# mma fans bias towards bjj



## Jmac91 (Jun 17, 2009)

I may be wrong but it seems like mma fans in general have a strong bjj bias. Not only that, but mma fans seem to want to train in bjj over say wrestling. It's understandable because a person who starts bjj at say age 20 can become a high level bjj practioner. The same cannot be said for wrestling, if you don't start young you will never be any good.

Not only that but mma fans seem to always favor the Brazilian bjj practioners over the American wrestlers. It kind of pisses me off. I don't know though, tell me if I'm wrong about this.


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## RossCrispin (Aug 4, 2010)

Jmac91 said:


> I may be wrong but it seems like mma fans in general have a strong bjj bias. Not only that, but mma fans seem to want to train in bjj over say wrestling. It's understandable because a person who starts bjj at say age 20 can become a high level bjj practioner. The same cannot be said for wrestling, if you don't start young you will never be any good.
> 
> Not only that but mma fans seem to always favor the Brazilian bjj practioners over the American wrestlers. It kind of pisses me off. I don't know though, tell me if I'm wrong about this.


I've been training in both recently, and I personally prefer BJJ, however I think it's down to personal preference and what your gym offers. I'm sure not every gym will have a wrestling expert, my gym offers the mixture, so I'm trying to be more variable, and learn both.

I prefer BJJ, but really enjoy the wrestling side. However, to me, it only appears to be U.S fighters who use wrestling. So could it be because wrestling is a high school sport in the US, and isn't as mainstream elsewhere?

And are you sure you're not bringing nationalism into this, I mean. If the guy who wrestles and is American, and the BJJ practitioner is, say..Canadian. Are you being biased towards the American because you're American (Assuming you're American, of course)Fans will support who they believe is the better fighter, if they enjoy BJJ, they're gonna root for the guy with the BJJ.


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## putmeonhold (Jul 10, 2006)

Jmac91 said:


> I may be wrong but it seems like mma fans in general have a strong bjj bias. Not only that, but mma fans seem to want to train in bjj over say wrestling. It's understandable because a person who starts bjj at say age 20 can become a high level bjj practioner. The same cannot be said for wrestling, if you don't start young you will never be any good.
> 
> Not only that but mma fans seem to always favor the Brazilian bjj practioners over the American wrestlers. It kind of pisses me off. I don't know though, tell me if I'm wrong about this.



I can't agree on any of these points you make. The only MMA generalizations your thread has managed to prove is your own opinion that all MMA fans are the same.

MMA fans have a variety of tastes and expectations. In fact I would assert that a clear majority of fans favor striking over both wrestling and BJJ.

Normally I would never respond to a thread like this but I took issue with your statement that _"The same cannot be said for wrestling, if you don't start young you will never be any good."_ This is simply untrue. Case in pint: Georges St. Pierre whom as I understand it, began focusing on his wrestling later on in his short life.


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## Jmac91 (Jun 17, 2009)

putmeonhold said:


> I can't agree on any of these points you make. The only MMA generalizations your thread has managed to prove is your own opinion that all MMA fans are the same.
> 
> MMA fans have a variety of tastes and expectations. In fact I would assert that a clear majority of fans favor striking over both wrestling and BJJ.
> 
> Normally I would never respond to a thread like this but I took issue with your statement that _"The same cannot be said for wrestling, if you don't start young you will never be any good."_ This is simply untrue. Case in pint: Georges St. Pierre whom as I understand it, began focusing on his wrestling later on in his short life.


gsp never actually wrestled in a match. His wrestling is good for mma, but he would get tore up by kos, fitch, etc in an actual match.


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## KillerShark1985 (Jan 6, 2010)

Jmac91 said:


> I may be wrong but it seems like mma fans in general have a strong bjj bias. Not only that, but mma fans seem to want to train in bjj over say wrestling. It's understandable because a person who starts bjj at say age 20 can become a high level bjj practioner. The same cannot be said for wrestling, if you don't start young you will never be any good.
> 
> Not only that but mma fans seem to always favor the Brazilian bjj practioners over the American wrestlers. It kind of pisses me off. I don't know though, tell me if I'm wrong about this.


have to say that GSP, does disprove your theory on not been able to become a good wrestler even if you start late in your career, and the reason BJJ is so widely trained in MMA is because its something every MMA fighter needs to be aware of or else they will be caught out by it.

