Grappling Styles

The rise of mixed martial arts competitions has created a huge surge of people looking for martial arts schools that teach grappling. Striking in the sport is important, but anyone who has watched a UFC bout knows that many fights end up on the ground. People compete at a high level in the various MMA circuits after training in one or several of the grappling styles that are out there.

  1. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

    • Probably the most commonly applied grappling style today, because of the MMA craze, is Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Most specific styles of Brazilian Jju-jitsu being used today in training fighters are descended from the style developed by the Gracie family. This grappling style gained huge recognition when the Gracies began competing against fighters from around the world and dominating the field of mixed martial arts with their powerful grappling technique.

    Wrestling

    • Wrestling as an Olympic sport exemplifies the types of moves needed to have a strong ground and takedown game in mixed martial arts fighting. Wrestling is perhaps the quintessential Western grappling style. It offers some strong points that any practitioner would do well to consider. One of its strengths as a style is strong takedowns. Wrestling takedowns typically require a fair bit of strength, but the landing position is usually one that leaves you in a prime position for making an opponent submit after you have taken him down.

    Sambo

    • Sambo is the official martial art of Russia. It is an aggressive art that combines most of the elements that an MMA fighter needs for a well-rounded skill set. Striking is also prevalent in Sambo, but its combination of judo and wrestling-like techniques makes it a very effective takedown and ground game martial art. Martial artists who compete in MMA study a version of Sambo closer to that studied by Russian soldiers than the one practiced as a sport in Russia. Sport Sambo bears more relation to judo than MMA.

    Japanese Arts

    • A collection of traditional Japanese martial arts have elements of grappling incorporated into them. Some are more suited than others for MMA fighting, but all have valuable knowledge. The original form of jiu-jitsu is a Japanese art that was later adapted by the Brazilians. Traditional jiu-jitsu is still a very affective grappling art. Judo is also a very effective throwing art, and many fighters take some judo training and supplement it with other training that emphasizes more chokes and strikes, which are more or less absent from the art. Finally, there is aikido. This is an extremely effective martial art, practiced famously by Steven Seagal, but it takes many years to learn. The skill level required to effectively apply aikido requires that a person train for many more years than he would have to in an art like Brazilian jiu-jitsu in order to be an effective grappler.