Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
Discussions on improving your BJJ, navigating mat-politics and all aspects of the jiu jitsu lifestyle. Multiple weekly episodes for grapplers of any level. Hosted by JT and Joey - Australian jiu jitsu black belts, strength coaches, and creators of Bulletproof For BJJ App. Based out of Sydney, Australia
Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
Grappling vs Striking: Which Is Better For MMA?
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A good martial artist does not become tense, but ready. Essentially, at this point the fight is over, so you pretty much flow with the goal. Who is worthy to be trusted with the secret to limitless power? I'm ready. Grappling is greater than striking for MMA. Oh, recently, joe, we had a very dominant display of wrestling versus striking. A classic style matchup in MMA comes up to my of being extremely dominant against DDP. But we've seen it before and it really you know, it's been talked about before that just wrestling makes a difference in MMA.
Speaker 1:The fair weather fans at pubs around the world were up in arms. That was so upsetting. I didn't come here to see this gay shit. I was in the pub having this old boy pull up to me no, I prefer boxing personally and I was like, bro, you're in the wrong pub, you're watching the wrong thing, get lost. This is not what that's going to be. And look, even Rob Whittaker had said if you thought the match was boring, then you are a casual. That was his take right. And look, I would have loved to have seen Kamsa maybe submit DDP, you know, but he's a tough guy, he, you know. He fought that a lot. But what was so frustrating about.
Speaker 1:It was Drikus' just total lack of regard for the standard of wrestling that comes up to my hat. He was standing super high. He's throwing a kick. You're like bro, do you want to get taken down? Yeah, what are you doing? And I think it was Dominic Cruz was saying this is the era of the wrestler. Like you know, like grappling was going to come to dominate MMA more and more, because he's talking about Islam as well. Like how dominant he has been using his grappling. I mean, obviously he can strike too. He's had KOs but really it's off this base of elite level wrestling which is nullifying the ability for strikers to do their thing. Yeah, and we've seen many kind of famous examples of it before.
Speaker 1:I was actually talking to a random guy. There was a guy there at the pub with his kid and his kid was just running wild. He's like yeah, sure, son, whatever you need. He's like dad, can I have another Coke? He's like yep, here's 10 bucks, just sort it out. I'm watching the fights. You know he's having some beers on a Saturday, whatever. And anyway, he's like he's seen that I'm paying attention to the fights. He's like oh, what do you reckon? And I said, mate, I think this is going to be like a Khabib Connor type setup. Really, if the striker can't get in those good shots, it's just a matter of time Like the grappler is going to wear that person down, take them down and you know, most likely finish them and you know. Obviously we have the advantage of retrospect to see how that played out.
Speaker 1:But if someone has that elite level wrestling pedigree and that's the thing that people I think people don't appreciate as much as people know comes out is crazy guy, tough guy, been fighting a long time. He was training with the Russian team. Essentially he was doing rounds with satellite of you time. He was training with the Russian team. Essentially he was doing rounds with Satellaev. You know he was training under the Satiev brothers coach, the original coach. His name is Dmitry Mindiashvili. I'm saying that wrong, but yeah, like the legendary coach, right and so Maybe a Georgian? Well, I don't know, I don't think he's Georgian. Well, I don't know, I don't think he's Georgian. Could be a fucking Georgian, I don't think he's Georgian. Anyway, it says he's Russian and I think on the countdown it actually because it showed him he was training at this elite Russian facility and he was pointing out Sadalayev and Satiev brothers. And then I think they actually had they showed a clip of him training with satiev as an old man.
Speaker 1:Maybe adam, uh, busavir busavir has passed away. Rp, oh, wow, legend of the game. But it might have been. Maybe adam satiev his brother, yeah, okay, but they're both legends and and I think this is the thing that we, you know, don't get me wrong when you look at like an elite level striker of any sort, it's taken them their lifetime to be that elite. You know, like it's taken them 20 years since they were boxing, since they were eight or whatever it might be. But without a proper plan for the wrestling, it's just you can't do anything without footwork.
Speaker 1:Striking is really based on that distance control and and footwork and everything like that. And really, you know, we've seen, like you know, comes out, shoot from. You know, when he shot in on Rob Whitaker, he shot in from the other side of the cage. Yeah, he shoots from such a distance, he's so fearless, he's not afraid to get need in the head. He's just like, yep, he's just like yep, I'm coming in, I'm taking you down. And then they talk about ride time or control time, where I think it was the second highest amount of control time in the history of UFC. It was like 21 minutes 40 seconds Just on him In a 25-minute fight, just on him the whole time. Pretty absurd, yeah.
