For years the debate has been raging in the MMA world about which is better, BJJ, or wrestling to form a sound basis in MMA. To be fair the war has been fought mostly off the arena online from laptops and phones rather than using combative techniques face to face. But we’re not trying to decide which one is superior. Just laying out the facts about which sport gives you the appropriate skills to excel in MMA.
Put simply, both sports have a lot to contribute to making you a well rounded MMA fighter. BJJ works on your body and mind equally instilling great qualities in you such as having a level head and keeping your composure under pressure. Wrestling on the other hand is more intense and is relentless in its drive to pin the opponent down and come up on top.
It’s no wonder then that many BJJ players dabble in wrestling to build up their physical strength and stamina and get a taste of that competitive spirit that distinguishes professional wrestlers and give wrestling that global appeal. As you can see the topic is more complex than first meets the eye so we’ll try to lay it out here without taking sides.
BJJ vs Wrestling
We all know how the practitioners of each sport claim superiority over the other. Wrestlers allege that BJJ is too mild and genteel to be even considered MMA. They brag about their strength and how they can take any BJJ player with their physique and skills alone. But are they right?
BJJ players on the other hand admire the ferocity that wrestlers show in their ground work but believe that BJJ is a more wholesome sport that builds the player from the inside out and makes them a better fighter and human being at the same time.
What both camps fail to understand is that there’s a huge difference between the two sports. Wrestling is a sport built upon aggression. Its sole purpose is to bring the adversary to the ground and wipe the floor with them both literally and figuratively. Wrestling has its roots in Greek heritage where being civil or courteous to your enemy was the last thing on anyone’s mind at the time. To put it plainly, your goal as a wrestler was to beat your opponent to a pulp, and if they lose a limb, an eye, or get horribly disfigured that’s just an added entertainment to the cheering crowds.
BJJ on the other hand is a self-defense sport. We can’t really stress this enough. The point of learning the skills and techniques that BJJ has to offer is not to leave your rival a bloody mess on the street, but to defend yourself against aggression and leave with your body, wallet, and dignity intact. You’re not instigating the confrontation, rather, you’re putting a bully in their place. And you do it without the intention of causing harm or scarring the aggressor for life.
So how the two fare in any comparison depends on the angle you choose and the criteria you use to judge. If you’re thinking in terms of raw power and cascading testosterone then wrestling wins hands down. Wrestlers are notoriously grandstanders and unabashed showboats. Ego is the number one denominator in the hallowed halls of the wrestling realm.
In BJJ, the ego is the enemy. A player who has too much ego will not progress far in their journey and will be stuck for years with a blue belt around their waist and lots of flaws in their style and defects in their game. Bravado is a no no in BJJ and if there’s one thing that black belts in the sport have in common besides their immense skill it’s their own humility which they show both on and off the mat.
Which Is Better For MMA?
With that in mind, we can now move on to answer the pressing question on everyone’s mind. If you want to become a better MMA fighter, which sport is better for you, BJJ, or wrestling? Should you start to the rigorous training and discipline of BJJ or will wrestling build up your skills and body to survive an MMA match?
Not to be pedantic, but this question has an inherent contradiction in the way it is phrased. Let me explain. MMA stands for mixed martial arts. The operative word here is mixed. You’re not just focussing on a single style of combat. Rather, it’s a mix of grappling, ground fighting, and striking. If you look closely you’ll notice that these techniques cover more than just one sport or system.
BJJ and Judo are superior in grappling while Karate excels in striking. Wrestling takes ground fighting and striking to whole new levels. Now if you put all those sports together you get MMA. So if you want to be a better MMA fighter you’ll need more than just one discipline to give you the skills and techniques you need.
But if we limit our scope to just those two sports, BJJ and wrestling, and if you really had to choose just one either out of time constraints or other reasons, then BJJ is the sport for you. Why?
The answer has to do with the immense variety of techniques that BJJ offers. The fact that it’s a self-defense discipline doesn’t mean the sport creates passive players. Not by a long shot. A BJJ black belt or even a brown belt can take down a professional wrestler twice their size. More on this later. When composure coupled with competency meets raging raw power on the mat who do you think will win?
The BJJ player wins. If a wrestler gets pinned down or finds themselves in a bad position they rely on their muscle to power themselves out of it. But that doesn’t always work, not when the BJJ player knows what they’re doing. On the other hand, a BJJ player is adept at escaping bad situations and getting themselves out of tight spots. Let’s not forget that BJJ is all about skill and techniques in the face of raw aggression and larger opponents.
In other words, BJJ teaches you enough skills to survive duels, escape tough positions, and control your opponent’s movement. Wrestling teaches you to overpower your opponent and go after them with everything you got. In MMA you need both, but BJJ is more essential for success than wrestling.
How to Combat a Wrestler on the BJJ Mat?
Again we’re not siding with one sport against the other. They both have a lot to teach you and make you a better MMA fighter. But just in case you still have lingering doubts about the outcome of a match or duel between an intense and bulky wrestler and a talented BJJ practitioner, let me state here that my money is on BJJ.
Don’t get me wrong, strength is important, and even BJJ advocates and encourages players to build their strength as a means of survival and overcoming their opponents. But on the mat in a face off between a wrestler and a BJJ player, BJJ wins. There are many techniques that BJJ uses to bring the wrestler down and keep them pinned.
One of the most effective ways to put the wrestler on the defensive is to get them on their back. This renders them powerless. The wrestler is famously more comfortable on their feet. So executing a sweep to get them on their back not only will mess with their technique but also open a hole in their defenses and leave them vulnerable.
Another advantage of sweeping the wrestler off their feet is that they are trained not to let their back touch the ground. When a wrestler falls, they assume the turtle position as a defense tactic. This opens them up to an offensive attempt from the BJJ player from a superior position.
And then there’s the choke. A choke is an unfamiliar situation in the wrestling world. We’re of course talking about the gi chokes such as loop chokes, and baseball chokes. When the wrestler finds themselves trapped in that choke they are powerless and defenseless. They neither have the technique nor wherewithal to get out of it. In a famous face off between BJJ and wrestling, BJJ black belt Andre Galvao dominated MMA champ, Chael Sonnen, using chokes and sweeps.
A wrestler is all about going after the opponent relentlessly. Their MO is to attack and keep attacking with an unrelenting onslaught until the opponent gives up. So an effective way to take them off their A game is to slow down the rhythm. They become flustered and frustrated. Every attack is thwarted so they make mistakes. This opens them up for a successful offense to pin them down and finish them off.
The bottom line here is, MMA takes more than just one sport or discipline to achieve success. If you’re serious about your MMA journey, then you’ll need both BJJ and wrestling. You’ll learn more from mixing your practice and training than if you focus on just one of them.