Guest post by James Duscio, a BJJ black belt under Walter cascao vital and runs Cascao Evolution BJJ out of Las Vegas nv.
It’s a clash of heavyweights when Brock Lesnar and Daniel Cormier step into the Octagon and battle it out for the Championship title. Both have impressive wins on their record, former champion Brock over Carwin, Couture, and Hunt, while current champion Cormier has beaten the likes of Henderson, Silva, and Miocic. Lets not deny that these guys have the MMA skills to dominate the weight division, but instead lets see who will have the advantage in the wrestling department, which is their core foundation.
Lets start with Brock. This guy was an All American, Pac Ten and NCAA Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. He walks around at about 286 pounds and took the heavyweight title with little MMA expericance. His takedowns have been successful against wrestlers of all levels, with single and double legs being the go to, whether it’s from a charge, against the cage or off of a kick. Brock also has so much size and power that when he clinches up, any scramble of movement usually ends up with Brock twisting or body folding his opponent to the ground.
Cormier has an impressive wrestling background as well. Three time Pan American Champion, Bronze Medal World Champion as well as Wrestling on the American Olympic Team. He has taken down just about everybody he has faced in the light heavyweight and heavyweight division, and he has done it with great diversity. His arsenal includes the classic single and double legs, but also the high crotch, foot sweeps, leg trips, catching the low kicks, as well as leg hooking off the cage.
So who has the advantage?
Well, when it comes to diversity, Cormier is the clear winner. When you have more to think about defensively, you usually become less effective offensively and defensively, because you are trying to figure your opponent out. Predictability often loses battles. When it comes to the clinch, that becomes tougher. Due to Brocks size, I do not see Cormier tossing him around as easy as his 205 pound opponents. Cormier has shown weakness in the clinch takedowns against Jon Jones, and we all know Brock has much more size and power then Jon. But, here is the MMA twist, Cormier has become very efficient at dirty boxing in the clinch, which is how he won the heavyweight title. This will cause Brock to be much more defensive against the strikes in that position, which in turn will bring down the effectiveness of his wrestling offense. Against the cage, I have to give it to Brock. He drives his size into you until he snatches you up for a big double leg. Again Jon Jones was able to do this against Cormier with a much smaller frame then Brock. In the cardio department, Cormier is the clear winner. Brock has really only shown strong cardio for the first round. He slows significant and Cormier has not had the competition break Brock has had the last couple years. And lets not deny the simple fact that fighting with a bodyweight of 286 pounds has a much greater energy demand then 240 pounds.
When all is said and done, Cormier has the advantage with diversity and cardio. The few areas he doesn’t have the advantage like the cage and clinch I think will be nullified due to his dirty boxing. Both are pretty solid defensively, but lets not forget that Cormier has shown much better results when it comes to getting back up to the feet quickly where as Brock has a tendency, especially after the first 4 minutes to stay down and cover. To see these two fighters with these impressive wrestling resumes compete in this format will be exciting. Advantage Daniel Cormier.
Wrestling can make or break you in a tournament. If you, like many other want to win the ADCC one day, you better start training wrestling now! This can give you the competitive edge. If you don’t have a place to train wrestling, check out Hudson Taylor’s “Wrestling for BJJ” DVD Set. Hudson was a division 1 all American wrestler and he is a blue belt World Champion.
