Wrestling is Overrated!

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Wrestling is Overrated!

By Orcus on Oct 19 2010, 4:14p 88

After all the talk about how wrestling is the best base to have in MMA, I decided to do some investigation myself, and throw some numbers at the spreadsheet. As many of you may know if you’re used to reading any of my comments, I just don’t think that to be the case. My findings pretty much told me that my current stance is wrong, wrestlers do appear to be ahead in the game, at least by success rate.

I copied all the fighters from the Bloody Elbow’s top 25 rankings, and to define their base I searched Wikipedia to see how each is listed. Now, I don’t really think Wikipedia is always 100% reliable, but in this case it is sufficient to keep my personal bias outside of the equation. Whichever Martial Art they had first listed under each fighter’s "style" I put it as their base, while any secondary Martial Art I put it under a separate category in the table below (Part of Full Arsenal, which is not really important to the debate but since I copied I thought about leaving them there as well). I personally don’t agree with all fighters’ listed base Martial Art as described per Wikipedia, but as a whole, I think they’re quite on the money.

I couldn’t help to keep my bias aside at all times and took out a few less used MA’s such as Gaidojutsu (Greg Jackson), Capoeira, Street Fighting, and Grappling (without specifics). Fighters that had these style listed had them listed as secondary styles and not their base style so I didn’t think it would be a big deal to take them out. I also put styles such as Shooto, Catch Wrestling, Freestyle Wrestling and other forms of wrestling under the Wrestling category, and crazy Jiu-Jitsu names (such as Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu) under the BJJ category. Fighters that appeared more than once in the rankings such as Randy Couture, Anderson Silva, Vitor Belfort, Jake Shields and Joachim Hansen were taken out so it wouldn’t have any duplicates.

So, let’s first show the table for the champions, the important category is the Base Style, the other column is for the additional styles each fighters’ possess

MA	Base Style	As Part of Full Arsenal
BJJ	0,00%	25,00%
Boxing	14,29%	20,00%
Freestyle	0,00%	0,00%
Hapkido	0,00%	0,00%
Judo	0,00%	5,00%
Karate	14,29%	5,00%
Kickboxing	0,00%	0,00%
Kung Fu	0,00%	0,00%
Muay Thai	42,86%	20,00%
Sambo	0,00%	0,00%
Submission Grappling	0,00%	0,00%
Sumo	0,00%	0,00%
Tae Kwon Do	0,00%	5,00%
Unknown	0,00%	0,00%
Vale Tudo	0,00%	0,00%
Wrestling	28,57%	20,00%

Now for the top ten (these aren’t too far from Jonathan’s numbers):

MA	Base Style	As Part of Full Arsenal
BJJ	25,00%	24,84%
Boxing	8,82%	20,50%
Freestyle	0,00%	1,24%
Hapkido	0,00%	0,00%
Judo	4,41%	6,21%
Karate	2,94%	2,48%
Kickboxing	5,88%	8,70%
Kung Fu	0,00%	0,62%
Muay Thai	7,35%	9,32%
Sambo	1,47%	0,62%
Submission Grappling	0,00%	1,24%
Sumo	0,00%	0,62%
Tae Kwon Do	1,47%	1,24%
Unknown	2,94%	1,24%
Vale Tudo	0,00%	0,00%
Wrestling	39,71%	21,12%

And finally for the top 25:

MA	Base Style	As Part of Full Arsenal
BJJ	21,76%	23,44%
Boxing	12,94%	18,75%
Freestyle	1,76%	1,56%
Hapkido	0,59%	0,26%
Judo	4,71%	5,47%
Karate	2,94%	2,08%
Kickboxing	8,82%	10,94%
Kung Fu	0,00%	1,04%
Muay Thai	8,24%	9,11%
Sambo	1,18%	0,78%
Submission Grappling	0,00%	0,52%
Sumo	0,00%	0,26%
Tae Kwon Do	0,59%	1,04%
Unknown	4,71%	2,08%
Vale Tudo	0,00%	0,26%
Wrestling	31,76%	22,40%

Now, even though Wrestling still appears to be the dominant art, notice how it drops almost 8 points from the Top 10 to the Top 25. If you think only the Top 10 is relevant, I’d argue that the Top 25 has tomorrow’s Top 10 listed (though it also includes people that are falling out of the rankings). We all know how MMA changes from year to year, chances are that the Top 10 listed under any ranking system will soon fall out of it.

People can make a case for how Wrestling is the best base to have in MMA, surely the numbers will back their arguments, but frankly I just think it’s a moot point. Even though the base currently has a dominant stance, people that don’t have wrestling as their base continues to find their spaces within the MMA industry (after all, non-wrestlers have more success rate than wrestlers). It’s not about the art, it’s about the athlete. A simple example of this is GSP, a guy who didn’t grow up in a wrestling environment and is able to outwrestle the wrestlers.

