Technical Wrestling#2: Cage Tactics
by KJ Gould on Sep 8, 2010 5:40 PM EDT
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It doesn't have to be like this. Image courtesy of MMA Weekly
(Apologies but I'm having a lot of trouble embedding some videos)
This is the second post in the series I've dubbed "Technical Wrestling". The first post focused on Matt Hughes use of the arm-in front headlock used to choke out Ricardo Almeida and formed the basis of KidNate's Bloody Elbow Judo Chop.
Dan Hardy has recently made blog headlines for his criticism of wrestling in MMA where he feels it's being used to stall fights and eek out decisions, and the case in point was Hardy's training partner Andrew Winner being pressed up against the cage (and not much else) by Nick Lentz continuing a trend that is becoming known as Wall'n'Stall.
Whether Hardy makes any valid points (he does) or is trying to divert attention away from the holes in Team Rough House's training (he is) one thing remains the same: The Athletic Commissions don't care what you think. There is going to be no significant change to the regulation, rules and officiating of MMA until retired MMA fighters end up working for and heading the commissions. Until we see someone like Randy Couture or Chuck Liddell as the chief commissioners for NSAC, CSAC and NJSACB for regulating MMA, fighters need to focus their time on working with the current system - as flawed as it is.
So here's a crash course in Cage Tactics, for both fighters looking to get a takedown and fighters trying to get off the cage wall.
It really surprises me that out of all the instructional DVD's out there - from wrestling to BJJ to Boxing and Kickboxing, even ones with a focus on MMA - there's nothing specifically dedicated to fighting off the cage wall. There's a small section in George St. Pierre's DVD instructional released a few years ago (which I'll reference here) but that's pretty much it. Definitely a gap in the market that should be taken advantage of by a company like Ground Fighter or Victory Belt.
Defence:
Razor Rob McCullough speaks from the viewpoint of a fighter whose strength is striking (as is the case with Dan Hardy, Andre Winner, Paul Daley etc) and introduces us to the notion that the cage wall can be a great friend or a great enemy. This is from when both fighters are in a clinch and trying to pummel for an advantage.
Up next Todd Medina shows a defence for when a fighter is trying to take you down with a double-leg attempt and the importance of shifting your hips. You have to shift your hips before you can do anything else. Now, I can't stress how under-utilised the cross-face is in MMA. Your head dictates where your body goes in almost every situation from takedowns to slipping punches and doing roundhouse kicks. The simple concept of putting the head out of natural alignment with the body (where you're at your strongest) makes all the difference. If you try continuing in the original direction while being cross-faced you're essentially neck cranking yourself.
Medina also shows a re-counter to secure a takedown. Note he is not perpendicular with the cage as a lot of wrestlers are when trying a takedown. He's now parallel with the cage and is collapsing his opponent's base. The cage wall is a barrier so it makes sense to take down along the cage and not against it (unless you use the cage bounce, but more on that later).
Now, what happens if you're not quick enough to shift your hips and get a cross-face? If a wrestlers shoots in fast you can be pressed up against the fence hard and your hips are square. The next thing you know you could be going for a ride. Here's Yves Edwards and Cole Miller demonstrating what you need to do.
Click here for Edwards / Miller video:
Sometimes in MMA a guy who isn't a wrestler may try to take you down against the cage, and he may make a mistake by transitioning from a Double-Leg to a Single-Leg on the wrong side. A wrestler worth his salt won't do this, but you might be surprised to see this mistake happen even in the UFC. If they do go for the wrong leg, you can make them pay with this Catch Wrestling style neck crank.
Click here for neck crank counter video:
Offence:
Here we have Randy Couture and his infamous 'Cage Bounce' Double Leg takedown. Randy uses the cage to ricochet his opponent back on to him so he can load up and potentially carry the opponent across the ring for a crowd pleasing slam.
Click here for Randy Couture 'Cage Bounce' video:
When the 'Cage Bounce' doesn't work and your momentum is lost there's no point trying to continue forward into a wall. It's just a barrier at this point. When that happens, it's worth trying the 'Pull Back' double-leg sweep as featured in this video with Chuck Liddell.
Click here for Chuck Liddell 'Pull Back' video:
Sometimes the 'Pull Back' wont work especially if the opponent has shifted his hips. If that's the case you should transition to a Single-Leg takedown attempt or go back to a clinch against the fence.
Here George St.Pierre demonstrates his takedowns off the cage starting from an over-under clinch position before trying the Single-Leg takedown. The video is in 2 parts, and the sound is a bit out of sync but apart from that it's worth watching one of the best takedown wrestlers in MMA.
Click here for GSP Video part 1:
Click here for GSP Video part 2:
Hopefully this provides a little insight into the cage tactics for defending and scoring takedowns off the cage wall in MMA, and shows there are options during stalemates against the fence.
Thanks for reading and watching.
The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.
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This
is amazing. I’ve been in a debate with my brother about wrestling in MMA. He needs to read this.
Forget it Donny, you're out of your element.
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Follow me on Twitter at GenoMrosko
Yes.
He agrees with Hardy. His beef is with guys grabbing someone and not completing takedowns and being given rounds based on leaning against the cage. He doesn’t care that guys are working towards something. He’s closer to the kind of guy who wants the ref to come in and reset them after a short amount of time given to the guy going for the takedown.
Forget it Donny, you're out of your element.
CagesideSeats.com
Follow me on Twitter at GenoMrosko
I think referees need to know these Cage Tactics (and any others) and look to see if they’re being tried by either fighter before deciding whether to break them up.
There have been some pretty ridiculous standups lately.
