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[Malice]

Is it the rules? Will it be more dominant in the future?

I decided to take a look at the top 10 fighters in each of the seven major weight classes to see what discipline was producing the most elite fighters. I expected the results to show that fighters came from a variety of martial arts, with no one discipline standing out. I was wrong. Wrestling produced as many elite fighters as the next two disciplines combined.

Wrestling: 43%
BJJ: 26%
Mixed: 17%
Kickboxing: 10%
Judo: 4%

Battle of Styles: Wrestling Dominates Other Martial Arts - Bloody Elbow

[TheDoucheyWun]

It because wrestlers transition best into mma, not particularly cuz the wrestling style beats the others.

[end it with a left]

well 3 of 5 belts are held by dominate wrestlers so i'll have to agree with it being dominate but i don't think it will always be so dominate. When Gracie came out with hit Jits he was dominate but than everyone stepped up and learned jits same thing will happen with wrestling. You'll have more people training hard on wrestling and it will level out again. It will always be a great tool in a fighters belt but the field will level out in the future as guys develop better defence and sweeps

[initial_zen]

its dominant because of the rules and scoring imo, not solely because it is the best, but because judges score takedowns with such high praise.

[TBEAR]

Originally Posted by initial_zen

its dominant because of the rules and scoring imo, not solely because it is the best, but because judges score takedowns with such high praise.

This as well as the work ethic instilled into a wrestler at a very early age. They just know how to work hard in a gym.

With that said wrestling is not everything ask Chael ( whoo needs some triangle def if he ever wants a strap) or Fitch

The future will all be well rounded MMA fighters IMO. Soild in all areas. They may not be as good of a striker as Anderson or as good on the ground as Maia, But they will be good at everything.

[rob_bills]

I think maia is a fighter who will never be held down by a wrestler, someone with slick jits can always counter wrestling.

[megamus]

I might be a little biased coming from wrestling myself, but I think the reason wrestlers do so well in MMA is because they have such a solid base and can dictate where the fight takes place in most cases. Chuck was a pretty good wrestler and used his TTD to keep the fight standing so he would unload with his hands, GSP can take people down at will and work GNP or subs.

Wrestlers have increadible knowledge of their body in space, along with supirior ability to manipulate their opponents body movements allowing for great scambling and the ability to hold the oponent down. They always seem to be in good position.

Someone said previously that it will even out because people will train wrestling more, I agree with this but at the same time I think the other styles will adapt to counter as well, we might see a lot more active guards from jits guys and strikers will be working on their timing of strikes off of TD attempts,

all in all the sport is young and still developing at a rapid pace, the future is guys who can do it all at an elite level.

[Malice]

Other sports will catch up, but the intangibles also go in Wrestling's favor. For example weight cutting..

Isn't Wrestling the only one of the disciplines where you may need to cut weight? I know by the time I was in 12th grade I had 5 years of losing 10-15 lbs the week before a match..and weight cutting sucks. literally.

Also constant competition, I have done Sambo and Judo and we will go to a tournament once a month. But on the wrestling team you have matches every week, sometimes with tournaments on the weekend. So a Wrestler arguably gets more competition experience. (I am not sure about BJJ though).

[b0sH]

I think MMA also goes through cycles.

We saw wrestling dominate with the likes of Coleman, Hughes etc.

Then it transitioned into standup fighters like Chuck, Arlovski, Franklin ('ish).

Then the more well rounded guys came through GSP, Silva, BJ

Now the wrestlers are beginning to show their heads Brock, Sonnen, Fitch etc.

Dunno.

It's not an exact science by any means but I do think there are some characteristics you can identify and group people of an era into.

[tucker50]

Wrestling is dominant because MMA is the only real option for wrestlers who aren't good enough for international competition, or simply don't want to compete internationally anymore. There's not alot of money in being an amateur wrestler either, so MMA can be quite attractive to wrestlers. The same is true for BJJ, but there aren't nearly as many BJJ guys as there are wrestlers, especially in the states.
Stirkers, however, have lots of alternatives than can be much more lucrative than MMA, so that's why you don't see nearly as many dominant strikers. Even the guys who have done well in the past like Chuck and Wand with their striking were never really great strikers who would do well in K-1 or boxing. Right now, Anderson and Overeem are really showing what world class strikers can do in MMA, but there aren't many guys on that level.
Until MMA is more of a lucrative career, we're going to see alot of wrestlers in an american company like the UFC.