Randy Couture . Between the two, they cover all sorts of neat stuff – single collar ties, takedowns, advanced pummeling, ect. I’ve gone through both, and their filled with awesome stuff. Randy is a fighter who knows his stuff and pummels really well.
