Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Wrestling in MMA
They’re Not so Different

Well, they are but they aren’t. A question on Quora made me think about how they’re both necessary in MMA but there are groups of people that think one works better than the other. I do feel like wrestling is the best base for MMA, but I don’t think you can leave out the submission aspect when a fight hits the ground.

This was the question asked on Quora:

My answer was that the submission aspect of grappling isn’t really covered in wrestling the way most folks know and come into wrestling. Unless they’re coming from catch wrestling.

Since the very first UFC event, which had no rules and was more a “style-vs-style” tournament, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (BJJ) cemented its place as required training for what would become mixed martial arts (MMA). Royce Gracie won the first few of those events proving that BJJ works in a real fight against other real fighters.

Wrestling is great. Wrestlers who get into BJJ tend to progress faster in the art because they are already comfortable on the ground and can get to strong positions faster than someone who has never wrestled. From the fighters I have talked to, the submission aspect seems to be the reason many of them train in it, but they do not do it over their wrestling.

It’s more in addition to wrestling.

I decided to write about this after Torrez Finney fought his 2nd fight on Dana White’s Contender Series, won and still did not get a contract. It was a very wrestling heavy bout for Finney but he still won. The reason White gave for not signing him was because he felt he “gassed” in his fight against Cam Rowston and he did not get enough fights between his last Contender Series bout and this one.

He still bet Rowston and now has a record of 9-0.

If you saw my interview with Finney it’s clear that the UFC strung him along with a potential spot on this season’s on “The Ultimate Fighter” and did not pick him for that either. He even said the one fight that White referenced he took after the UFC decided not to use him, to which I replied, “Why do they keep messing with you?”

He said he didn’t know but it looks like they’re still messing with him. I predict that Finney is a fighter that the UFC will call in last minute when a middleweight bout falls out.

He should have gotten that contract.