Strikeforce Fight Card: Josh Barnett and Reintroducing America to Catch Wrestling
by KJ Gould on Jun 18, 2011 9:34 AM EDT
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Josh Barnett is a frustrating fighter to support. I'm not among the many who have taken the stance of self-righteous outrage over his failed PED urinalysis tests. I don't care if he did steroids and got caught 3 times -- in which case he sucks at passing tests that the World Anti Doping Agency says are woefully inadequate -- and I don't care if he was genuinely the victim of 3 instances of tainted supplements -- in which case he sucks at being vigilant and educated with his nutritional intake. The onus is still on him in both scenarios.
What frustrates me is not being able to see him fight on a regular basis against worthy competition because he's messed around with applying or re-applying for fighter licenses and playing the dumb card when claiming he didn't know both he and his legal counsel needed to be present at hearings held by representatives of the state government. In terms of his time and money being spent and wasted, again the onus has largely been on him by not having his priorities straight if he wants to focus on a continued, meaningful MMA career.
Now finally on Saturday he'll fight for Strikeforce under the same regulatory body that allowed an otherwise banned for a year Boxer who had been caught with loaded gloves to compete in a world title fight, as well as being one of only 2 commissions that have had a death in Mixed Martial Arts happen under their watch. South Carolina was probably next on Scott Coker's shopping list.
What has also frustrated me is Barnett being one of if not the only notable Western Mixed Martial Artists who willingly represents Catch Wrestling in his approach to fighting. He's not shied away from it and he's not tried to re-brand it as Barnett Submission Fighting, Barnett Shoot Fighting or, god forbid, Barnett-Jitsu. There are other Western fighters out there who can be classed as Catch-based, Catch-influenced or even Catch-esque but Barnett is the only one to come out and say 'I am a Catch Wrestler' while having both the skills, lineage and success to back it up. Otherwise we have to look to Japan where to the casual fan perhaps only Sakuraba is at the most familiar, while names like Tamura, Funaki, Suzuki, Fujiwara, Minowa, Kitaoka, Miyata etc may draw some blanks even among some self-professed hardcore fans.
The reason this frustrates me is if Barnett has taken the mantle of being an ambassador for Catch Wrestling in the most visible competitive landscape -- high level MMA now under the Zuffa umbrella -- his words and actions are going to be seen as reflective of Catch Wrestling. This is essentially one of the main points made but largely missed regarding Joe Rogan's outburst on The Underground forums a couple of weeks back because the environment it occurred in is of public Mixed Martial Arts discussion and Rogan interacting there will have him seen as 'Joe Rogan: UFC Analyst' not 'Joe Rogan: comedian and social commentator' as he is outside of it. Whether he agrees or not, and regardless of UFC trying to brush off the incident with a he's an independent contractor excuse, Joe Rogan as a current on-air analyst is an ambassador for the UFC.
The importance of Barnett being an ambassador for Catch Wrestling is his position to help put American MMA fans and even fighters and coaches back in touch with their own heritage and history. Through European colonisation and immigration Catch Wrestling evolved and became an important part of America's combative, competitive landscape peaking in the early 1900's with events and matches headlining arenas such as Madison Square Garden. It was a time when Professional Wrestling actually meant one could Wrestle, professionally and world champions like Frank Gotch were as revered as Boxing's equivalents. Just prior to the first World War corruption and fight fixing had been rearing its ugly head in both sports and they approached a crossroads in their history: they could clean themselves up and attempt to bring themselves back to legitimacy or they could continue down a path of corruption, deception and greed. Professional Boxing went one way (for the most part), Professional Wrestling went the other and became exiled to the carnivals before eventually reemerging and devolving into the 'Sports Entertainment' product egested each week by Vince McMahon and co.
Perhaps worse still was Amateur Catch As Catch Can Wrestling (as American Folkstyle Wrestling was then known) becoming gradually stripped down and neutered of its submission holds with the turning point happening at the beginning of the 1930's when Iowa State coach and eventual US National Olympic Freestyle coach Hugo Optopalik advised the AAU and NCAA to remove submissions due to their perceived brutality. In the 1930 book 'Modern Wrestling for High School and College' Optopalik writes [with my editorial notes in brackets]:
Six Years ago catch-as-catch-can wrestling was an entirely different sort of affair. The men would mix a choke hold with a hook-scissors [Back Body Triangle - KJ] around the body that would put one of them out for a matter of hours or even days ... the sport was too brutal and we needed a transition. All strangle holds were barred and such bone breaking holds as the full nelson, toe-holds, and twisting arm locks met their doom. The AAU soon took a hand in seeing that more rules were set up. The National Collegiate Athletic Association stepped up and revised and modernized the rules of the game to such an extent that there is now practically no danger to the growing boy in wrestling ...
