Folk style or Freestyle Wrestling for mma

[Mason Magboo]

Folk style and freestyle wrestling are very similar however, there are different rules in each style. Which style is more effective in MMA? Folk style or freestyle?

 

[jojoRed]

Sambo

 

[Fluffernutter]

Folk.

No standups

 

[WaylonMercy5150]

Wrestling is boring unless it is the fake kind. Just ave em box it out

 

[MikeyB]

Folkstyle, but to be honest that's what every American kid starts with essentially.

 

[dembones22]

Folk style and freestyle wrestling are very similar however, there are different rules in each style. Which style is more effective in MMA? Folk style or freestyle?

Both can be effective. But the key is to adapt your style to MMA. Staying in strong wrestling positions is key. Never concede being in the guard position unless you are put there. Side control and using a hard leg ride is where you can inflict damage with strikes and maintain control of your opponent. Also you need to develop a solid boxing base. You don't need to be world class but decent fundamentals in boxing will greatly increase the effectiveness of your wrestling. Just my opinion.



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[The Pied Pooper]

Sumo all day, 2020 will usher in the Sumo Era

 

[Meathead Jock]

Folkstyle for sure. Both can help you take your opponent down but folkstyle will help you keep them down so you don't waste your energy having to take them down over and over because they keep getting up.

 

[ArtemV]

I am biased af towards freestyle, as it is the only wrestling I only watch and my country have good sportsmen who succeed in it! But I lean towards folkstyle. Freestyle wrestlers get taught basic pins, turnovers, back exposing etc, but not to the depth of folkstyle. The 'ride' is almost perfect for mma. If you have a good ride, you can easily win rounds without putting yourself in danger. Unless you are in WFW (womens freestyle), you would have to spend more time adapting learning how to pin etc. I mention WFW because you tend to see more pins and better ground work, than compared to men's.

I would say that folkstyle have a little bit of worse takedowns than freestyle, as freestyle solely focuses on takedowns. But that doesn't mean that they don't have good takedowns: Ruth, Caldwell, Davis (when he tries), Bader, Covington, Weidman, etc, all have excellent takedowns.

 

[Te Huna Matata]

Folk as there is more of an emphasis on ground control as there is essentially none in freestyle.

 

[nightmancometh]

Folkstyle. It is more about control. Usually Americans start in this, but all the international competitions are freestyle, so we are behind for those. I recommend doing both, and Greco if you can.

 

[Echo_Bliss]

Folkstyle gives you more ability to work on the ground, while Freestyle gives you positions that aren't useful in MMA - for example, there's no MMA promotion where a Pinfall is counted, but I would watch such a promotion.

 

[ejazahmednit]

i lean towards Greco Roman mixed with Judo as the most effective take down combination

 

[DLX]

I'd say folkstyle.

Good for control

 

[Thug Rose]

neither.

mma is a fallback sport

 

[Hardkore]

Folk style and freestyle wrestling are very similar however, there are different rules in each style. Which style is more effective in MMA? Folk style or freestyle?

Both can be effective. But the key is to adapt your style to MMA. Staying in strong wrestling positions is key. Never concede being in the guard position unless you are put there. Side control and using a hard leg ride is where you can inflict damage with strikes and maintain control of your opponent. Also you need to develop a solid boxing base. You don't need to be world class but decent fundamentals in boxing will greatly increase the effectiveness of your wrestling. Just my opinion.



.

I am biased af towards freestyle, as it is the only wrestling I only watch and my country have good sportsmen who succeed in it! But I lean towards folkstyle. Freestyle wrestlers get taught basic pins, turnovers, back exposing etc, but not to the depth of folkstyle. The 'ride' is almost perfect for mma. If you have a good ride, you can easily win rounds without putting yourself in danger. Unless you are in WFW (womens freestyle), you would have to spend more time adapting learning how to pin etc. I mention WFW because you tend to see more pins and better ground work, than compared to men's.

I would say that folkstyle have a little bit of worse takedowns than freestyle, as freestyle solely focuses on takedowns. But that doesn't mean that they don't have good takedowns: Ruth, Caldwell, Davis (when he tries), Bader, Covington, Weidman, etc, all have excellent takedowns.

Folk as there is more of an emphasis on ground control as there is essentially none in freestyle.

I'd say folkstyle.

Good for control

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/greco-roman-vs-freestyle-wrestling.595218/

I remember this thread, it had some good discussion

 

[drbolony]

The one that's clinching dominant.

 

[Hardkore]

The one that's clinching dominant.

They're all effective in different situations.

 

[Tuf_guy]

Sambo

Capoeira



Actually, on second thought, I'd say a background in either would be solid.
But the legit answer is:
It's frankly nearly impossible to truly say if you're looking at successful wrestlers who transitioned to MMA, you're virtually gauranteed to be looking at someone who's wrestled freestyle. If they're from outside of the US, then they have. If they're a stud college wrestler - shit a college wrestler in general, then they've done some offseason wrestling at some point - meaning they've wrestled freestyle.

Freestyle is cool for throws and scrambles which are often adapted from crotch lifts, gutwrench type moves, etc.

collegiate is good for getting back up, hand control, and high level collegiate wrestlers are often consumate chain wrestlers when it comes to takedowns.
College wrestlers often play the takedown game, making it very similar to freestyle, and elements of freestyle are a big part of why they work so hard for takedowns.

If someone never wrestled and was getting into MMA, I'd suggest freestyle because it's basically just takedowns and avoiding them, and they'll need that for MMA, and it's probably a little simpler to learn (but they concede takedowns because of the scoring system). I honestly think that CM Punk should've joined a solid freestyle/greco club and competed on the local circuit. He'd be more likely to take a guy down and take a decision than to comb somebody's head.

I think collegiate should be the international style because it involves standing, top, and bottom wrestling, and sometimes flopping around scores points in Freestyle. But if someone were starting from scratch, it would take a long time to become a solid collegiate wrestler (technically, practically every country has its own version of a folkstyle). Freestyle could teach them the basics and they can learn to scramble when shot against.

 

[sabretitan]

Doggy style