Who are the best at mixing striking and wrestling?

Discussion in 'MMA Forum' started by Samart'sTeep, Jun 10, 2020.



  1. Samart'sTeep

    Samart'sTeep Active Member Full Member

    532
    888
    Nov 17, 2019
    So, this is a question that I've been thinking about for a while. The name of the sport is mixed-martial-arts, after all, so which fighters do you think are the best historically at blending their striking and wrestling takedowns (judo and sambo, too, if you want)?

    As we know, there are tremendous wrestlers/judo players who used overwhelming skill in their takedowns to get their opponent to the mat rather than developing the ability to blend their striking with their grappling seamlessly. Sometimes they just didnt have the striking skill to do this.

    For example, Khabib will rush opponent's with poor punches or wild flying knees to close the distance, but once he shoots a double-leg and chains that attempt to a body lock, his opponent almost always falls. Rhonda Rousey also never developed the striking necessary to secure the clinch at will, either rushing into it to force it and leaving her chin exposed during that moment or using her opponent's takedown attempts against them re-actively like she did against Tate.

    Guys like Matt Hughes or Koscheck would just shoot from the outside without a set up, and rely on their pure wrestling skill to get guys down.

    For me, Georges-St Pierre is clearly the best at using his striking to set up his wrestling and vice versa. His jabbing skill and constant level changes made it nearly impossible to tell if he was going to throw a body jab, committing to a double leg takedown, or just throwing a fake to get a reaction to set up strikes (fake body jab, jab to the head, etc). He could throw feints or real strikes to the head to get opponents to try to plant their feet to cover up or try to parry, and shoot underneath them in a brilliant fashion.

    However, who are some of the other greats that need to be mentioned in this regard? Others on this forum have mentioned how Fedor was a master at using right hands to close the distance, and if they didn't land, get a clinch position from which he could work body lock takedowns, knee blocks, and trips.

    Who else do you think deserves to be mentioned in this discussion?

    This content is protected


    This content is protected


    This content is protected
     
  2. outtieDrake

    outtieDrake Well-Known Member Full Member

    2,479
    1,146
    Dec 17, 2009
    Randy Couture' dirty boxing .

    This content is protected
     
  3. Brixton Bomber

    Brixton Bomber Obsessed with Boxing banned Full Member

    21,988
    6,083
    Sep 21, 2013
    Fedor & GSP.

    Nobody did striking to takedown transitions better than Fedor.

    GSP was elite at it, too.
     
    Francis75 likes this.