10 UFC Fighters That Refused To Use Their Martial Arts Background

Imagine a scenario where you have the opportunity to do what you've trained in your entire life, but instead of using that skill, you choose to pretty much abandon it. That's what the UFC fighters on this list have done. Pretty much entirely refuse to use the martial art they spent their entire life studying.
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[@borrachinhamma]

0% sub attempts 😂 dude it’s crazy i didn’t know 😮

[@henriquealencar2666]

You get a submission win and I’ll buy Secret juice

[@tobi65638]

Borrachinaa!!

[@Matheusss89]

Larga o suco secreto e começa a usar teu jogo. Bora borrachinha!

[@Dmichoacan]

Stay active king! 👑👑👑

[@jpacampara21]

yo the king has arrived

[@MichaelMarucci]

Tito never using his Englitsu was always nuts.

[@cristo6007]

It was the only way he could outlive his children 🤷‍♂️

[@theywouldnthavetocensormei9231]

He was just glad to be in Las Vegas, California.

[@mrfarax4944]

😂😂😂 old heads

[@phobosex7504]

or Stipe

[@nitkis419]

This comment wins

[@IncredibleMD]

10 Grapplers Who Just Wanted To Beat The Absolute Hell Out Of Their Opponents.

[@harrygreb3457]

Pretty much lol, much better name

[@felix-bk7ne]

+ Benson Henderson

[@Khonnell66]

Yoel Romero

[@TheChessNeck]

Accurate lol

[@ShakenBake444]

Usman became a very good striker

[@BatCaveOz]

GSP never wrestled in high school, or university. He was a Karate guy... and possibly the greatest wrestler in MMA.

[@felix-bk7ne]

He did use Karate though.

[@izzdin6228]

​@@felix-bk7ne I remember a JRE ep with George, and he said the Karate blitz actually helped his wrestling entries when he shoots for a TD.

[@victorsanchez-castro8944]

He also wasn’t a boxer but has one of the best jabs in mma

[@JopJio]

He was never the greatest wrestler.

[@War-child_]

Foh, cormier? Khabib? Shavkat? Etc

[@drunkenmmamaster419]

Still baffles me Justin Gaethje was a division 1 all American in wrestling and I have seen him shoot maybe 1 takedown in his career 😂

[@harsha1989able]

Yeah it's a shame...

[@spidashaw700]

Fr. Bro just loves violence and that’s why everybody loves him

[@theywouldnthavetocensormei9231]

He still wins though, it doesn't seem to negatively effect him the same way it did with Yoel Romero. Yoel probably could have won a few fights that he lost if he wrestled more. Maybe so, maybe not, but Gaethje didn't lose to Khabib or Oliveira bc he didn't wrestle, he just lost because they're both really good.

[@mikedobson1678]

I can name only 2, Eddie but that barely even counts because it was so weird And Fiziev lol

[@gabrielchaves4822]

He's tired of crotch sniffing

[@limpelephant1]

Strickland came to mind immediately for this list. Wrestler with BJJ black belt who only kickboxes.

[@monkpato]

But he's not a wrestler is he? I mean, it's hard to wrestle in high school is you've dropped out...

[@limpelephant1]

@monkpato He is, everyone whose trained with him said he's an elite wrestler.

[@BiggieTrismegistus]

His base discipline is trauma though.

[@zachlovescats95]

How can you be an aelite wrestler when you've never competed in it?@@limpelephant1

[@mitchmckinley2195]

@@monkpatoback in his early mma career in KOTC he was a very well known wrestler and bjj guy. Pretty much every fight he was in commentators would rave about his ground game. Funnily enough his title fight in that promotion was won by striking, commentators for that fight were impressed by his boxing since it was pretty much the first time they had seen so much of it being used.

[@IncredibleMD]

Paulo Costa is set to face 2017 Australian National Wrestling Champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 298, and I don't think anyone expects to see anything but an absolute barrage of KO-seeking punches.

[@tarancehill651]

Should have ended it with "I don't think anyone expects to see anything."

