Josh Koscheck: "Wrestling's ten times harder than MMA"
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“I think wrestlers are dominating because of the mentality, were trained from an early age to win and go out and compete, and I think that’s one of the reason’s we are so successful…Wrestling’s ten times harder. You know, on Tuesdays, Daniel Cormier is the wrestling coach at AKA, and I absolutely dread going into wrestling training on Tuesdays because I know it is going to be miserable and sore. Wrestling is ten times harder than fighting.”
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I would have to agree. Training in wrestling is harder than the actual fighting itself. Training in general is harder than the fighting itself. But the actual fighting is much more painful in the end than the training, wrestling or what not. Your face gets beat up, your body gets pummeled, your arm and neck get cranked. And if your the loser, you also have to deal with the pain of defeat. The crused ego, the long weeks of surgery and rehab. Then having to train that much harder so you don’t lose again. C’mon Kos, you should know that from first hand experience.
plus you don’t get your oribtal jabbed to pieces either….
Hahaha yes!
koscheck vs condit would be cool.
yes it would
Wrestlers are dominating because MMA is set up for wreslters to win duh!! Power and Explosion and staying on top for 3- 5 minutes… Get rid of the Time limits and give the guy on the bottom back some more tools for his arsenal and wrestlers won’t be dominating anymore…
you don’t even need to go that far. All that needs to happen is the guy on top needs either be inflicting legit damage, or he needs to be attempting to pass to a more dominate position. Right now there is no incentive for guys like fitch, sonnen and gsp to pass out of guard. They can just sit tight and land little shots and simply win rounds.
upkicks need to be allowed for fighters fighting off their back against a wrestler who stalls.
….except for the well rounded fighters with excellent takedown defense. That’s when you see the guys stand and bang… and get their orbitals cracked!
Not all rules are designed to benefit wrestlers. No headbutting and kneeing the head of a grounded opponent hurt wrestlers more (you can watch some early Mark Kerr fights.. or not. , that stuff was absolutely nasty). Having X min rounds allow people to start the next round standing and get their cuts tended (it is more likely to get a cut when you are on the bottom). Rorion was against having gloves, supposedly since you normally wouldn’t have it in a real combat situation and it gave the strikers an unfair advantage by protevting their hands, yet he went through the trouble of getting a padded canvas for the first UFC.
BJJ is great, and it is true that some rules/judging in American MMA benefit the wrestler but lets not pretend that this is a two way street.
I’ve never wrestled in College. In high school I did. It was tough. Never fought. I don’t have a fair opinion.
useless comment ^
^ useless comment
^ Touché! Lol
Useless comment is useless.
In an average training session at Alliance, Gracie Barra, Nova Uniao i would say you get tapped out around 20 times maybe more. So how is rolling around trying to get position on someone(wrestling) harder than getting your neck-wrist-elbow-shoulder-knee-ankle cranked on in a normal BJJ session? especially if your rolling with a black belt and brown belts in rotation…….jus sayin, wreslters are always biased that wrestling is superior….and it’s true that MMA judging plays so well into wrestlers favor.
I’m a blue belt training under a Nova Uniao black belt and I’ve also trained at the main Alliance camp over in Atlanta. I wrestled for 3 years under a top 40 in the country high school and I completely agree with Kos. Jiu Jitsu is a controlled game, Wrestling is every muscle in your entire body exploding for 6 minutes straight with no rest. The practices for jiu jitsu aren’t as harsh at the best jiu jitsu school in the world (Alliance) compared to HIGH SCHOOL wrestling at a top school. Kos’s training with Div 1 champs and world champs in wrestling must be like complete hell compared to BJJ. BJJ = little sore joints (if you tap early enough, like you’re supposed to, nothing), Wrestling = black eyes, bruises, and you look like you’ve been in a real fight. And this is from someone who did, and still does, both sports.
He didn’t say it’s superior, he just said it’s harder. As Kos is a person who has done well in both, I’d have to think he can make an educated point without having to be biased
Maybe if Koscheck trained harder in MMA he wouldn’t have gotten his ass kicked so bad by GSP
So, what you’re saying is that every person who has been defeated by a better fighter just didn’t train hard enough? Really? Okay…
I know… since the guy on the top can smash your head into the mat, how about the guy on the bottom being able to kick you in the face… there’s a fair trade eh? … Oh wait.. that’s just too dangerous right? yeah… sure…
What tools do you want back hair pulling and crotch punching? Time limits and rules saved the sport in the US.
The rules that “favor” wrestlers, I mean fighters that are more powerful, athletic enough to explode, and have superior top control. It’s not the rules you should be escape gloating but more the judging system.
The only two answers for superior wrestling is superior subs (Anderson vs Chael) and running away (Bisbing vs Henderson (bad example).
Wrestling matches are 3- 2 minutes rounds so when you train wrestling you have to be ready to go 100% like a fly weight. You have to train like that it’s a different mentality then boxing and BJJ. Training is brutal, it’s worse than striking cause sparring is with pads, its worse the BJJ because good training partners don’t hurt you. Wrestling is control 100% of the time.
A lot of wrestlers (Fitch) catch a lot of hate for their top control but really the hate should be on the bottom guy for not being good enough to submit or get out. GNP and sprawl and brawl are both direct results of effectiveness of wrestling in MMA.
I believe I answered that.. upkicks from the bottom. Rule biased towards top control. You take away the tools of the Jiu-Jitsu guy on the bottom and call him inferior from the bottom.. foolishness…
Time limits saved the “SPORT” from not being aired on TV and people making money out of it… in retrospect it turned it into a favorable outing for a wrestler..
And Top Control in someones guard means nothing… pass or get out.. if your not doing any damage then why doesn’t the guy on the bottom get awarded points…
It’s a sport bottom line, and it’s a sport built for the Wrestler, and the explosive athlete.. I like it but it is what it is… admit it..
I totally agree!
Wrestling is grueling. its one of the most difficult things ive ever done.
The one regret I have is not wrestling in High School.
Here is one of those rare interviews where Kos doesn’t come off as a douchebag! hahaha i’ve met him personally and he is really a nice guy, chill, easy to talk to. Pretty much like any other person, just don’t piss him off! =P
I always got that “secretly a nice guy” vibe off him too.
Only reason wrestlers are able to steal wins in MMA, is because the judges are fools. Why you think wrestling is far from the most popular fight sport? Why people rather watch MMA, K-1 and muay thai/kick boxing? Cause wrestling is boring as shit!
Basically wrestling is two guys in tutu’s grindin’ on eachother.
Most wrestlers in MMA get on top of the opponent and try to stay on top doing absolutely nothing but throwing a bit of pitter patter to keep the refs from standing them up. I’m saying “most wrestlers”cause of course there are exceptions….
Judges and refs need to be educated. Laying on top of your opponent without going for submissions, or without throwing any substantial strikes is NOT being in control, and it’s NOT being aggressive.