Wrestling is a great and powerful art, I’m not a hater of wrestling, I just think labeling it as "the best" base to have is nothing more than overrating it.

Below is the full chart for each fighters and how each style were associated to them.

FIGHTER	Base	Other Skills
Brock Lesnar	Wrestling
Fedor Emelianenko	Sambo	Judo	Boxing
Cain Velasquez	Wrestling	Kickboxing
Fabricio Werdum	BJJ	Muay Thai
Shane Carwin	Boxing	Wrestling	Freestyle
Junior dos Santos	Kickboxing	Boxing	BJJ
Frank Mir	BJJ	Muay Thai	Boxing	Karate
Alistair Overeem	Kickboxing	Muay Thai	Submission Grappling
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira	BJJ	Boxing	Judo
Josh Barnett	Wrestling
Brett Rogers	Boxing	Muay Thai	Wrestling
Antonio Silva	Karate	BJJ
Gabriel Gonzaga	BJJ	Muay Thai	Kickboxing	Boxing	Wrestling
Cheick Kongo	Kickboxing	Muay Thai	Wrestling
Mirko Filipovic	Karate	Tae Kwon Do	Boxing	Kickboxing	Muay Thai	BJJ
Andrei Arlovski	Sambo	Boxing	Kickboxing
Roy Nelson	Boxing	BJJ	Kung Fu
Pedro Rizzo	Muay Thai	Kickboxing	Vale Tudo
Aleksander Emelianenko	Boxing	Sambo	Judo
Ben Rothwell	Kickboxing	Wrestling
Tim Sylvia	Boxing	Kickboxing	Wrestling
Randy Couture	Wrestling	Boxing
Stefan Struve	Kickboxing	BJJ
Mike Russow	Wrestling	BJJ	Boxing
Jeff Monson	Wrestling	BJJ
Mauricio Rua	Muay Thai	BJJ
Lyoto Machida	Karate	BJJ	Sumo
Rashad Evans	Wrestling	Boxing	Kickboxing	BJJ
Quinton Jackson	Wrestling	Boxing
Forrest Griffin	Kickboxing	BJJ	Freestyle	Muay Thai	Boxing
Ryan Bader	Wrestling	BJJ	Boxing
Jon Jones	Wrestling	Muay Thai
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira	BJJ	Boxing
Gegard Mousasi	Judo	Kickboxing	Boxing
Thiago Silva	BJJ	Muay Thai	Boxing
Muhammed Lawal	Wrestling	Boxing
Rich Franklin	Freestyle	Kickboxing	BJJ	Muay Thai
Rafael Cavalcante	Muay Thai	Boxing	BJJ
Renato Sobral	BJJ	Wrestling
Matt Hamill	Wrestling	Boxing	BJJ
Brandon Vera	Muay Thai	Wrestling	BJJ	Boxing
Jason Brilz	Wrestling
Luis Arthur Cane	BJJ	Muay Thai	Kickboxing
Tito Ortiz	Wrestling	Boxing
Phil Davis	Wrestling	BJJ
Chuck Liddell	Karate	Kickboxing	Wrestling	Boxing
Cyrille Diabate	Muay Thai	Kickboxing
Anderson Silva	Muay Thai	Boxing	BJJ	Tae Kwon Do	Judo
Chael Sonnen	Wrestling
Nate Marquardt	BJJ	Boxing	Kickboxing
Jake Shields	Wrestling	BJJ
Vitor Belfort	Boxing	BJJ	Karate
Demian Maia	BJJ	Judo	Boxing
Dan Henderson	Wrestling	Boxing	Kickboxing
Yushin Okami	Wrestling	Kickboxing
Jorge Santiago	Kickboxing	BJJ
Ronaldo Souza	BJJ	Judo
Robbie Lawler	Boxing	Wrestling
Michael Bisping	Kickboxing	Boxing	BJJ
Chris Leben	Boxing	Freestyle	Wrestling	BJJ
Alan Belcher	Muay Thai	BJJ
Wanderlei Silva	Muay Thai	BJJ
Mamed Khalidov	Freestyle	Karate	Wrestling
Yoshihiro Akiyama	Judo
Hector Lombard	Judo	BJJ	Boxing
Paulo Filho	BJJ	Judo
Alessio Sakara	Boxing	BJJ
Thales Leites	BJJ
Patrick Cote	Boxing	Kickboxing	Wrestling	BJJ
Kazuo Misaki	Judo	Kickboxing
Tim Kennedy	Boxing	BJJ
Rousimar Palhares	BJJ
Georges St. Pierre	Karate	Wrestling	Muay Thai	Boxing	BJJ