[@theywouldnthavetocensormei9231]

@@tarancehill651 it does kinda have that feel like it might be a snooze.

[@ivansyomkin2156]

It has the feeling that it won't happen ​@@theywouldnthavetocensormei9231

[@champ1159]

​@@theywouldnthavetocensormei9231Considering Paulo's tendency to pull out of fights, we may never see them enter the cage at all

[@rico14]

It’s mainly, because of how exhausting. Most fans and commentators don’t really understand. How much offensive grappling takes away from you’re energy. That’s the main reason guys end up striking more even if they have a grappling background.

[@IncredibleMD]

The man, the myth, the legend: Andy "Stand And" Wang.

[@Bossclipz5]

Robbed of the top spot such a warrior

[@harrygreb3457]

“Let me Wang bro” what a warrior

[@denslow8552]

Absolute warrior

[@phobosex7504]

😂

[@GinkgoPete]

Andy Wang? That guy is a warrior!

[@carmike7671]

Ben Askren barely ever used his background of spinning back fist striking just to spare fighters brain damage for the unmeasurable power it wields

[@Boris82]

So nice of him

[@duhund6830]

Finally a guy who understands! But he took the jake paul fight because he wanted to give jake paul brain damage and he couldnt wait to destroy him but one hour before their boxing fight they told him that spinning backfists are illegal so he can’t use it here. You could see that he was in a bad mood during their fight

[@GratefulPrimate]

Jorge Gurgel was a BJJ expert who INSISTED on striking and ALWAYS got outstruck by his opponents and got KO'd many times

[@VeggieBrah]

I loved watching Gurgel. We never got to see his BJJ but he always delivered the funny.

[@39josh05]

Roy Nelson is a better example

[@savagesword6393]

That was hilarious...Rich Franklin would be begging him to take the fight to the ground, and Gurgel just wouldn't do it

[@amsterdampattayathailand1947]

Andy wang

[@hamcommander7974]

He was such a bad striker. Dude was absolutely delusional.

[@dariconable]

paulo is like imma headhunt

[@TheMMAKasual]

Didn’t he crumble Uriah hall w a body shot?

[@hardnewstakenharder]

Paulo's last finish was in 2018.

[@Eric-bl8lp]

He doesn’t headhunt

[@HowardJonesOfficial]

The background... is only that which isn't the foreground... or something like that. - Shin Tzu Zu

[@wes52101]

I'm glad you guys are still doing some videos in this format. Not to disparage, but I prefer this type to the ones where you sit down and talk.

[@asasipogi]

aye, i dont even watch those

[@charlesburroughs9770]

Not a fan of that format on this channel, maybe if they set it up as "MMA On Point "After Hours"...Or something of that nature!!!

[@chendaddy]

Totally agree. I think we're all just used to the level of research, preparation and production that goes into these types of videos, and those roundtable videos just don't have it.

[@mmamusic9634]

There's only so many top 10's you can make. Those type of videos and breakdowns are what keep this channel alive. It's your opinion tho man 👍

[@wes52101]

@@mmamusic9634 not trying to s$#t on it, just not my thing.

[@barkevvv]

no Roy Nelson on this list is a crime

[@theywouldnthavetocensormei9231]

I hear Tony Ferguson is good at winning fights, but I haven't seen him implement that style for a long time.

[@Saygoodnightfight]

Winning Fights is the best base for MMA confirmed

[@d.dizzles]

I won’t allow Tony slander even if he deserves it

[@theywouldnthavetocensormei9231]

@@Saygoodnightfight yep. Just get good.

[@theywouldnthavetocensormei9231]

@@d.dizzles Tony is the type of guy to accidentally win a fight, and then have to start over at beating the losing streak record.

[@matthewgoodwin5179]

@@theywouldnthavetocensormei9231because there isn’t many of those guys…😂

[@runningsuperska]

I love the fact that Roy Nelson was introduced as a kung-fu fighter, because that's what he started out as. Liddel had great takedown defence so he did use it, in a way.