Speaker 1:And look, yeah, I mean how did you feel about that match and what did you take from the kind of wrestling in that I mean I like the match, uh, you know, I, I. I think for anyone that's like mildly engaged in the sport, it's not, it's not just the fight, right, it's the whole context of it. Yes, and so contextually, it was fucking sick. Yes, you know, comes out, did what you would expect, comes out to do, to do. And I was disappointed in Drikus because and I mean the guy's obviously a great fighter, but just the fact that he had zero answer for the wrestling I thought I gave him, I was like first two rounds, yeah, the strategy might be to let comes out, like burn up a bit of juice in control positions Because, like holding that crucifix and shit, like none of that's easy, right?
Speaker 1:No, and this is the casuals, don't get this. But to lie on top of someone in that way, controlling both of their arms, and be able to fucking hold against them a monstrous, strong, kind like Dreykus yeah, that's so hard to do, yes, and so you know people like why didn't he, you know, why didn't he hit him? Why didn't he posture up and fight? And you're like, cause you lose the position, like if you've been there, yeah, right, it's hard to be there. No-transcript.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, so that was disappointing, but I reckon there's something like I don't know, I almost there wasn't even any jujitsu, right, like it's MMA, and so there was even some comments from a few commentators saying he didn't even go to like a guard, like if you know you're getting taken down. At least a point of safety is not side control. Yeah, even though there was moments of like kind of half guard, which was kind of half assed. If he'd done something to put his legs between himself and comes up like at least that would have provided some form of defense. Yeah, but there was none of that which is, yeah, yeah, regardless of if you are someone who watches the uc sometimes or you watch it all the time and you're obsessed with it, yeah, it was so, um, there's such a stark contrast when we compare other matches that Kamsat's had and he's been met with more resistance, yeah, and I think that that was the big tell, wasn't it? That's like you think about his earlier fights where he's met guys who can wrestle, can grapple Usman.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of people talking about how well that fight has aged, with Usman's ability to defend the takedown and hang with him and strike with like put some work on him. Yeah, and Usman took that like when he was on the downhill and, yeah, I actually think the best, the greatest challenge to Kamzat Chamayev has been Gilbert Doreno Burns. He dropped him. He also took him down, like Gilbert Burns, who fights at lightweight and obviously a multiple-time world champion, like Gi world champion, two times no-gi world champion, like one of the best no-gi grapplers and super seasoned, beat the fuck out of him. Like obviously took a beating too. You know he took a lot of damage, but that was such a close fight, yeah, you know, and so you look at that and you go. Well, the only way to really challenge the pedigree of Kamsats wrestling is someone that's got elite level wrestling and potentially jiu-jitsu as well. Yeah, you've got to be able to offer some kind of resistance against his number one skill set. I mean, you know where I where dracus to give him credit, where he did offer resistance. He he didn't let comes up, choke him no, that was good, and he didn't let him. He didn't let him fucking. Uh, arm lock him or shoulder lock him in the crucifix, which is what you're like. All right, fair enough. But I mean, whatever you look at the outcome.
Speaker 1:Just a quick note on what it made me feel about Dreykus. I'll just say this for maybe some other people feeling this I didn't like Dreykus when I first saw him. No, he's a polarizing character and, like the Dean of Mean, keith Jardine, awkward, has an ugly style, awkward and and you know, you come, if you appreciate guys like Anderson Silva or Alex Pajero or fucking, or guys like comes out, or Khabib like, who have beautiful movement. Yeah, you look at a guy like like Drikus and you're like, oh, like it's ugly, right, but uh, there was a.
Speaker 1:I feel like, at least for me and for a lot of people around me, we actually all started to appreciate Dekus a bit. You're like, fuck, the guy has a really ugly fighting style, but it's effective. Yeah, and look what he's done. Right, he fucking smashed everyone, at least in all the fights preceding this one. And also I like his personality. I've come to appreciate him as a troll and just as a character, you're like, fuck good on this guy.
Speaker 1:But when he lost in that way, I mean, it doesn't undo all the stuff I like about him but you're like, fuck, maybe all that hype was just. Maybe it was just hype, maybe he wasn't, maybe it was just a flash in the pan in terms of this guy that was unorthodox, with this rough style, was able to fuck up a few of the top guys of that moment, but then, as a fighter, but stylistically, the UFC is moving its pieces. Right. We've got the elite wrestler over here. We're going to find out who's the elite striker over here and then we're going to put them together. We do see this orchestration in the same way. They kept how did that with who? Well, no, who is the elite level wrestler that Drixus has beaten? Yeah, yeah. Do you know what I'm like? Yeah, so that's what I'm saying here and you know this is whatever we're getting.