Any BJJ player or Judoka who has witnessed the various changes governing bodies such as the IBJJF and IJF have made to their competitive sport should relate. Because of these events Amateur Wrestlers were left without a professional competitive sporting outlet to compete in after college or even an Olympic career, and also why still in today's MMA there seems to be this abundance of Wrestling based fighters with an inability to finish. Today wrestlers are trying to piece together their Wrestling with BJJ like a jigsaw but often end up with an incomplete picture. Most learn enough to successfully defend and neutralise submission based opponents but more often then not that tends to be it and we witness a frustrating strategy of control with the minimum required activity to win the fight. I believe putting these wrestlers back in touch with their Catch Wrestling heritage can help them bridge the gap between their Wrestling and BJJ training and can help make them a more effective all around Ground Fighter.
Barnett has an opportunity to represent something more than himself, to be something more than a man who marches to the beat of his own drum and to make more out of being an ambassador of Catch Wrestling than what can easily just be seen as a gimmick on his part. If Barnett can adjust his personality and conduct out of the ring and continue success within it Barnett has the opportunity to help change and improve the sport of MMA and the art of Catch.
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Great, great read. I totally agree catch wrestling is America’s ground game. From George Washington, to Abe Lincoln, to Erik Paulson, it has had a huge influence on America’s past, and to see it go by the wayside, and become and afterthought to BJJ is a real shame. This is why, just like the author wrote, I still support Barnett, despite his arrogance, and doping.
America's ground game, but also a British and European Ground Game
I’ve nothing against the arts from Asia, I started off in them, but there seems to be this notion that there’s no combative art in Western civilisation that has the same depth of technique or it’s something that relies on brute force and ignorance by comparison which simply isn’t true.
A lot of old Medieval through Middle Ages combative arts are also almost exclusively focused on fencing and other armed arts. Particularly of interest because most upper class European dudes participated in some form of fencing, but rarely in unarmed arts. I mean why get involved in that ungraceful wrestling business when you can just stick a dude with this piece of metal? Stab stab slash stab slash! Wrestling was only really considered in the context of dagger combat, and well as you can understand it’s a very limited flavour of wrestling under those constraints. Neutralize his offensive capability and then stick him.
And of course much of this is disconnected from spirituality, quite unlike many Eastern arts. Especially as they migrated into sports over the course of the 18th and 19th centuries when gunpowder weapons became more effective and swords became more of a hobby than a serious life skill (although bayonet combat was still commonplace right up until reliable machine guns hit the scene).
That’s kind of something I’ve always wondered though, like going back further than the professional wrestlers of the 19th and early 20th centuries, where were the “hotbeds” of wrestling?
A lot of it was regional
And not just national. Parts of Germany were wrestling hotbeds, then there’s the Breton and Backhold wrestling of France (the Backhold style forming the basis of today’s Greco-Roman style), Catch was thought to be Lancashire, but there was also Cumberland and Westmorland styles, Cornish styles, Devonshire styles, Irish Collar & Elbow and so on. Schwingen from Switzerland too.
Also the thought that wrestling has always been blue collar is completely false. Wrestling was known as the sport of kings long before horse racing, with Kings of England and France being avid competitors. Henry VIII lost a match to Francis I by flying fall from a Mare throw. Essentially Henry lost by Ippon Seonage as both wore jackets when they wrestled (Henry using the Cornish style, Francis using the Breton style).
Medieval wrestling was not just about dagger
It has been pointed out that Germany was a hotbed of unarmed wrestling styles, but grappling has been integral to all European weapon arts, and very much longsword. Almost every writer of the surviving manuscripts says that grappling is the basis for every other weapon system. Plus, if you were a plate armour wearing noble who couldn’t grapple, you were pretty quickly going to be a dead noble.
The shying away from wrestling only really occurred once there were attempts to codify dueling and make it seem like less of a stupid idea than it clearly was. Go back to sources from the Renaissance and earlier, and you’ll find that seemingly the bulk of techniques were grappling with a large portion of that being unarmed grappling.
It's not just Western grappling, either
It’s pretty much every Western combative art, despite the fact that many of those arts have been documented just as clearly as (and sometimes more so than) Asian combative arts.
I find catch wrestling so much more interesting than collegiate/olympic wrestling.
When grappling rules don’t allow submissions, I feel like something is just plain missing.
@scb0212
The Machiavellian.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett
by Scott C. Broussard on Jun 18, 2011 9:46 AM EDT reply actions
i, too, am fascinated by catch wrestling
i just wish it were represented by someone i could root for.
