5 Most Used Martial Arts in MMA

#4 Wrestling

It would be totally satisfying to see these two wrestling heavyweights go at it in the near future.

MMA can be broadly bifurcated into two major categories: striking and grappling. We may all love to see the explosive strikers stand and bang in the center of the Octagon, however; grappling is just as important as the stand-up aspect of the sport.

In its earlier days, UFC picked up the most savage athletes from the collegiate wrestling scene and put them inside a cage. This UFC tried something new to counteract the growing popularity of MMA in Japan and it worked wonders. Wrestling has since been given great emphasis in training as it the bedrock of MMA.

There is a reason why many accomplished wrestlers thrive in MMA as it embodies fighting in its ruthless alacrity. Everything about MMA today has the imprints of wrestling all over it. Wrestling enables fighters to execute different types of takedowns and get into dominant positions on the ground for submissions. Wrestling is all about overpowering your opponent and MMA is all about being imposing inside the Octagon. Case in point; Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Daniel Cormier.

Additionally, a wrestler who has good hands is probably the scariest proposition for any fighter. Thus, wrestlers who transition to MMA are encouraged to improve their striking as it helps them in not getting caught on the feet. Using Muay Thai and boxing to set up single and double leg takedowns while also adopting a combination of various wrestling forms such as Greco Roman, Catch, Folkstyle and Freestyle to command the fight on the ground would be a wrestler's perfect gameplan in an MMA fight. It may be boring to watch at times but it can extremely brutal to the eye if the ground and pound get intense.

Wrestling also increases the endurance levels of fighters as it's a physically exhausting activity. Fighters with a wrestling background are known to have an inexhaustible gas tank which easily lasts for the entirety of a five-round fight.

Popular UFC Fighters with the best wrestling:

Daniel Cormier

Ben Askren

Yoel Romero

Henry Cejudo

Demetrious Johnson

Anthony Johnson

Randy Couture

Brock Lesnar

Chael Sonnen

Ken Shamrock

Mark Munoz

Dan Henderson

Johnny Hendricks

George St Pierre

Dan Severn

Mark Coleman

Chris Weidman

While wrestling is one of the core facets of MMA, there is another grappling form that supersedes wrestling in terms of popularity and lineage in MMA...