Speaker 1:I digress, but if you look at how the ufc builds up its champions, you know, like you've. Were they protecting him from that? Yeah, or were the circumstances protecting him? Like yeah. Was it just that, like, all those top guys were like upright fucking strikers? Yeah, but that's I mean, why did? Why did he strickland? But why did they keep ddp away from comes out for so long? You know like, why didn't they meet sooner? Well, I think I think they probably never wanted comes out at the top, did they? Yeah, but I mean, it's just well, I don't think that's necessarily true. I think he's probably proving to be more popular and it's the same thing with khabib. I mean, I, I don't think Dana ever wanted Khabib to be champion, because Connor was his golden boy, right.
Speaker 1:But you've got to look at the numbers and you've got to go. You know what did. What did? What did Khabib say? He said Ireland, you know, 15 million, 30 million, russia, 250 million, I million, I kill you, I smash your boy. Your little chicken, you know like, comes up.
Speaker 1:Has it seemed huge fan base in the um in chicago, which is where the fight was right, like the level of cheering he was getting in chicago was, oh yeah, huge and and ddp was getting booed and I don't know if it's just because he's got that villain troll persona, right, yeah, but if we throw to someone like Khabib, who was very hostile towards Dana and the organization and kind of didn't give a fuck, that was just unstoppable. And actually what's funny is I've seen a highlight or it shouldn't be a highlight, it's all of like Khabib's worst punches he's ever thrown, oh yeah, where he just runs in and like completely like misses, but then somehow finds a way to the takedown. Yeah, you know. But the dominance of being able to control the fight and we've seen it so many times, like you know, like, even if we look at Bilal Muhammad against Leon Edwards Leon Edwards, who's tough as hell, an amazing striker, who beat Usman and then gets absolutely mauled, beat Usman twice, Dude, I couldn't believe he beat Usman the second time no, the confidence is, yeah, you could see the difference from the first to the second. I think, yeah, but then, yeah, bilal's just like I'm just going to ragdoll this cunt I mean maybe that was a bad night for leon edwards, but I mean, obviously it was a bad night, but like, maybe he didn't look quite as good, but yeah, he just got controlled and mauled. And that's what we see with so many elite strikers. That's what khabib did everyone, even if we're talking about daniel cormier, right? Oh bro, I shared a highlight clip of dc on my instagram because I just like I fucking love watching that guy's like wrestling in MMA highlights. Yeah, he was just so fucking dominant, yes, um. And yeah, he ragdolled everyone. Yeah, you know even people that beat him. He still ragdolled them. Yeah, that's right. I mean not Jones, but he ragdolled Stipe. But I think what people underestimate about John Jones is that he's Greco. Roman wrestling is pretty elite. He's clinch works elite. Yeah, I mean, jones is elite everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. And you know, in his prime, like you, just he's mixture of grappling and striking and that's what makes him so great.
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Speaker 1:Today we were talking about this grappler-striker matchup and it got me thinking and I actually had a flash of it when drichas uh, I think in the fifth round, when drichas managed to get on comes out to back and you're like, oh my god, is he. It was. I think there was 50 seconds left. Something gonna happen here. Yeah, and uh, it made me think chal son and anderson silver. Oh, there's the matchup you've been asking for before, that match being the oracle.
Speaker 1:No, I had said to a group of friends in Canada as well. I'd said I actually think Chael Sonnen is the kind of rough and tumble brawler. He hasn't got the skill, but he's got that fuck you and the toughness, that kind of stifles skill. I didn't know. I wasn't like a huge fan of his. I was a big Anderson Silva fan. I still expected Anderson to win. But I thought to myself is this where the brawler beats the striker and bro Chael beat the shit out of him, out of fucking Anderson in that match? I was like God damn, he fucking crueled him for like four rounds and four and three quarter rounds, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then, in front of those that didn't see it, anderson Silva pulls out a triangle from guard Dude, like in the last 20 seconds and you're like if Charles Sondland had just poshed it up and stood out of the guard and just walked around the ring, that would have been it. Yeah, that would have changed the trajectory of history. He was so tired, yeah it. Yeah, that would have changed the trajectory of history. He was so tired, it was so. Yeah, it was, it was outrageous.