Jon Fitch	Wrestling	BJJ	Kickboxing
Josh Koscheck	Wrestling	Kickboxing
Thiago Alves	Muay Thai	BJJ
Nick Diaz	BJJ	Boxing
Dan Hardy	Tae Kwon Do	Boxing	Muay Thai	BJJ	Kung Fu
Martin Kampmann	Muay Thai	Wrestling
Matt Hughes	Wrestling	Submission Grappling
Paulo Thiago	BJJ	Judo	Boxing
Paul Daley	Muay Thai	Boxing
Mike Swick	Kickboxing	BJJ	Wrestling
Chris Lytle	Boxing	BJJ	Wrestling
Jay Hieron	Wrestling	Boxing
Carlos Condit	Muay Thai	Kickboxing	Boxing	BJJ	Kung Fu
John Hathaway	Boxing	Wrestling	BJJ
Matt Serra	BJJ	Boxing
Ben Askren	Wrestling	BJJ
Jake Ellenberger	Wrestling
Anthony Johnson	Kickboxing	Kung Fu	Wrestling
Dan Hornbuckle	BJJ
Mike Pierce	Wrestling
Ricardo Almeida	BJJ	Wrestling	Boxing
Akihiro Gono	Boxing	Judo
Dong Hyun Kim	Judo	Wrestling	Kickboxing
Frank Edgar	Wrestling	Boxing	BJJ
B.J. Penn	BJJ	Boxing
Gilbert Melendez	Wrestling	BJJ	Muay Thai
Gray Maynard	Wrestling	Boxing
Shinya Aoki	BJJ	Judo	Wrestling
Eddie Alvarez	Boxing	Wrestling
Kenny Florian	BJJ	Muay Thai	Boxing
Tatsuya Kawajiri	Wrestling
George Sotiropoulos	BJJ	Boxing
Sean Sherk	Wrestling	BJJ	Boxing
Jim Miller	BJJ	Wrestling
Evan Dunham	BJJ	Wrestling	Muay Thai
Takanori Gomi	Boxing	Wrestling
Ben Henderson	Wrestling	Tae Kwon Do
Mizuto Hirota	Boxing	Judo
Tyson Griffin	Wrestling
Joe Stevenson	BJJ	Judo	Wrestling
Kurt Pellegrino	BJJ	Wrestling
Gesias Cavalcante	BJJ	Kickboxing
Diego Sanchez	Wrestling	BJJ	Muay Thai	Boxing
Josh Thomson	Kickboxing	Wrestling
Joachim Hansen	Kickboxing	BJJ
Melvin Guillard	Kickboxing	Wrestling	Judo
Clay Guida	Wrestling
Kazunori Yokota	Judo
Jose Aldo	Muay Thai	BJJ
Manny Gamburyan	Judo
Mike Brown	Wrestling	Boxing
Urijah Faber	Wrestling	Kickboxing	BJJ
Marlon Sandro	BJJ
Bibiano Fernandes	BJJ
Michihiro Omigawa	Judo
Hatsu Hioki	Wrestling	BJJ
Josh Grispi	Unknown
Masanori Kanehara	Unknown
Joe Warren	Wrestling
L.C. Davis	Wrestling
Deividas Taurosevicius	BJJ
Leonard Garcia	BJJ	Boxing
Rafael Assuncao	BJJ	Muay Thai
Hiroyuki Takaya	Wrestling
Yuji Hoshino	Wrestling	Kickboxing
Diego Nunes	Muay Thai	BJJ	Kickboxing
Chad Mendes	Wrestling
Mark Hominick	Kickboxing	Muay Thai
Kazuyuki Miyata	Wrestling
Joe Soto	Wrestling
Takeshi Inoue	Kickboxing
Chan Sung Jung	Hapkido	Kickboxing
Dominick Cruz	Boxing	Wrestling
Brian Bowles	Wrestling	Boxing
Joseph Benavidez	Wrestling	Kickboxing
Scott Jorgensen	Wrestling
Miguel Torres	BJJ	Muay Thai
Takeya Mizugaki	Boxing	Wrestling
Wagnney Fabiano	BJJ
Damacio Page	Boxing	BJJ
Masakatsu Ueda	Wrestling	BJJ
Charlie Valencia	Wrestling	BJJ	Boxing
Rani Yahya	BJJ
Masakazu Imanari	Wrestling	BJJ
Brad Pickett	Boxing	BJJ
Eddie Wineland	Wrestling	Boxing
Akitoshi Tamura	Freestyle
Antonio Banuelos	Wrestling	Boxing
Shuichiro Katsumura	Unknown
Michael McDonald	Unknown
Abel Cullum	BJJ
Zack Makovsky	Wrestling
Darren Uyenoyama	Unknown
Ian Loveland	Unknown
Kenji Osawa	Unknown
Jimmie Rivera	Unknown
Jeff Curran	Boxing	BJJ

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

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