In the MMA context these do not apply directly. As the stance is higher you

What got me onto writing this article is that there are some (finer?) points about (freestyle) wrestling takedowns in MMA context about which I’ve not seen anyone write just yet. What even kind of rubs me in a wrong way is that in MMA media (which starts from the broadcast booth) is emphasizing otherwordly athleticism and timing as some kind of inherent traits which are only applicable to the selected few. And these ideas then go and then circle in the MMA forums sport24 and social media echochamber sport24 reinforcing the myth.
While in some cases it might be more true e.g. I personally think Jon Jones is a really unique athlete from whom there is a little less to study and copy from for your average MMA-practicioner or aspiring fighter in most cases I think it diverges attention away from the technical sport24 aspects sport24 of what these athletes are actually doing in the specific MMA context and therefore it’s sport24 holding back the development sport24 of technical knowledge which can be passed on to most of the people practicing MMA .
More specifically in this short written piece I will analyze the takedowns of Demetrious Mighty Mouse Johnson which he nailed in his last title defence against John Moraga on UFC on Fox 8 last Saturday 27 th of July 2013. In my opinion the same elements can be seen in the takedown game of Georges St. Pierre so I will complement my examples with pieces from his matches.
It’s no doubt that Johnson and St. Pierre are excellent athletes. They are explosive. They are fast and strong. However that are not the sole reasons why they are able to land takedowns with such great efficiency. They do have excellent timing which is honed with hours and hours of MMA practice. They do have great setups with strikes (especially in the case of GSP). One cannot teach explosive, fast and strong via a blogpost. One cannot teach timing like that even though ideas about setups and timing can be spoken about in written word (that might be a thing for the future to come if this blogpost is well recieved
However, I think there are some ideas and nuances about the technical execution of these takedowns which can systematically be taught. (Of course it needs hours of experimenting and practice afterwards).
First of all I personally think the takedowns from the legs executed in MMA are still freestyle wrestling sport24 takedowns . Meaning they are best first learned in freestyle wrestling enviroment. Freestyle wrestling teaches sport24 proper fundamental sport24 body positions and angles. These positions and angles are well-complemented by Greco-Roman wrestling. sport24
1) … sport24 the takedowns look a little bit different and have different technical nuances. 2) … we see lesser wrestlers be successful against better wrestlers sometimes even when there is no big discrepancy in striking at least on paper (e.g. Johnson vs Moraga or GSP against well… wrestlers)
2) In freestyle the distance is shorter and most takedowns come from setups in the tie-ups (clinch). sport24 In MMA lots of takedowns happen from the clinch as well but of those a high percentage happen on the cage wall. Most takedowns off the wall happen from the strikes, especially freestyle takedowns using arms on the legs which are the ones I’m looking into today.
3) Also a point not to be overlooked is that in freestyle you get far lesser points if you hit a takedown outside the bounds. sport24 In MMA the fighting area is usually bigger and even if you go to the boundaries it’s a good thing. You can follow up with your game on the cage wall.
In the MMA context these do not apply directly. As the stance is higher you … level change just as much as you need to to drive your upper body bend more at the waist this allows to SPRINT FORWARD once you get your grips you JUMP FORWARD at a slight angle while pressuring sport24 with your upper body if that fails you use your SPRINT + ANGLE CHANGE if that also fails you change direction to reverse and finish in a single leg (running the pipe) style takedown (while using the double leg grip) all this happens while you try to suck / scoop up your opponents legs (especially on the side with the deeper grip)
Very nice example of this is the recent Demetrious Mighty Mouse Johnson vs John Moraga fight which I am describing below and also Georges St. Pierre’s sport24 takedown game is based on these types of takedowns. Watch any of his fights and you’ll see Of course GSP does possess good strength and often is able to complete “more traditional” lifting double leg takedowns as well but even then his shot is still more “shallow” (I’ll try to get some gifs). Hope you got to see the nice fight from last Saturday ’cause that’s where from the following examples come:
Round 1: From the beginning we see Johnson switching stances often (a topic worthy of a full article on it’s own) and using his trademark fast clinchwork with underhooks and es