Who would win in an MMA fight between a Greco Roman wrestler and a freestyle wrestler? Seems like the Greco Roman wrestlers have done better in MMA than freestyle wrestlers i.e. Couture, Henderson, Severn---not sure if Cormier is Greco or freestyle.
Cormier is freestyle. Obviously freestyle is more versatile and has more tools. But good boxing plus strong greco - roman is a dangerous combo, imagine George Foreman with a strong greco - roman clinch.
I would say that sambo and catch wrestling are used more often in combat sports like MMA, but all of that is rolled up in freestyle wrestling basically. .
Who would win? Which ever guy applies his style better. I would lean toward freestyle, and I think collegiate folkstyle is just as good if not better than international freestyle. I think the best situation would be for a guy to have his primary base in freestyle/American folkstyle, with a little bit of Greco-Roman mixed in. TJ Dillashaw wrestled for Cal-State Fullerton during the season but did several summer training camps overseas in Greco-Roman while still in college, and I think that mix serves him well. While he was far from the most credentialed wrestler to go into mma, his variety of takedowns has translated well. Its a great advantage to be able to toggle between orthodox freestyle techniques like singles and doubles while working in trips, sweeps, and clinchwork.
I think Greco - Roman is great for the big guys. Francis Ngannou with good Greco - Roman would be very hard to beat.
It's sort of a meandering argument because the USA Greco/Roman wrestlers have extensive freestyle experience too. I watched Dan Henderson and Randy Couture instructional DVDs and they both covered freestyle skills quite extensively.