[@ynotefil]

Honorable Mention: Quentin "RAMPAGE" Jackson

[@Adz907]

Would help if you could spell bruv 🤣

[@Malaestro]

You’re kidding right? He used his wrestling a lot until his knees were shot, he was famous for his slams.

[@jameswallace5830]

Pretty much grapplers turned into strikers

[@jonathansalvador5037]

And Bendo.

[@Jonathan-lm7wy]

Honorable mention: Andy "the warrior" Wang

[@LAYNESTALEYISAGOD]

Haven't watched yet, but this describes so many people with a wrestling background.

[@benjthewhite]

Fighter: *Has a high level wrestling base* Also that fighter: "I’ll ignore that"

[@ManualPixarPresents]

Justin gaethje uses his wrestling in ways that’s tough to see as a non wrestler. His way of pressuring, circling, and baiting sets up his opponent’s legs and shifts their weight in subtle ways allowing him to either enter a battering combination or a viscous leg kick. It’s crazy, and I swear I’m not being sarcastic or joking here, but he actually is wrestling a majority of his fights, all without ever touching them

[@Todo_fighting]

😂😂😂😂😂 i get what you're saying, Trevor is a boxing coach, wrestler tend to do good using a boxing style in mma, boxing and wrestling have good synergy.

[@vah3439]

cody garbrandt being a collegiate wrestling champ is a mention here

[@Todo_fighting]

He also has a boxing background, he occasionally shoots for takedowns in his fights.

[@REVOisMYname]

It is weird… I understand Gaethje and Romero not wanting to gas out from wrestling. Costa doesn’t even bother to grapple, hops right up

[@masonwinters267]

We are starting to see the newer generation of fighters who have been specializing in MMA at fight gyms since they were eight years old. I wonder how much longer specialists are even going to exist

[@rico14]

There’s always going to be specialists for 2 reasons. Even the guys that train everything will still favor one art over another most of the time just due to natural talents. The other reason is that there’s always gonna be elite level combat sports athletes that want to make the switch for financial reasons.

[@masonwinters267]

@@rico14 Fair point

[@Jaburu]

I don't think so. Even if you have natural talent at the ground, for example, you better specialize in MMA right form the start. For a pretty simple reason: you don't learn useless stuff....and you learn when and how to use your natural talent. and you learn stand-up right from the start.

[@buckschlerf653]

Honorable mention to Abdul Razak AlHassan who has a Judo black belt that I've never seen him use

[@Killerzain1106]

Can't remember which fight but there's that one time Justin tried to shoot for a takedown and it's like his body rejected it😂😂

[@user-us3rn5bf7s]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 Yeah against Eddie

[@duhund6830]

He got taken down by his own takedown

[@claytonsmit4474]

I believe Sean Strickland has a BJJ black belt, now there's someone who never uses their martial art

[@EvanDD0127]

Great vid!!! I’d love to see a full video about Kid Yamamoto.

[@shuchao6643]

Kid didn't "grew up in Arizona" though. He lived and trained with Townsend and Tricia Saunders there for four years of high school after dropping out of Touingakuen High School in Japan. After that he went back to Japan for uni.

[@DrewMolix20]

Love this channel, always great content! Heads up, when talking about Tony Ferguson’s wrestling resume, it’s “NCAA” not “NCWA”

[@chendaddy]

Lol, once wrestlers can throw punches and kicks, so many don't wanna wrestle anymore. Makes fighters like Bas Rutten and GSP feel even more unique, coming from striking backgrounds but switching to heavy wrestling/grappling styles in order to win.

[@zachlovescats95]

TJ dillashaw said once he learned how to throw a punch he fell in love with it.

[@isaacsandler476]

Robocop is a world champion grappler and still chooses to strike with his opponents

[@Astrix321]

Mads burnell got a black belt under Chris Haueter in 3 years, which is one of the fastest black belt achieved by an european, yet recently he only stands up in fights even though he have 9 submission wins.. i think he deserveds a spot on this list even though hes not that famous

[@user-gu8gl9gb8g]

Ankalaev too, His background is sambô, but he is a striker now

[@dazwall5092]

Great video, cheers.