Speaker 1:But but yeah, I mean, you know, look, the counter to this, the counter to this dominance thing is then you see a guy like Alex Perheta Sure and of course he hasn't. I didn't even see the Ankalayev fight. A lot of takedowns in it, right, no, but you've got to say that, like anchor live has superior grappling. Like just, he has a not the same pedigree as as like islam or you know, but he's, he, he's trained with the best russian wrestlers in the world, but he also has heavy fucking hands and a concrete chin. Yeah, right, so that really dictates what happens. Like he'll take the shots, he'll throw the shots. You can't take him down.
Speaker 1:Like, I think this is the thing that we're, what we're underestimating here, cause I know there's plenty of my friends out there keep boxing and boxing aficionados Shout out Kyle, he loves boxing, even though he's not that good at boxing. Um, I don't know if he's going to hear this clips. I love watching rugby league and I'm shit ass. Yeah, you know, whatever you're a fan, that's cool, uh. But he's always like yeah, elite level boxing, I'm like no dude.
Speaker 1:Like elite level boxing is predicated on your ability to stay on your feet. There's no elite level boxing when you're on your back, like it's, you know, it's fucking nowhere. And it's that idea that the wrestling dictates where the fight is. And if you've also got hands where you're like well, I want to stand and bang, well, you can't take me down, this is bad for you, you know. So I think it's this idea of, of being able to control the fight which people just it's just been so underestimated because the UFC rewards the knockouts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, if you look at guys like um, like Justin Gaethje, who's who's, who's a great wrestler in his own right and has great hands, and because he has great wrestling, he can just choose to throw hands the whole time. Yes, he's got excellent takedown defense and so he shuts that shit down. He forces his opponent to stay on their feet. Now, obviously, khabib came in and just wrestled the fuck out of him, sure, but that's like another level up. Yeah, that's right. But so, yeah, it's almost like the, if you have that wrestling base, it buys you the privilege of. No, I'm just going to keep it on the feet today, thanks, sure, you know, yeah, and I mean, look, there's always exceptions to the rule, like, for example, like Bo Nickel, right, everyone was like really hyping up Bo Nickel and then he took a bunch of knees to the body which buckled him, yeah, and then he got fucked up, right, is that Deridia?
Speaker 1:I'm not sure. Actually, maybe please check, I can't remember. I remember watching the match and just seeing him eat those knees. Yeah, oh, my rib cage. I was like, oh, fuck. And you know, like Bo, elite level wrestler. But that's the thing it's like.
Speaker 1:Obviously, strategy, um, strategy is what it's is all about. But if we're looking at submission versus ko, really the, the usc rewards the ko. The fight of the night is always the spinning elbow or the flying knee, right, because everyone's like, whoa, yeah, even though we'd love to see a finish and I was very much, I was really hoping that we'd see a finish in that, in that match, because I thought that could happen. You know, uh, drick is too tough on that. Ultimately, um, it's so much more of a grind, it's so much less spectacular. Oh yeah, the, the, the work to make that happen, yeah, so, even though it's not sexy, it doesn't lend itself to a highlight. No, even though you do see highlights of people finishing even you know Dricker's finished a bunch of people. Well, the submission does the submission, but the wrestling control ride time doesn't. No, yeah, and I mean only if you see a spectacular takedown, do people go whoa? Yeah, you know, immaculate. But I think there's so many examples of when someone has comparable striking or maybe they're not as good as this, striker, like fighter B is not as competent as fighter A, but good enough to not get knocked out that then the wrestling plays a part and I think you saw this when Nate Diaz beat Conor. I think you saw this when Rafael Dos Anjos beat Nate Diaz, just absolutely took him for a fucking ride. We were talking about that before.
Speaker 1:That was peak Darsenius on the gear, wasn't it All juice to the night. He was unbelievable. I mean, he was a great straight, he was a kickboxer. He was one of my greatest sort of disappointments of when they brought in the increased dope testing. Yes, because he was just like was it? He just went. He was five rounds like an energizer bunny and leg kicking and everything, yeah, doing everything all the time. Yeah, just crazy level. And then he just dropped back down to human status Like Vitor. Yeah, yeah, went from God. They just popped him God mode and then, yeah, and I look, I think, the thing we can take away from all of this, it doesn't matter which side of the argument you're on, whether you think striking is more important or you think like it is.
