Gilbert Melendez Picks Wrestling Over Jiu Jitsu

by Kid Nate on May 6, 2008 6:03 PM EDT in MMA News

Good interview with Strikeforce 155lb champ Gilbert Melendez on MMAYou.com. In the piece, Gilbert talks about the UFC & Sean Sherk, B.J. Penn, the possibility of his moving down in weight to fight Uriah Faber, his fight with Kawajiri and more. He also says one things that will get Luke Thomas' blood boiling:

MMAyou.com: What is more important for MMA, BJJ or wrestling?

Melendez: I gotta say, I was a wrestler first. I gotta say wrestling. I've seen wrestlers, I've seen really great wrestlers pick up a decent base for Jiu Jitsu in a matter of months. It will take a Jiu Jitsu guy sometimes years to get a really good base for wrestling.

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Re: Gilbert Melendez Picks Wrestling Over Jiu Jits

Damian Maia would disagree.

by DirtyML on May 6, 2008 6:54 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Gilbert Melendez Picks

Matt Hughes probably agrees. Whats your point, that people have different opinions?

Well done.

by mythbuster on May 6, 2008 9:09 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Gilbert Melendez Picks

Compare Matt Hughes accolades in the top tiers of wrestling to Damian Maias accomplishments in BJJ and you will start to grasp the point I made.

by DirtyML on May 6, 2008 9:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Gilbert Melendez Picks

Compare Matt Hughes accolades in MMA to Damian Maias, and you'll see how irrelevant your point was.

by mythbuster on May 6, 2008 10:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Gilbert Melendez Picks Wrestling Over Jiu Jits

You can only name one BJJ guy that wouldn't fit that description?

by ilostmydog on May 6, 2008 10:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Re: Gilbert Melendez Picks Wrestling Over Jiu Jits

The issue here is that in America at least, wrestling is far more popular than BJJ, and there are wrestling programs everywhere. He's not talking about Joe Shmoe wrestler picking up BJJ - he's talking about the cream of the crop. Those guys are serious athletes, and training a new style will be easier for them than for the rest of us. On the other hand, the pool of BJJ guys in America is much thinner, and while great athletes are to be found, it's certainly the case that there are fewer of them in the BJJ ranks - for now.

But a great athlete who was brought up in BJJ shouldn't have any harder of a time cross-training wrestling than the opposite.

-- Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ

by jemaleddin on May 6, 2008 9:35 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Gilbert Melendez Picks Wrestling Over Jiu Jits

How long would it take a wrestler to get to world class level jiu jitsu as opposed to a bjj guy to world class wrestling.

I would say it depends on the individual, but I would bet on the BJJ getting there first.

I do think wrestling can add a lot though. I often wish now that I had wrestled in school.

by BJJDenver on May 6, 2008 9:36 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Wrestling Over Jiu Jitsu

Wrestling allows you to dictate the fight's location. If you are a good wrestler you have the ability to take the fight to where it best suits you against your opponent.

That's an advantage that both striking and jiu jitsu don't have.

by SCupitt on May 7, 2008 3:10 AM EDT reply actions

Re: Gilbert Melendez Picks Wrestling Over Jiu Jits

To say that one is better than the other is ridiculous. Both styles have strong and weak points. I agree with wrestling a fighter can sometimes dictate the location of the fight. But like Chase Beebe vs Miguel Torres - It didn't matter where the fight was taken homeboy got subbed. Same goes for BJJ you can be great of your back and have great submissions but it means nothing if a good wrestler can control your hips and nullify your sub attempts. A good example of that is Pierre vs Serra. At the end of the day the athlete will go with whatever he feels comfortable with some wrestling other BJJ.

by neo787 on May 7, 2008 8:51 AM EDT reply actions

Re: Gilbert Melendez Picks Wrestling Over Jiu Jits

Well, maybe: points:

The debate is sort of moot, really. Pure jiu-jitsu doesn't really have any practical applications in pure wrestling. The fundamentals of jiu-jitsu and its manner of application won't really help with very much when it comes to learning wrestling. When one comes from a jiu-jitsu background, they have to learn wrestling almost all their own, just as they have to learn striking all their own. By contrast, there is a lot to wrestling that helps with jiu-jitsu as some of the commenters have pointed out. So it's not really a fair question.

by Luke Thomas on May 7, 2008 9:35 AM EDT reply actions