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by bobthewriter on Jun 18, 2011 10:08 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Good post KJ! I am not extremely knowledgeable about grappling, but I find myself agreeing with you. I like that Barnett is representing catch, and I hope that someone else will come along after him. It would be a shame if it falls completely into obscurity in the future.
by Horselover Fat on Jun 18, 2011 10:12 AM EDT reply actions
Beautiful article KJ
I’ve often thought the same thing regarding Catch wrestling
Can you imagine, if some of these camps, some of these fighters actually reached out to Barnett to teach the m this lost art?
If fighters like GSP were to learn catch wrestling, wouldn’t that compliment his already fantastic wrestling? With all the more options for submissions, I don’t think he’d ever be given the title of “safe” or “boring” fighter ever again
Or hell, even Anderson Silva. Instead of just learning Wrestling defence, how about just learning Catch Wrestling. I think Catch would compliment BJJ fighters very nicely. It would give BJJ fighters other options instead of in some cased being utterly dominated by superior wrestlers sitting in their guard
It baffles me that some of these camps don’t reach out to Barnett, to learn this amazing lost art, in some of these points alone
by devious1 on Jun 18, 2011 10:21 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
There is actually a very good Catch Wrestling trainer in Montreal and Joliet
Kris Iatskevich is the head of Catch Wrestling Canada, spent 5 years learning under the late Edouard Carpentier who was a Catch and Professional wrestler originally from France who settled and retired in Montreal. Carpentier was a friend of Karl Gotch as well as a contemporary of Gotch, Lou Thesz and other legitimately skilled wrestlers of that era.
I’m not 100% but i believe Ivan Menjivar trains a bit with Iatskevich.
I trained with one of Iatskevich’s students, Claude Perron, in northern Quebec for 5 weeks. Adding catch has really helped my top control and takedowns, I would advise any BJJ person to try to find a catch school and train there a little.
by I Don't Think So Jerome! on Jun 18, 2011 2:17 PM EDT up reply actions
That's cool
It’s all about evolving as a grappler by being open to different perspectives. There’s more than one way of reaching 4 beyond 2+2.
Also
BJJ still has its place in MMA. When it comes to MMA it’s now about styles, but about strategies. For MMA the guard is crucial, but what’s important is how it’s strategically used. In my opinion it’s no coincidence Miguel Torres had more success using his guard to sweep and get on top of Demtrious Johnsn then trying to submit him from his back.
For as Mixed as MMA claims to be, a lot of the ground fighting arts can still come across as relatively insular and isolated. No one art has all answers, but a healthy balance of BJJ, Catch, Sambo etc can help develop MMA Ground Fighting as a whole and take the sport to the next level.
Makes perfect sense (being a more well rounded fighter)
by devious1 on Jun 18, 2011 11:02 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Xtreme Couture
has Neil Melanson there and he’s a hybrid catch guy — comes from the Gene LeBell, Gokor Chivichyan, Karo Parisyan lineage which has a healthy infusion of judo in there but “Judo Gene” is a well-pedigreed catch master as well who learned directly from Lou Thesz, Vic Christy and Ed “Strangler” Lewis.
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by Nate Wilcox on Jun 18, 2011 11:00 AM EDT up reply actions
they've also brought
Billy Robinson in to teach them some moves a few times.
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by Nate Wilcox on Jun 18, 2011 11:00 AM EDT up reply actions
So is Catch Wrestling
the same thing as what’s seen in Combat Wrestling? Because I can watch Rumina all day. Great write up. The Joe Rogan paragraph felt extraneous, but otherwise, great read.
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by David Castillo on Jun 18, 2011 11:56 AM EDT reply actions
Yes
Combat Wrestling has deep ties to Catch Wrestling and Rumina Sato is a great example of how Catch influenced by the likes of Gotch and Inoki has adapted to straight submission grappling without a pin present. I like the idea of a pin because it changes the strategy and forces guard players to be more dynamic as opposed to possibly becoming complacent and even stalling while flat on their back (and decent guard work can’t happen when you’re flat anyway)
Also
The Rogan reference was an attempt to illustrate how you can be viewed as associated with something even if you flat out deny it or don’t think you should be, and what effects your words and actions can have on the perception of the entity you’re associated with.
No
I understood your point. I just felt like it broke the flow of the article. Just nitpicking.
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by David Castillo on Jun 18, 2011 12:54 PM EDT up reply actions
Great and much-needed piece
I remember Randy saying he’d trained more Catch for James Toney, as he thought the stay-pn-top-at-all-costs mentality meshed better with his wrestling than BJJ. It’s something I think fighters need to work on more.
