Pro Wrestling Moves That Work in MMA: The Bulldog

Being both a fan of Pro Wrestling and MMA I tend to think of things in terms of both. I apply wrestling terms to MMA constantly, as much as it annoys people when I do. One thing you see more and more in wrestling these days is how much they incorporate moves, mostly submissions, from MMA. Well, think of the flip side to that coin. How many times have you found yourself watching wrestling and thinking...that would never work in a real fight?

So here I'll start a series of moves mostly seen in pro wrestling that work in MMA. They won't necessarily be exactly the same but overall you'll get the gist of it. We'll start with the bulldog. Surely you know what it is and have seen it many times before. In wrestling there are many variations to it including an inverted, one-handed or a spinning bulldog. Here is how wikipedia explains the bulldog:

A bulldog, originally known as bulldogging or a bulldogging headlock or the headlock jawbreaker is any move in which the wrestler grabs an opponent's head and jumps forward, so that the wrestler lands, often in a sitting position, and drives the opponent's face into the mat. This move plus some other variations are sometimes referred to as a facebuster. It can also be used as a reversal to a powerbomb.

Here is a video of Matt Hardy performing the move

It's a very visually impressive move. Of course the thought that immediately comes into your head is how could that ever happen in a real fight? The answer is that it wouldn't happen exactly the way you saw Matt Hardy do it but it has been used before. Except in MMA it was modified into a submission hold. in the video below Joe Rogan calls it a school-yard choke but you can see that it's a variation of the bulldog that we've seen so many times in wrestling.

Carlos Newton somehow managed to force a tap from the legendary Pat Miletich using this move. It was a good thing too as Miletich was well ahead on the scorecards. After a slow start in the first round, Pat turned it on in the second round and got really aggressive. He handled Newton easily on the feet although Carlos managed a few takedowns. Miletich had such good defense on the ground that both were nullified by Newton's lack of being able to do anything with them. Then in the 3rd, after another takedown from Newton, Miletich scrambled up and in the process somehow Carlos got the bulldog and choked him out. Really great stuff.