|
Freestyle wrestling allows any kind of throw you can pull off. What it doesn't allow (in theory) is the same thing judo doesn't allow (in theory), dropping people on the head or neck. Quite a lot of crosstraining between judo and wrestling now both ways (Soviets started it and the Russians have been continuing it, with very good results ... #1 wrestling nation in world, #2-3 in judo).
In terms of MMA, judo's biggest problem is that it is jacket-wrestling, while most MMA is no-jacket (combat sambo is an exception). You have to modify the throws from gi to no-gi. Note that this isn't a problem in self-defense, at least in temperate and northern climates, because most people wear jackets, especially at night (even Helio commented on his dislike for no-gi BJJ on this basis), but it is a factor in MMA.
But this thread is very out of date. Judo get's a lot of respect nowadays in MMA, mainly because of Fedor, but also Karo and a number of others. The guy who said pure judo can't win in MMA is right of course, but it's true for all styles. Pure MT loses badly, pure BJJ loses badly, pure wrestling loses badly. If you haven't got a complete game, at least on defense, you' haven't got a chance. Lots of good sport judoka fail the transition to MMA, just as lots of good sport BJJ'ers and boxers and wrestlers do. It takes a very special kind of athlete to be able to do MMA ... a big part of it is versatility. The guys at the top build up their toolbox from a lot of sources (and remember defense is at least as important as offense in MMA ... how long would CC last without his takedown defense?). Judo is one of the elements in that toolbox, especially the sweeps and reaps.
|