Isn’t the standardization of referee training one of the issues that got Big John McCarthy booted from the UFC? Seems like he was on to something there.
If I was a hungry man with a gun in my hand and some promises to keep...
by misterjonez on Sep 12, 2010 11:12 AM EDT up reply actions
This is worthy of a rec.
The truly amazing part, to me, about the anti-wrestling bias is how much respect the majority of an audience will give to, say, a judo player’s ability to use balance and leverage to upset their opponent’s balance, yet well-and-truly believe there is little or no technique to amateur wrestling. it’s just strength and dry humping to most of them, when in truth, every single operating principle at play in judo, sambo, BJJ or whatever other grappling art you can come up with is utilized the same way in amateur wrestling.
I’ve also been surprised at how little action the cross-face gets in MMA. It seems like an obvious whizzer extension that would be used whenever you’ve got room to swivel the hips against a single leg. Whizzer/cross-face was my favorite counter to any kind of single-leg takedown in high school, due to the unreal control it gives you over that particular exchange. There’s not a ton to do with it positionally, unless your opponent loses his base entirely, but it’s a great, simple technique that even Dan ’ardy could learn to implement regularly.
Great article. Hope to see more on the subject in the future.
If I was a hungry man with a gun in my hand and some promises to keep...
I think there's a bias against wrestling due to social psychology.
I genuinely think a martial art – as in one that is known as a martial art from an exotic country – is given reverence and almost treated as something mystical, and as such it appeals to the nerdy side of personality.
Wrestling, though, is prevalent throughout school and college and is associated with jocks – the mortal enemy of the nerds. The anti-wrestler bias I think is an extension of this with a lot of people. For the rest they’re just after Rock’em-Sock’em Robots.
by KJ Gould on Sep 12, 2010 7:14 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
You need a writing gig.
You do great work.
Forget it Donny, you're out of your element.
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Follow me on Twitter at GenoMrosko
Not that I know of
but I would completely support you becoming a front page writer.
Forget it Donny, you're out of your element.
CagesideSeats.com
Follow me on Twitter at GenoMrosko
Actually
I’m working on a post right now where I break down the Georges St. Pierre-Josh Koscheck fight, round by round. I’ve done the first round and I think it would be cool if you could break down the second round and maybe see if we can get Kid Nate, who gives us a ton of love, to break down the third round. Up for breaking down round 2?
Forget it Donny, you're out of your element.
CagesideSeats.com
Follow me on Twitter at GenoMrosko
A Review of their first fight?
Yeah I can cover round 2. Let me see how you cover round 1 so I can keep with the style and tone of the article.
Okay.
You got an e-mail I can send it to?
Forget it Donny, you're out of your element.
CagesideSeats.com
Follow me on Twitter at GenoMrosko
I love seeing sentiments I've argued in support of
penned by another hand. Nicely done. I’ve long argued that the presence of wrestlers in the high school system creates an anti-jock bias, which also wraps into the anti-size crowd who want to have Brock Lesnar, Gray Maynard and other big wrestles quarantined in their own little corner and not allowed to play with the other kids. It’s an anti-jock bias, pure and simple.
Add to that the fact that most nerds will learn Taekwondo, Karate or BJJ as a form of self-defense against Those Jocks, and you get the irrational hatred of all that is wrestling and wrestlers, along with the ensuing contortions they undergo to protect this frail position. They really hate seeing that size does matter at the highest levels of fight competition, and will fight tooth and nail to prevent that dream from being shattered. Their whole lives they’ve told themselves that if they are skilled enough, trained enough and disciplined enough, they could succeed against seemingly overwhelming odds. It’s too much for most people to break their own cognitive dissonance. Just too much.
Luke Thomas even had a rant awhile ago, declaring how he wasn’t some nerd with an anti-wrestler bias due to being beat up in high school, which was the first indication that I was really on to something.
If I was a hungry man with a gun in my hand and some promises to keep...
by misterjonez on Sep 12, 2010 11:47 PM EDT up reply actions
There’s this level of fantasy that even some fighters have, but mostly a lot of fans. There is no Ninjary McCool Super Secret Death Touch that will stop a good double leg takedown. I thought the advent of BJJ and MMA showed a lot of the so-called McDojos for what they were: delusional and impractical.
Training for a real world confrontation, albeit in the sporting confines of a match between two people and a referee officiating, should be done with realism and pragmatism. Your mindset should be of going to war and surviving, and developing a killer instinct, and not of some Zen pseudo-philosophy straight out of a movie.
Even the self-defence / preservation training should focus on becoming ‘Street Smart’ above everything else – knowing what places to avoid and what signals to look out for so you can use your genetically hard-wired Flight instinct. And then if you end up in a Fight situation, knowing what to do to protect yourself and what to do to create openings for escape. But a lot of people are looking for empowerment and not a reality check, a lot of these people don’t want to work incredibly hard to become sufficient at fighting, and that’s why a lot of self defence places do well financially.
Anyway, getting off tangent here.
No, I think it's still pretty closely related to the subject matter.
By strict definition, it’s a tangent, but I think we’re discussing an extension of this weird pseudo-logic which supports people’s dislike of what is proving to be truly successful.
I do agree with the Street Smart aspect of your comment, also. That should be primary focus, if we’re really interested in protecting people physically, not just ‘empowering’ them, as you put it. The McDojo approach ends up being just as dangerous as doing nothing, more times than not. People get a false sense of security and leave themselves in dangerous situations they could easily avoid.
If I was a hungry man with a gun in my hand and some promises to keep...
by misterjonez on Sep 13, 2010 10:35 PM EDT up reply actions
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