[@nicolasstarheart2903]

Doesn’t Chuck Liddell have a Kenpo Karate background though?

[@noahthegoat2923]

Kajukenbo goat

[@batmanwins5701]

Great topic!

[@freemantuffcakes]

Clever vid idea mate

[@xanferra]

First name I thought of was Shogun. Black belt in BJJ, 1 submission win in 42 fights

[@brandonwellington3547]

Its rare but I've seen him do impressive things off his back like slick half guard sweeps. He does use it when he has to

[@rowanbae4031]

I would argue that specialist still exist and are still very common, they're just getting better at bottle necking their opponents into their own skill sets. People including but not limited to Olivera, Khabib and Adesanya are just simply better at getting them to where they want to be. Olivera for example is forward heavy to where the opponent gets overwhelmed into making mistakes to where he can get submissions, or Adesanya whose use of distance management, accuracy and incredible takedown defence can ensure the fight stays standing

[@Todo_fighting]

As weird as his striking looks khabib as a lot striking experience before mma, he has hundreds of combat sambo and hand to hand matches.

[@Gamma_Hydra]

Vitor also submitted Anthony Johnson. I'd wager few saw that coming. That fight had KO city written all over it. Hella of a sport, MMA.

[@Monterey96]

The best thing about Jones headbutting a police car is that Chael Sonne gave him the benefit of the doubt with the situation. He said “I think maybe they pushed Jones’ head into the car, I don’t think he headbutted the car.” Then it turns out he actually headbutted a cop car

[@BiggieTrismegistus]

I think he thought it was his fiancée.

[@mauricioyinvieira2242]

Belfort did sub Anthony Johnson also… that was pretty impressive!

[@DomieThcHomie]

Title should’ve been grapplers that do anything but 😂😂😂

[@enzobodean2599]

Don’t forget JOSE ALDO, who’s also a Bjj blackbelt turned into a knockout artist and leg kicker

[@smithly-fgc]

is this gonna be a robocop appreciation video? i sure hope so

[@codyconnell6510]

Worth noting that smooth started mma becus the kids he coached in wrestling dared him to do it. And Paulo said he background was in bodybuilding when he went to the ultimate fighter Brazil.

[@MessianicJewJitsu]

My pro wrestling punches have never worked well in fights so I had to drop the style out of necessity

[@harrygreb3457]

That just means you’re a great worker

[@theywouldnthavetocensormei9231]

There was a really awesome game for PS2, Sudden Impact, where you could create fighters from one of like 15 camps I think, one of them was Pro Wrestling. It always cracked me up the punching power from that camp was actually pretty good, only boxing, kickboxing, and pit fighting were better.

[@MessianicJewJitsu]

@@theywouldnthavetocensormei9231 I remember that game.

[@nadamaispodeserfeito1298]

Demian Maia started as Kung Fu practicioner and even had his first MMA (vale-tudo, at the time) fight before even starting training BJJ

[@brianwarner308]

Yeah man I like kid Yamamoto, too. I wish I could’ve seen more of him.!!

[@ynotefil]

MMA Right On Point 💯

[@oddswithyourkind]

Barnett, Sakuraba, and CM Punk had pro wrestling as their base, right?

[@harrygreb3457]

Wow wow wow….Cm punk had a Kenpo background ok lmao

[@tomjones6347]

Sakuraba and Barnett were both catch wrestling

[@keving7773]

Chuck always drove me crazy!!! specially near the end when he was getting knocked out, he didn't even try it to throw up his opponent

[@Redreaperify]

Now we need a reverse list. 10 Fighters that ONLY use their Martial Art

[@austinv9964]

The age of the specialist isn't "dying" it's dead. Even the dominant grapplers have striking skills and the best strikers have good takedown defense.

[@rty08]

RIP Kid Yamamoto. It was exciting getting to see him fight.

