Miesha: Wrestling > Judo, 9 times out of 10

source: mmafighting.com

When UFC parent company Zuffa bought Strikeforce, the future of women's MMA appeared cloudy, as UFC President Dana White had long voiced the opinion that the women's divisions in MMA lacked the depth necessary to be a viable, mainstream part of the sport.

When Cris Cyborg tested positive for PEDs, things looked worse.

Standing across the cage from women's MMA being thought of as irrelevant, are Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey. Rousey has had six MMA fights (four pro, two amateur) ending each in on average 36 seconds, and all via armbar. Rousey's extraordinary skill in the cage is exceeded by her mic skills - Rousey has talked her way into becoming the most talked about women in MMA, and some days, the most talked about fighter.

And now she has a title shot, vs. reginign 135-pound champion Miesha Tate on March 3, at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, coinciding with the Arnold Sports Festival. While the two are fighting each other, together they are doing an extraordinary amount of good for women's MMA.

In an interview with Ariel Helwani, Miesha detailed how she intends the beat the Olympic medalist in Judo Rousey.

"I think nine times out of ten, wrestling trumps judo," Tate explaned. "There's a lot of things I can do as a wrestler to just shut her judo down, nullify it. And my grappling is world class.

"So far she's shown she has an armbar and she lasts about a minute. She seems real desperate to get the armbar right off the bat, so that leads me to believe maybe she's not well-rounded or doesn't feel confident in her other skills, which I know I am.

"I've been in the championship rounds, had 20 fights, had six years of experience. I'm really confident going into this fight and I'm excited."

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2/14/12 1:18 PM by Wasa-B

ttt

2/13/12 3:06 PM by Oddessa

simple: 'wrestling vs judo' dont fight 10x...they only fight 1x.. meaningless stat...like playing black/red on roullete wheel with double zeros..

2/13/12 3:03 PM by Gokudamus stole my name

judom i have watched western european judo matches. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqL6QCMA0Nw&feature=relatedHere is Teddy Riner who is arguably the most famous french judoka since Douillet. Does this look like russian/wrestling judo to you?You said take an A-level judoka at 19 years and he will hang with a D-1 wrestler in wrestling. France is a good judo country but suck at wrestling, why doesnt some of the kids who cant make the national team in Judo switch to wrestling and go to the olympics? You know the answer to thisIf british judo was like russian judo, british mma fighters would not hire american wrestling coaches.

2/13/12 2:55 PM by Wasa-B

Wrestling is def superior to Judo for MMA in general. The proof is in the pudding here so no dispute. However, as noted above, many judo guys have chucked tons of guys, wrestlers or not, around in MMA.Little pudgy Akira Shoji also threw Coleman in the GP first round (though I think the ropes got in the way). Sakurai also threw Trigg (though Trigg rolled thru with it and ended on top but Sakurai was still able to chuck the high level wrestler).Also, though the recent rule changes may have put a stop to it, you can also double and single in judo, its just not the bread and butter of judo but its there and always has been.And since when has a theoretical battle on the UG determined who's gonna beat who, jeez, lol.

2/13/12 2:51 PM by Wasa-B

I think def the talent pool available to make the transition may be greater with higher pure judo skills but Karo was something special. His adapted MMA judo was first rate and i believe so because he had been doing judo AND MMA for a long, long time. Since he was a teen, right?Recently, that Heites kid was reminiscent of Karo imo. Just throwing Nam Phan everywhere, even using kouchi-gari's and stuff.Then you have guys like Akiyama and Omigawa wanging it out, pretty frustrating.

2/13/12 2:47 PM by Wasa-B

The final word, def. lol.

2/13/12 2:22 PM by jaytrainwreck

2/13/12 2:17 PM by Wasa-B

Wrestlung's techniques are a whole lot rougher than judo's pal....

2/13/12 8:37 AM by kelby

thanks for correcting me.

2/13/12 5:16 AM by judom

Goku, Its not true, watch more Judo matches. Most western Europeans have what you call "Russian style" Judo. And many may not wrestle, but almost all of them have been exposed to wrestling in an extensive manner. And dudes who I know personally from Russia/Eastern Europe that compete at the A-levels in Judo are absolute ANIMALS. Think Mo Lawal or Lombard 10 years younger. Many of them train wrestling as well with former world champs in freestyle wrestling (every Sunday). The only time I know when one of them did a submission grappling no-gi tournament (~2 years ago), he choked out an MMA guy (former national level wrestler who competes in the UFC) with a _standing_ guillotine. The dudes legs almost came off the floor. It was one of the most brutal displays of physical power I have ever seen (think Miller's submission in WEC I think it was). When I ask them: why not compete in MMA, almost all of them answer: no good MMA teams locally to make the transition with (someone like ATT, AKA, etc). Ronda, Fedor, Lombard, Karo are just a tiny glimpse of what is available. Really, the whole mindset to Judo there is so completely different than classic Japanese Judo. Training seesion would be like a hard NCAA D-1 wrestling practice.

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