Strikers turned Grapplers in mma

[Ronda.Jones.genetics]

Nate Diaz favors clinching a lot lately

Nate has been a grappler from the beginning.

 

[BabyBlue_Bomber]

Kongo was almost a pure striker when he first got to the UFC...

His most recent MO has changed to clinching his opponents against the fence and throwing knees.

He has also shown very good strikes from top position if he ever gets the fight to the mat.

 

[DCarf]

I don't count one or two fight strategy adjustments.
Chiek Kongo for sure became a wrestler after being striker.

 

[YungSithLxrd]

Gsp comes from a karate background but that guy never fought like a striker, don't know why people say that. Go look up his earliest fights even before he was in the ufc and he was predominantly a grappler

I was curious about this myself. Ppl always talk about his dangerous karate stand up game from back in the daybut even back then he was shooting for takedowns

 

[FIghtxIQ]

I have a good feeling Izzy will be this guy. It's just a matter of time. Then he'll be a problem for anyone!

We'll see, he's been working his grappling already for years before coming to the UFC. Plus from everything he's showed he's only defensive.

 

[Hardkore]

Valentina has developed a very nice grappling game

 

[Hardkore]

Conor turned into a grappler pretty fast against Nate.

 

[FIghtxIQ]

That's a very good question. I have been training MMA since 2013 and come from a wrestling base. I would venture to say that it's just difficult to eat, sleep, and breathe wrestling if you aren't training for a wrestling match. A lot of the subtleties in wrestling, particularly from bottom and top position, just don't seem worthwhile to train for MMA I would guess, but at the same time, they do lend themselves very well (i.e. stand ups or 2 on 1 wrist control from referee's position). I would also venture to say that perhaps a good deal of reasoning has to do with the fact that all fights start standing and at a distance. As a wrestler, you have a large burden by default in that you have to surpass some big hurdle steps to even utilize your strengths; because of this, perhaps fighters that are already acquainted with striking opt to use wrestling merely to supplement their offense? I have never competed in MMA, so perhaps someone with experience can better explain than me.

I think it deals more with wrestlers having to learn how to strike when transitioning into mma. With strikers they are more focused on just defending the takedown attempts and submission attempts. They don't switch to focusing on being offensive grapplers and just play on defense only. Most strikers fall into this mold.

 

[Rvd Slmr]

Only one I can remember is GSP
Any other names

Permanently or just a one off? Loads of examples of One Offs but can't think of many as drastic as GSP.

I didn't see him mentioned yet, but Bas Rutten is a perfect example. Like most MMA pioneers, he started as pretty one dimensional. But he is among the very firsts to truly develop a well rounded game. He never became a great wrestler but his grappling improved dramatically over the years. He even has more submission wins than KOs.

I don't count one or two fight strategy adjustments.
Chiek Kongo for sure became a wrestler after being striker.

Kongo is a great example : a textbook pure stand-up fighter that turned into one of the most effective wrestlers at HW.

 

[Jose Beehive]

I didn't see him mentioned yet, but Bas Rutten is a perfect example. Like most MMA pioneers, he started as pretty one dimensional. But he is among the very firsts to truly develop a well rounded game. He never became a great wrestler but his grappling improved dramatically over the years. He even has more submission wins than KOs.

Kongo is a great example : a textbook pure stand-up fighter that turned into one of the most effective wrestlers at HW.

Yeah unfortunately Bas's fighting career was waaaay before I got into MMA, would have loved to have seen that evolution of him, he seems very much like an enigmatic beast of a fighter, his appearance alone is one of the most terrifying i've ever seen in the sport.

Did the Pancrase rules not prohibit some of his progression with regards to striking and grappling though do you think?
Seems like a really difficult example to study because the majority of his career he wasn't allowed to punch in the face and submissions could be stopped with rope breaks lol.

 

[GolovKing]

I was curious about this myself. Ppl always talk about his dangerous karate stand up game from back in the daybut even back then he was shooting for takedowns

I really think it's the biggest example of mandela effect in the ufc. I think people just remember him striking with Matt Hughes and the Matt Serra fights and act as if that was his whole career

 

[YungSithLxrd]

I really think it's the biggest example of mandela effect in the ufc. I think people just remember him striking with Matt Hughes and the Matt Serra fights and act as if that was his whole career

I agree and I always found his stand up to be very underwhelming. Technical and effective sure but not some machida-esque savant

 

[Hazuki Ryo]

brunson was D2

Oh shit that explains everything ahaha

 

[UFCFantasyMVP]

We'll see, he's been working his grappling already for years before coming to the UFC. Plus from everything he's showed he's only defensive.

But it wasn't until recently that he said he "sucks less every day". And he's a smart dude, he knows he needs defense first. Not everyone can be like Penn and achieve black belt status in 3 years. In fact, if they do, then most of the time, it's like a black belt rewarded from Ronald McDonald.

He'd have to add another decade of grappling to his repertoire to be a Werdum or Maia, even then it's highly unlikely, despite the fact that Izzy's incredibly intelligent.

 

[TRYHARD 2001]

Chieck Kongo

It was the best choice he could make in terms of career longevity too. Guy's chin has been shot for years so he made the sensible decision to go full D-1 LnP machine and he's still piling up the wins in the absolute shark tank that is the Bellator HW division... *snicker*

 

[spinup]

Conor turned into a grappler midfight against Nate Diaz.

 

[Bojka]

If you watch gsp's earliest fights, he was always considered a wrestler (who also had a karate background).

He only became a striker after being submitted by Matt Hughes.

 

[Bowel-forged Stool]

Grapplers switch for fan appeal, strikers switch because of chin insecurities

 

[Bouboumaster]

GOAT St-Pierre is the obvious answer.

Never taught about it but Kongo make sense too

 

[michi972]

Glover always had a ground game but was more known for his striking when he was younger. Lately he’s been fucking people up bad on the ground.

He was competing at adcc at 2009 and 2011, he even beat Dean Lister and was in semi-finals