[@05redbelly]

I thought Kevin Holland would have definitely made the list. Great video, guys

[@dengthanchhunga8581]

When I see the caption, the first thing on my mind: Justin Gaethje 😂

[@Mahinskerrr]

Immediately thought of Yoel haha

[@zaxko86]

Seeing Chucks pictures from school I didn't expect him to be a Chad. But I was very surprised.

[@moeal3688]

TOP 10 GRAND PRIX WINNERS NEXT!!!

[@maxtaetle420]

when i found out gaethje was a d1 wrestler i couldnt believe it

[@llawliet3733]

Its on his Wikipedia.

[@victorsanchez-castro8944]

Jorge Ebro on a podcast said that Yoel Romero’s neck is badly damaged from years of wrestling and that is why he does not use it all that much

[@beneltonturkeyslap]

"and for the rest of his career he was looking to send you to.... mma heaven" Cracked me up

[@j.l.torres4610]

Most would never guess this but Chuck Liddell was a wrestler. He never used it offensively but defensively it's what kept his fights standing getting him those KO's.

[@BiggieTrismegistus]

I pretty sure Rogan mentioned that in every Liddell fight.

[@Dexortes]

Hey! My fav fighter is top1))) I love Justin's fights and his style that makes them incredibly entertaining, but his last top1 position I remember was in absorbing strikes T_T There are not so much chances him being the UFC champ, but I'd be absolutely happy to see him finally grabbing the gold.

[@mxbblife_mu]

A little disappointed in this video by never mentioning that wrestlers don't really have to take you down in order to use their Art ... Takedown defense is a big part of how these former wrestlers became MMA fighters/Champions

[@jackrobertson7102]

A topic I would be interested in is top non-fight IQ - who are the smartest fighters in the UFC outside of fighting

[@Felipe_Aro]

Chandler top 1

[@BiggieTrismegistus]

​@@Felipe_AroChadler: top non-fight IQ and bottom fight IQ.

[@janseanmarwyn4703]

Cory Sandhagen is definitely up there

[@Dodgerzden]

It makes sense that you would want to stand up and trade striking techniques instead of going to the ground if you are proficient at both grappling and striking because grappling tires you out way more quickly. And all those fighters who had grappling as their first martial art knew that they could use it anytime they wanted to if it seemed the stand-up game wasn't working.

[@MyUnlucky13]

Part 2 please

[@moobox]

Someone, PLEASE, tell me... Was this video posted like a month ago and pulled for some reason, and this is a re-upload? I swear I've watched this entire video already.

[@trevorturner6921]

Yoel and his cuban super wrestling :(

[@battosai5311]

After his neck was fused it significantly hurt his wrestling

[@nathanfallin2750]

If Yoel had a grapple heavy style, he would’ve turned through the current crop of middleweight strikers

[@GengoSenmon]

As long as Yoel Romero was mentioned then no complaints about the list.

[@CobraKaiNoMercy]

You forgot about Jorge Gurgel. BJJ black belt who always used his kickboxing.

[@hulkman245]

Didnt Chuck have a Kempo karate background?

[@durience253]

Goes to show the secret to being an elite striker is have a high level wrestling background to deal with takedowns and sub attempts.

[@hardnewstakenharder]

Reminder that Paulo Costa's last finish was in 2018 and that he's could conceivably pull out of his next fight.

[@azrael557]

Gomi being a wrestler is shocking considering how bad he always looked on the ground.

[@Malaestro]

And he won an ADCC qualifier pretty sure. I think he lost his ground game coz apparently after hitting the big leagues he didn’t like to train anymore

[@poopmonkey48]

I knew it was gonna be Garth 😂

[@libertarianrevolution7026]

What about Junior Dos Santos? He's a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu but he rarely used it in MMA and instead mostly relied on boxing.

