Complimentary to mma?

Question

i currently do mma, but im looking for a good grappling art to compliment it.

I was thinking between judo and jujitsu, and was even considering greco roman wrestling. What would be the best here.

Answer 1

Everyone is going to say BJJ and it is very good but I would suggest looking into Sambo/sombo/cambo. It was used by soviet special forces and applies a lot of locks with impact.

Of those you mentioned greco roman is more about control than locks and submissions.

Answer 2

We did some jujitsu in Tae Kwon Do, and I thought it was pretty good.

Answer 3

Greco roman wrestling and Judo aren't truly grappling arts, in terms of being on the ground and working for submissions. They are both all about getting the fight to the ground, standing up and working in the clinch or tie up position. Judo does include some submissions, but not all that many. I think both greco and judo are great and have had some experience with both, but they aren't true grappling styles. For that you would need Sambo or Jiu jitsu. Sambo is Russian and is sort of a combination of greco wrestling and submission wrestling and then of course there is Jiu jitsu, and whether Japanese or Brazilian they don't work nearly as much on acheiving the take down as they do on what to do once you are on the ground.

So, I guess it really just depends on what you are looking to add to your game. If you are looking to add more takedown and improve your game in the clinch either greco or judo would be great, if you are looking to add more or better submissions once on the ground then I would definitely say sambo or jiu jitsu.

Good luck!!

I actually started training in Bushindo Japanese Jiu Jitsu while I was competing in amateur kick boxing just to kind of keep things fresh and give my mind and body a new challenge to deal with.

Answer 4

Scott D - I stopped reading your answer when you said Judo and Greco Roman are not grappling arts. You either have your definitions of grappling messed up or really lack experience in either arts.

Judo is great for MMA so is BJJ and greco roman. All 3 are currently in use by popular MMA fighters in one way or another. Obviously, all of these will need to be adapted to deal with the no-gi, and striking aspects of the cage.

Judo and BJJ both have subs.

Best way to see what art works best for you is to take sample classes for each one and see which you are more built for, then make a decision from there.

Heres a cool vid on the subject by a Judo MMA fighter:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cH89qHE68as