I still think BJJ is better for MMA and street fighting because of the submission holds. Having said that wrestling produces far superior athletes and the reason why they are now dominating MMA. BJJ is run more like a business whereas wrestling has an athletic organization. Every high school in the country has a wrestling program and they attract and develop real athletes. Not only do they draw on a much larger pool but a much superior group as well. Anybody can join a BJJ school and if they stay long enough and pay their fees they will get their Black Belts. There are no belts in wrestling and not everyone is cut out for it and the coaches won't lose a penny if you quit.
Also, the style, the mindset of a wrestler, is much more suited to real fighting. If you watch a BJJ tournament there is a lot of dead time where because of the gi you can just hold your opponent and get to rest and catch your breath. In wrestling there is no gi and you have to learn to use your body weight to control your opponent which is much more useful in a fight. And most of the advance moves in BJJ is done from the guard position. Being on your back, especially when not wearing a gi, is not a good position to be in in a fight where you can drop bombs.Wrestlers are born and bred to fight to be on the top position. Lastly, wrestling is much more intense and faster paced than BJJ so wrestlers are some of the most conditioned athletes in the world. What they put those kids through in those Mid West wrestling programs are pretty close to torture.
All else being equal, a wrestler who has learned BJJ at a certain level will always beat a BJJ player who has learned wrestling at an equal level.
You're correct sir.. however modern BJJ practitioners don't train for street, mainly for competition. Which has screwed on what BJJ was originally intended for.
I early days of
Vale Tudo(No hold barred fights)- Brazil, BJJ fighters were prepared for any situation they would end. Having a lot of muscle cost a lot of gas and you would end up losing a fight in a NO-time limit fight, which was very common those days. They were a lot of wrestler that ended up adapting BJJ, in fact that's how
"Luta livre" was found by a champion wrestler named
Euclydes Hatem and thus the rivarly between
BJJ vs Luta livre. Those days it was common to see people walking in GI's as a everyday clothes.
Reason why now the Gracie family calls their art
"Gracie Jiu-Jitsu", focusing on what the art was originally intended for.
