Did Wrestling Surpass Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in MMA?

For years, Brazilian jiu-jitsu was considered the ultimate weapon in MMA's ground game. Fighters such as Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Fabricio Werdum, Demian Maia and Charles Oliveira built their careers around taking opponents down and finding submissions, proving time and again that a skilled grappler could turn the ground into a nightmare for anyone.

However, the evolution of MMA has made that task increasingly difficult. Against elite wrestlers, especially those from the Dagestani school, getting a fight to the ground is no longer enough. More often than not, the wrestler is the one deciding when the fight goes there and whether his opponent gets the chance to play jiu-jitsu at all.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Once Made the Ground a Dangerous Place

During the PRIDE FC days, Nogueira became the first heavyweight to fight on his back on the ground and still maintain an advantage. "Minotauro" wasn't too worried about takedowns, often working from his guard to find submissions, as he did with none other than Mirko "Cro Cop." However, most of the fighters Nogueira faced in those early days didn't have the elite-level wrestling that we see in the UFC today.

When Nogueira came up against Fedor Emelianenko, who was a highly skilled, well-rounded fighter capable of mixing striking, takedowns and ground control, he wasn't able to impose his game, losing two fights to the Russian. In fact, Emelianenko was an elite grappler with a dangerous submission game, but he preferred to do his work from the top position.

Werdum, however, showed that elite wrestling alone wasn't enough to neutralize jiu-jitsu. The former UFC heavyweight champion submitted Cain Velasquez at UFC 188 and Fedor Emelianenko earlier in his career, proving that even some of the most accomplished grapplers in MMA could be vulnerable when they gave him the opportunity to work from the ground.

Demian Maia Makes BJJ an Art Form

In more recent years, Maia became known as one of the purest jiu-jitsu specialists in MMA, becoming one of the fighters with the most submissions in UFC history. However, the UFC title challenger struggled when he faced elite wrestlers such as Tyron Woodley, Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman. All three matchups played out very similarly, with the wrestlers defending takedowns, avoiding Maia's game and ultimately winning by unanimous decision.

On the other hand, Maia also had success against elite wrestlers, defeating Chael Sonnen and Ben Askren by submission at very different moments of his career. The truth is that Maia had very good takedowns himself, often relying on chain wrestling and a bottom half-guard position to quickly sweep his opponents and secure top position.

Wrestling Changed the Way Fighters Approach the Ground

Oliveira perhaps represents the evolution of jiu-jitsu in MMA better than anyone. The former UFC Lightweight Champion turned his elite submission game into one of the most dangerous weapons in the UFC, but even he has struggled to impose it against top-level wrestlers.

Oliveira couldn't find a submission against Arman Tsarukyan, who used his wrestling to keep the Brazilian from establishing his preferred positions. Against Islam Makhachev, Oliveira was ultimately submitted, although he had already been hurt by a strike before the fight went to the ground.

Those fights don't necessarily prove that wrestling is superior to jiu-jitsu. They show how much the game has changed. The best wrestlers don't need to beat a jiu-jitsu specialist at his own game. They can simply avoid giving him the positions he needs to succeed.

Wrestling May Be Most Important Skill in MMA

Former UFC 7 champion Marco Ruas once famously said when talking about his approach to MMA: "If you grapple me, I punch and kick you. If you punch and kick me, I grapple you." In essence, his point was that there is no superior martial art and an MMA fighter needs to be ready anywhere.

However, being able to control where the fight takes place is a weapon in itself, and that is what makes wrestling so effective in modern MMA.

Whether by taking down a striker, preventing a grappler from establishing his game, keeping the fight against the cage, or escaping from a bad position on the ground, a wrestler has many options to dictate the course of a fight. In the end, the question is no longer "who is better on the ground?" but rather "who gets to decide if the fight goes to the ground?"

Dagestanis Can Dictate Pace

The rise of the Dagestani fighters is perhaps the clearest example of this evolution. Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev didn't make Brazilian jiu-jitsu obsolete. Instead, they took the idea of controlling where the fight takes place to another level. By combining elite wrestling with sambo, grappling and striking, they can force opponents into positions where they dictate the action.

Nurmagomedov became the most famous example of this approach, repeatedly taking opponents down and keeping them there. Makhachev has followed a similar path, but with an even more varied submission game. Their success illustrates why wrestling has become so valuable in modern MMA. It doesn't just help a fighter win on the ground. It helps him decide when the ground becomes part of the fight in the first place.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu hasn't become less effective, but modern MMA has changed the conditions under which it can be used. The best grapplers today understand that controlling the fight often comes before controlling the ground, and that is where wrestling has become so valuable. Perhaps wrestling didn't surpass jiu-jitsu after all. Instead, it became the skill that allows fighters to decide when jiu-jitsu gets to enter the fight.