Solution to "Too Much Wrestling"

[VCURamFan]

People have been whining about Gray Maynard a lot recently. Here's an article outlining how two seperate MMArtists (Kenny Florian & Dan Hardy) believe the problem should be solved:

Kenny Florian Opts to Improve, While Dan Hardy Would Rather Complain

Just because two men are looking at the same problem, it doesn't mean they're going to come up with the same answer. It's an obvious lesson, but one we learned again this week thanks to Dan Hardy and Kenny Florian.

The (perceived) problem? All these knuckleheaded wrestlers are coming into MMA, taking people down, and then just holding them there until time runs out and the judges declare them the winner.

The solution? According to Hardy we need to make some rule changes, maybe give the referees more authority to put a stop to these grapple-happy shenanigans. But according to Florian, who this week told Sherdog.com that he's hired Boston University assistant wrestling coach Sean Gray to help him in training, the answer is to add more arrows to your own quiver rather than trying to take them out of someone else's.

I think we already know which strategy will prove more successful.

The funny part is, Florian might be forgiven for wallowing in a little anti-wrestling self-pity right now. He just lost an uninteresting three-rounder to Gray Maynard, who was content to use his wrestling to grind out a decision. If Florian had responded by publicly blasting that strategy – the way Hardy did in the case of the Nik Lentz-Andre Winner fight – most of us would have had a little sympathy for his plight.

But that's not what he did. Instead he admitted that he needed to improve his wrestling in order to make sure that never happens again. He looked within, at his own shortcomings, rather than directing his frustration outward.

As Sports Psychology professor Dr. Ted Butryn said in this article back in July, success in sports hinges greatly on locus of control. If you think other people and outside forces are responsible for whether you win or lose, it's harder to improve. If you think everything rests on your own ability and performance, even if you're wrong, you're more likely to get better.

Hardy and the other wrestling whiners in MMA might do well to take note of Florian's attitude on the matter. If you want to stay off your back in this sport, it's up to you to make it happen. Something tells me guys like Maynard and Georges St. Pierre aren't going to stop taking you down even if you ask nicely.

Just one of the reasons people have a hard time getting behind Hardy, while Kenny is a fan favorite win or lose.

Exactly! If you don't want a wrestler to hold you down and grind out a decision? Learn to stop him. Otherwise: too bad, so sad.

[J.B.]

In before somebody says "but they aren't TRYING to finish the fight"

but i bet there would have been many people happy had chael sonnen got the decision over anderson .... it's part of the game ... if you can't stop a takedown, learn some takedown defence

It's fighting. In a fight somebody might take you down and keep you there. You can't say to them "Get off me, this is bull****!"

[VCURamFan]

Glad to see we all agree!

My penny's worth, If your going to allow one guy to do it, you better allow everyone to do it. No point watching Maynard hug someone for an hour and be allowed and yet when another guys does it he isnt even on the ground for a second before we have Herbbie yelling, "work".

Hell same with the fans too..

That is something that happens.

[rockdawg21]

LOL, that article is funny. Some wrestlers aren't good finishers at and Maynard is proof of that. However, in a fight, if a guy puts you on your back, you can either get up, reverse the position, or submit the guy from your back.

Of the 3 British fighters I know - Hardy, Bisping, and Paul Daley, they're big babies.