I think the reason the fans would sooner see BJJ on the ground over Wrestling is a lot to do with it been a more aggressive style, with BJJ you are looking for the finish via submission, its more active and involves more flexibility and position advances, where is wrestling is more about pinning your opponents shoulders on the floor, or winning by decision, and since in a MMA matching winning by fall is not an option, that only leaves decision, so a lot of the time when we witness a wrestler take control in a MMA fight, if it had been a wrestling match the fight would of been called by fall except instead we are stuck with watching 3x5 min falls resulting in a fairly boring decision.


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## putmeonhold (Jul 10, 2006)

Jmac91 said:


> gsp never actually wrestled in a match. His wrestling is good for mma, but he would get tore up by kos, fitch, etc in an actual match.


Irrelevant since the context in which our debate has been framed is within MMA, both from the standpoint of your own thread, which I will also point out --> You wrote this thread on "_MMA_forum.com, in the _General MMA_ section of the forum. GSP has beaten both KOS and Fitch while showcasing his wrestling skills in both of those fights.

I can understand your frustration with BJJ if you are a proponent and fan of wrestling but I respectfully say you failed miserably at supporting your argument and as such I have interpreted your thread as simply a rant.


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## Jmac91 (Jun 17, 2009)

putmeonhold said:


> Irrelevant since the context in which our debate has been framed is within MMA, both from the standpoint of your own thread, which I will also point out --> You wrote this thread on "_MMA_forum.com, in the _General MMA_ section of the forum. GSP has beaten both KOS and Fitch while showcasing his wrestling skills in both of those fights.
> 
> I can understand your frustration with BJJ if you are a proponent and fan of wrestling but I respectfully say you failed miserably at supporting your argument and as such I have interpreted your thread as simply a rant.


This was sort of a rant, since we are seeing wrestlers dominate right now, it's frusturating to see mma fans in general still root against them. My argument was also geared towards more of the sports individually and not how they are applied to mma.

I'm doing this on my itouch, it's real hard to type a proper argument on this ******* thing.


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## KillerShark1985 (Jan 6, 2010)

Jmac91 said:


> This was sort of a rant, since we are seeing wrestlers dominate right now, it's frusturating to see mma fans in general still root against them. My argument was also geared towards more of the sports individually and not how they are applied to mma.
> 
> I'm doing this on my itouch, it's real hard to type a proper argument on this ******* thing.


Not really the case, only the Welterweight division in the UFC, is truly dominated by wrestlers. in a much wider perspective of MMA, the Welterweight division is a very small part, if you could make the same argument for striking in the LHW division, but you dont because out of the top 5 in the division there are a couple of wrestlers in there, but its not exactly dominating that division or any other except WW.


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## Roflcopter (Sep 5, 2008)

That Evan Dunham guy is pretty damn good wrestler too, and a superior overall grappler....


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## putmeonhold (Jul 10, 2006)

Jmac91 said:


> This was sort of a rant, since we are seeing wrestlers dominate right now, it's frusturating to see mma fans in general still root against them. My argument was also geared towards more of the sports individually and not how they are applied to mma.
> 
> I'm doing this on my itouch, it's real hard to type a proper argument on this ******* thing.


Well I truly think the reason the MMA fans who root against wrestlers do so not because it has anything to do with the dedication or skill sets of the wrestlers, but rather (as can clearly e seen reading any number of posts on the subject) the entertainment value of a fight that is dominated by a wrestler. MMA after all is a business and is a form of entertainment. We can all stand in awe of the skill it takes to fight at that level - but no one is paying $50 per month simply because it's a high level skill. We pay to be excited and entertained and wrestler's do not often live up to those expectations.

There are of course some exceptions, notably Matt Hughes and Chael Sonnen.


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## E Lit Er Ate (Aug 28, 2010)

the top 2 draws in the UFC are wrestlers.


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## R3353 (Aug 10, 2009)

I train BJJ and really enjoy it and also really like watching sport BJJ also, a lot of mma fans would not though. I don't really have much interest in watching wrestling though. The aim of BJJ is to finish the fight a get a sub. Wrestling the aim in to pin the person and control them. I think BJJ can be a bit more flashy and pleasing on the eye so that is why people may prefer it.


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## BearInTheClinch (Sep 14, 2010)

Jmac91 said:


> gsp never actually wrestled in a match. His wrestling is good for mma, but he would get tore up by kos, fitch, etc in an actual match.


that's not really important tho...
and the Canadian Olympic team disagrees with you as they have asked him to consider coming out for the Olympics
but maybe you know better then them


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