Seen some of Barnett’s seminars and there are lots of aspects of catch that seem sensible for MMA – from the willingness to grind someone’s face with a forearm to make them change position, to the abundance of ‘rides’ from turtle, etc. I’d definitely like to learn more catch.
I’m really confused as to how a “stay on top at all costs mentality” is not found in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. “Position before submission” and all that. No sensible jiu-jitsu player would give up top position for guard in a competitive situation.
"With gold thou boughtest Gýmir's daughter,
and so gavest away thy sword:
but when Muspell's sons through the dark forest ride,
thou, unhappy, wilt not have wherewith to fight."
~ Lokasenna
It is found in BJJ
Especially the Carlson Gracie line of players. Some BJJ players do get too comfortable pulling guard or half guard though even if their intention is to sweep and get on top.
Pulling guard is common in BJJ, true. The infamous lacklustre BJJ takedown training means it probably isn’t going away anytime soon either. It’s also true (especially at low level) that many people pull guard without possessing the skills to make that strategy work. My point though is that statements like this:
I remember Randy saying he’d trained more Catch for James Toney, as he thought the stay-pn-top-at-all-costs mentality meshed better with his wrestling than BJJ. It’s something I think fighters need to work on more.make it sound as though BJJ advocates giving up top position for the guard, or regards guard as superior to a dominant top position, or that a BJJ coach would advise a dominant wrestler like Couture to pull guard. I have heard all of these statements from internet ignorami, and I don’t like to see them perpetuated.
BJJ places a lot of emphasis on the guard of course, but any practitioner worth their salt understands the guard’s position in the overall positional hierarchy, particularly with regard to MMA. In gi, sure, guard is a hell of a lot of fun to play. But it irritates me that the idea that BJJ solely advocates flopping to guard still survives despite Rickson, Arona, Rigan Machado, Roger Gracie etc..
"With gold thou boughtest Gýmir's daughter,
and so gavest away thy sword:
but when Muspell's sons through the dark forest ride,
thou, unhappy, wilt not have wherewith to fight."
~ Lokasenna
There's many urban myths about all sorts of arts, both grappling and striking.
BJJ isn’t just about the guard, Catch isn’t strength and no technique, wrestling isn’t just about takedowns et cetera. You’ll also find those who have been training a while are more open and receptive to cross training compared to those who are new and become enthusiastic about their art and how they believe it’s superior and defend it at all costs. Of the guys you mentioned, especially Rickson and Rigan, we know there’s been a crossover with wrestling and sambo and especially in the case of Rigan you’ll hear him be open and honest about it.
For a great documentary on catch-as-catch-can, try hunting down ‘Catch: The Hold Not Taken’ from somewhere.
by Gepetto on Jun 18, 2011 2:03 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Yep
Have it on DVD. it’s an hour long and was made about 5 years ago, and fcuses on its origins in Lancashire in England mostly, visiting places like Wigan and Bolton. But it also has (very) short interview clips with Dan Severn, Dan Gable and Tatsumi Fujinami.
Tito Ortiz
would be/would have been a great catch wrestler. He’s the guy who always comes to mind when I think of American grapplers who could have transformed their game by adapting a catch style once the rest of the sport started to evolve.
by Trust Doesn't Rust on Jun 18, 2011 2:15 PM EDT reply actions
Great read
Really enjoyed this article. Unfortunately, I don’t think that Barnett is going to be the man to bring about a revival in catch. This is because 1) he has already been fighting for 14 years and may not have that many good years left 2) he is despised by a majority of fans. I only hope that he can influence the next generation of fighters to continue to carry on the flag. Without a champion in MMA and the submission wrestling world, where it seems that BJJ is the prevalent style, I am afraid that catch will either die or continue to live out a life in obscurity.
There's a book worth reading
called ‘Rough & Tumble’ by Erik Paulson and Matthew Granahan. It’s put together in house and is more like a fan publication as it’s not quit as professional as other books, and there are quite a few grammatical, formating and even a small number of factual errors but it’s a labor of love dedicated to American Submission Grappling that serves as a good introduction to Catch Wrestling and the like.
Barnett looked great tonight.
Xtreme Couture- The best never rest! The girl in my av is Kari Sweets (you're welcome).
"I swear it upon Zeus an outstanding runner cannot be the equal of an average wrestler."
-Socrates
I thought he looked good
Stayed on top, was able to take any position he wanted, and was able to ride Rogers and let him tire himself out. He had a ‘Lemon Crusher’ neck crank a couple of times but failed to finish surprisingly, but he got the Arm Triangle / Head&Arm choke regardless.
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