Lesnar, St. Pierre, and Henderson: Good Wrestlers Win Big at UFC

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.

Finally, Jon Fitch beat Paulo Thiago in a unanimous decision.

Not the barn burner that the other fights were on the main card, but again another good display of how a wrestling background compliments a mixed martial artist so well.

Paulo Thiago is a submission specialist who had been on an 11 fight win streak of which seven were finished via submission.

Jon Fitch a Purdue wrestling standout has also trained heavily in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and the combination of the two are what allowed Fitch to take Thiago down when he wanted, defend against submission attempts and control his position through out the match.

Clearly wrestling has its place in mixed martial arts and it is probably one of the more important disciplines a fighter can have in their arsenal and there are a couple of reasons why.

Take down defence, most great wrestlers know how to sprawl and avoid the take down.

A good wrestler who holds a striking advantage over their opponent can use their take down defence to keep the fight standing. Then the wrestler can use their superior striking to out point or knock out their opponent. Chuck Liddell has demonstrated this on numerous occasions.

Take down offense, most wrestlers know how to get their opponent to the ground and get them there quickly.

Sometimes a fighter knows their opponent can knock them silly if they are forced to stand and bang. But, when a fighter knows how to wrestle, they have the comfort of knowing they can take the fight to the mat, like Matt Hughes and Brock Lesnar have done on more then one occasion.

The clinch game, a lot of wrestlers especially those trained in Greco Roman wrestling, know how to work out of the clinch.

Randy Couture an outstanding Greco roman wrestler and mixed martial artist made his living by brutalizing his opponents with dirty boxing from the clinch. One just has to watch Couture's bout with Gonzaga to see the damage that can be done out of the clinch.

Dan Henderson is another example of a strong wrestler who works great out of the clinch.

Finally control on the ground. Wrestlers know how to gain position and control an opponent on the ground. They can work effectively to gain position and use their technique to eliminate any space that some of the games better submission artists need in order to work their magic.

Lesnar showed that the ability to control your opponent on the ground combined with powerful ground and pound can be any mixed martial artist’s nightmare.

Ground control and positioning are also what made Mark Coleman’s and Tito Ortiz’s mixed martial arts career. 

Contrast this with the two other major ground and take down disciplines that are utilized in mixed martial arts and you can see the advantages that a strong wrestling base can provide.

Judo is pretty much the martial art of throwing. A great judo practitioner will be able to throw their opponent to the mat time and time again with great power and explosiveness, Karo Parisyan has demonstrated this in many of his MMA victories.

Unfortunately Judo doesn’t teach a fighter how to fight once on the ground, it only teaches the fighter how to put someone on the ground.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is probably one of the most important martial arts used in MMA along with wrestling. Submissions can allow a fighter to finish much bigger and stronger fighters. Just watch the legendary Royce Gracie tap out opponents weighing 30+ pounds more then him.

Unfortunately Jiu Jitsu doesn’t teach fighters much about how to take an opponent down effectively and if there is no space to grab a limb a Jiu Jitsu fighter is reduced to defending strikes from the top, which can be especially hard against a well trained wrestler.

Another problem with Jiu Jitsu is it teaches almost nothing about clinch work, or take down defence.

All this is not to say that wrestling is the key to winning MMA fights, but when combined with good striking or another ground discipline like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, it can be a very difficult puzzle to crack for opponents who aren't well versed in the wrestling discipline.

Clearly when combined with good striking, wrestling can neutralize many fighters no matter how strong they maybe in any other discipline. This was evidenced by Dan Henderson and his heavy right hand against Michael Bisping or Georges St. Pierre’s elusive Karate and explosive take downs against Thiago Alves.

When combined with great Jiu Jitsu a wrestler can not only control his opponent on the ground and work from dominant position, but the fighter can also defend against submissions and attempt submissions of their own. This was clearly demonstrated in the Jon Fitch/Paulo Thiago fight.

Finally, when combined with devastating ground and pound the results can be jaw dropping as was seen when Lesnar knocked out Mir from top position in their second fight this past Saturday.

Of course this is mixed martial arts and many disciplines are required to become a successful fighter.

However, UFC 100 demonstrated how the tools of a good wrestling base can be used to control a fight both standing up and on the ground, something none of the other disciplines offer.