Speaker 1:Even if you're like, that old boy is like oh, I prefer the boxing, it doesn't matter what the fuck you prefer, dude, they can wrestle. And if wrestling really dictates where the fight is, you've. The standard has gone so high. Now when, when the champion is an Islam Makachev or it comes up Chamayev, then well, fucking hell, you better be a world champion, at whatever standard you're at, to be able to deal with that. And I think, now that this is the case, I don't know who they've got in the division to be able to deal with him. No, they've currently got their talent scouts fucking trawling Russia trying to find the next guy. I mean, bro, who we got To be able to deal with him. No, they've currently got their talent scouts fucking trawling Russia Trying to find the next guy.
Speaker 1:I mean, bro, it's who we got. We got from that eastern side of the you know the European, north Asian world. We got fucking Dwalishvili Merab, yeah, yeah, georgian. We got Kamsat. We got Islam Actually, islam's not a champion right now because he vacated his belt to challenge Jack de la Magdalena. Oh, right, right, yeah, so he's not there. But you know, we got Islam. We got fucking Ankhalaev. Yes, like there's a lot, if you think of who's at the top of the brackets. Yeah, yeah, you know it's, it's, it's these guys that have a strong wrestling foundation that are real motherfuckers to deal with.
Speaker 1:And the UFC, I mean, it's always, it's always been funny to me because America has such a problem with Russia. Well, I think, I think, actually, uh, big big D had to step in and make a special pardon for Islam to be able to, for, for, for, for comes up to come back to the U S. Big D, yeah, islam to be able to, for a Kamsat to come back to the US, big D, yeah, big Donald, oh, really, yeah, he had to have a special visa allowance because he'd gotten into some kind of trouble that they weren't going to let him in. Yeah, okay, and then Dana's been yeah, I mean, he has close ties to the Chechen fucking dictator, ramada. Yeah, yeah, you know. Yeah, there's a whole bunch of shit there, right, but but it's interesting because they're so like hey, russia's the enemy, they're the fucking communists, whatever, but it's like hey, but we love their fighters in the ufc. These guys are great, let's get them out here. Dana's on the phone, and that's what I mean. You get a presidential pardon.
Speaker 1:It would be very hard to imagine that a conversation has not taken place between big d and, uh, the other big dana, dana, in terms of Donald saying hey, mate, I need some fucking American. Like, I need some all Americans in there. Bring back Michael Chandler, fuck it, I'll even take Conor McGregor, We'll call him American. Like I need some. You know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah, like, who are all these guys with names I can't pronounce? Yeah, it's a challenge, but I mean, this is the truth of fighting.
Speaker 1:It doesn't matter how biased you are. You know like, you saw Dana's face when Bilal Muhammad won, right, like Dana's like fuck, I was too busy looking at my own. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing I don't want to hate on Bilal, no, no, no, respect to that guy, respect, he's tough as hell, it's just a style. That's not, as you know, sure, but then you know you're a spoiled fan. You want, you want the fucking exciting shit. But then you look at jack, della came through and pieced him up yeah, right, but I think that was also. Jack also has that elite level anti-wrestling which he also got from fucking craig jones. Right, I think the right strategy implemented is the way, but the truth, the truth will out. So either you're fucking good enough or you're fucking not, and the result will be the result. And it doesn't matter what the UFC wants. You know it's. Actually it would be remiss of us not to drop. You know cause?
Speaker 1:You mentioned JDM just now and Craig Jones, fucking Volkanovski, of course, volk against Islam. The way he was able to, yeah, the way he was able to fucking shut down Islam's wrestling, just nullify it, yeah, and then turn that into his. So, you know, maybe Dreek has got partway but couldn't fulfill the. You know, now you got to put some punishment on the back of this defense. Yeah, I mean, there was a lot of ride time there for Islam.
Speaker 1:But I think the thing that people forget is at no point was Volk in danger. No, like Volk the whole time was like punching him in the face and being like fucking, you know, classic. And I think the thing that he was spiritually ahead on that fight, yeah, and Islam was you could see in his face. You know, they always have those close-ups of like Islam, looking like kind of semi-, semi extra chromosome, like just not, I'm just shocked, bro. He and he was even saying in the corner, they kind of, you know, they cut to the corner, chat and then he's so strong that's what he was saying khabib's like what are you doing? And he's like, he's so strong, like people. Just I I think that the strength of you know, obviously we have our bias, but if you have the ability to counter the wrestling and you have the athletic advantage, it makes a huge difference. But right now the wrestlers are dominating. Love it or hate it, that is what it is. You.
