[MD]

Originally <a href='/showthread.php?p=18979714'>posted</a> on 06/22/2013:

lol this guy is such a smug douche on here Indeed, they are all very legit grapplers that you listed.

But here's what sets weidman aside from the rest and it does affect the tdd argument: legit D1 wrestling status and credentials. I know you're thinking chael does too, but think about this.

The fact weidman's naturally picked up jitz so well and so quickly I thinkn he's emerged as something special. His pure natural grappling ability in mma is uncanny.

Furthermore, chael is the only american wrestler who had success in out grappling / controling anderson. All the other dudes mentioned might be elite grapplers, but they never had the heavy american wrestling base. Against chael, andy tdd is clearly average at best. Yet chael can't roll for shit and his sub grappling and jitz has always been average imo.

On the other hand Weidman has the 'merican wrestling base, and has really complimented it with a very strong jitz game that is levels above anything chael came close to achieving. Like I said before, chris has pretty much taken down anyone he wanted to and its hard to knock him for the munoz / maia fight for a lack of ground control. I think he'll expose anderson's tdd fairly quickly with his wrestling base (I highly disagree with people here saying weidman's style isn't 'agressive like chael's wrestling') and unlike chael, not get caught in a sub with 3 min to go. Instead I think he'll tie andy up in a knot for 5 rounds.

War weidman, been arguing his rule for a while now. The time has come for the king to fall, or at least I'm praying to god for it.

Hendo controlled Anderson for a round pretty easily. And the "American wrestling" base is becoming less and less useful in MMA. Ever since elite fighters have started stuffing takedowns with distancing and timing rather than with power and wrestling technique, collegiate wrestlers have seen markedly less success in MMA. How many of the best wrestlers and counter-wrestlers in MMA are great because of their credentials? GSP has openly stated that his takedowns are a result of his karate training, Barao has never wrestled a day in his life, and even Jones rarely uses his wrestling. He favours trips and foot sweeps, no doubt because he's training with a camp that can actually teach him how to use his length. The best MMA wrestler in the world at the moment who actually uses standard "wrestler techniques" is probably Chad Mendes, and he got absolutely abused by Aldo, a Brazillan guy with no wrestling background.

I've said before that I'm on Weidman, but anyone who thinks he's just going to run in and double-leg a healthy Anderson over and over for five rounds needs to re-examine why they're betting on fights.