[@lawnprinter300]

Paulo doesn’t like to implement any martial art except the art of excuses

[@zachmartin3347]

Four reasons why wrestlers converting to MMA abandon wrestling: All fights start standing and go back to standing from resets so you must be able to have effective stand up. Most fighters train take down defense and protect their stance from take down, which can effectively shut down skilled wrestlers and demoralize their game plan. Shooting in on a BJJ specialist or trained fighter and not knowing how to defend yourself from submission attempts can quickly put you in a bad situation and lose your arm/leg/neck in a submission by not converting a take down to a submission of your own. Wrestling demands a lot of energy from the aggressor. If they shoot and get them down, they have to convert that into some ground and pound or submission attempts because the output energy would be more costly if they dont score points to the judges/submit and compromises their stamina in later rounds(if they happen).

[@Malaestro]

Wrestling is also super hard on your body, Rampage said he stopped using it coz his knees were too shot to shoot anymore and Romero said something similar.

[@zachmartin3347]

@@Malaestro training in general in any sport seriously is hard on the joints. But yes, that's a factor for people.

[@themixican4364]

Bringing up Pettis reminds that he was the only guy since Bas that would specifically target and hunt for liver shots. Never understood why so many southpaws & deadly kickers wouldn’t do it. Aldo & Barboza were dangerous enough to do it with switch kicks, and were proficient on the ground enough where taking them down was just as bad as taking the kicks, but they normally stuck to leg attacks. Always curious why

[@memolano100]

12:45 I’m glad that we got to see the GOAT in this video.

[@jiujitsubassist]

I think it says something about a fighter, if they're considered so good at one aspect of MMA that the opposition tries to avoid it, then they're able to beat you at something else. An example would be wrestlers that have great striking and power. Opponents try to avoid wrestling only to get beat striking. On the other hand, it's nice to be a fighter that's so good at multiple things but exceptionally good/scary at one to the point that they don't need to use that one exceptional skill to beat anyone. I'm not sure I made any sense here. My bad.

[@tomjones6347]

Anyone who has wrestled knows that it is so much more gruelling on the cardio than striking. So learn to grapple at an elite level. Then learn to strike and only use your grappling when your opponent applies it to you.

[@ChrisKennedyGuitars]

Before I watch; Jorge Gurgel & Dean Lister better be on here.

[@allenownz]

To be fair Jeremy Horn is prob why Chuck didn’t wrestle anymore

[@jameshutcheson4910]

This one was difficult to rank. Totally agree with all of the choices, however. What female fighter would y'all add to this list? Great work! 🤟

[@novelaego2404]

shout to all the wrestlers not wanting to bore us

[@lance-biggums]

The common theme is grapplers learning to strike and then refusing to use their grappling except as a fallback. To me this proves that grappling is a better base. I say this as a striker. It's better to have a solid base in grappling that you can fall back on and then learn striking, rather than being a striker who learns to grapple.

[@castro619a]

Roy Nelson doing karate as youth and getting his BJJ black belt under Renzo before MMA is wild

[@robertbelyea5767]

The man has background in Kung Fu!

[@user-qc8vn4hf4v]

Paulo hasn't used any martial arts in a long time.

[@pedrofernandes2800]

You guys should see something about Aldo. Dont really know in what extent he has bjj as a base, but he began with bjj.

[@mikethamostest]

John Lineker should've made this list

[@erikowings6729]

I think the title is a little confusing. Gomi, Romero, Yamamoto, Liddell, and Gaethje use their wrestling to keep it standing. There are world champion wrestlers who's style is built off counterwrestling. Keeping it standing takes a lot of wrestling skill. But yes they didn't use it offensively very often

[@renatoreboucas5413]

Hey bro I guess u just missed the Anthony Johnson’s fight on Vitor’s part when he took his back and choked him out… Ppl tends to forget but Belfort is a seasoned black belt from Carlson Gracie and Vitor almost took John Jones left arm back home lol Jones was on seek and destroy mode that’s why he refused to tap but that doesn’t change the fact that Vitors caught him good there. jones is just a beast lol 😂 Anybody would have tapped cuz it was real tight and Jones just went through it like it was a warm up drill lol 😂

[@khanasif169]

I was wandering if ground game was not allowed in MMA events then what would have happened?

[@jonathandodd732]

Usman Nurmagomedov, surely? Thanks for the great video.