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In the aftermath of a historical UFC 100 event, one thing is for certain, strong wrestling is a key to success in MMA, especially when combined with another discipline.
By looking at the breakdown of UFC 100 one can see that out of the 11 fights that took place on July 11, seven of the winners have a strong wrestling base.
On the main event card, four of the five winners have some of the top wrestling skills in MMA today. All 5 main event losers are not known for having a wrestling background or wrestling skills.
Dan Henderson didn’t necessarily use his wrestling to win his bout against Michael Bisping.
However, the mere fact that Henderson was a former Olympic wrestler and that Bisping is known mostly for his striking forced Bisping to keep the fight standing.
The combination of Henderson’s wrestling, tough chin and strong right hand spelled disaster for Michael Bisping.
From the get go, Henderson was landing the majority of the shots and it was clear that Henderson’s shots were doing more damage then Bisping's.
That being said, Michael had no choice, but to stand and bang with Henderson because on the ground there was no way Michael could have won the fight against Henderson.
In the second round, a strong right that Henderson committed to fully landed flush and put Bisping to sleep before he hit the mat.
A final flying right hand landed on the motionless Bisping sending him off for a CAT scan and serving him a big old slice of humble pie.
Next up was Georges St. Pierre and Thiago Alves.
Although Georges is known for his very well rounded style of fighting, his bread and butter is his ability to take down his opponent, control him and land some devastating blows from the top.
Alves is not known for his ground game. He has demonstrated excellent take down defence in previous bouts with Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck and we all knew he could bury people with his devastating Muay Thai knees and kicks.
Unfortunately for Alves, Georges St. Pierre used his superior reach to keep a safe distance between him and Alves and to out point his opponent.
Once Alves pressed forward and tried to close the distance with St. Pierre, Georges would shoot for the take down and put Thiago on his back. In fact St. Pierre took Alves down on 12 occasions out of 13 attempts, a rather staggering statistic.
Once on the ground, Alves Muay Thai was neutralized and he was reduced to defending Georges ground and pound and submission attempts. Alves couldn’t use any kind of ground offense simply because Georges maintained solid top control and didn’t leave any space for Alves to attempt any submissions.
Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar II was the main event of the night. Surprise, surprise, another wrestler turned in another dominating performance.
Brock Lesnar is a former NCAA wrestling champ and he is a physical specimen to say the least.
For as much as Frank Mir reiterated the point that strong submission skills can neutralize size and strength in the first bout between he and Lesnar.
Brock Lesnar showed that being able to control your opponent and dictate where the fight goes is equally as important.
Lesnar brushed up his submission defence not allowing Frank Mir any space to slap on an arm bar or knee bar. Lesnar smothered Mir, controlled his wrists and pounded him into darkness.
When Mir showed he could stand with Lesnar, by delivering an elbow and two devastating knees, Lesnar brought the fight back to the ground and finished the fight shortly after.
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