Hybrid Fighting Styles

[IrishCanadian25]

While there may be more, I found 4 major "hybrid" MMA styles, some consisting of strike/grapple, some grapple/submit, some grapple/strike. Below are the 4 and the fighters often most associated with them.

Sprawl and Brawl. Avoid takedowns and keep the fight on the feet. Use sprawling to avoid leg takedowns and stand the fight up to utilize strikes - usually punches to avoid leg grabs resulting in takedowns. Popularized by Chuck Liddel and Mirko Cro-Cop.

Clinch Fighting. Very heavy Muy Thai influence. Grab a fighter and bring them into close range, using short range strikes such as knees, elbows, and short punches to disable an opponent. May result in a take down, but often an attempt at a clear shot to result in a cut, knockdown, or knockout. Used best by Anderson Silva and Wanderlai Silva.

Ground and Pound. Focus on gaining a takedown, and then getting into a top position, passing the opponents guard, to use downward, prone strikes such as punched and elbows to obtain a knockout, ref stoppage, or an opening to a submission hold such as the opponent defending him or herself by rolling to their stomach and allowing a rear-naked choke. Used most often by Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz.

Submission Grappling. Hybrid of wrestling and submission fighting, this technique focuses on using takedowns to open an opponent up to any variety of submission holds, such as a large joint hold or any type of choke hole. May occur from the top position, though some fighters with judo backgrounds are adept at obtaining submissions from their backs. BJ Penn is a great example.

Which style do you find the most effective, and which one do you prefer to watch fighters perform?

 

[jmt225]

Well, Nick Diaz is my favorite fighter and basically, he's a mixture of 'Sprawl and Brawl' and 'Submission Grappling'. Diaz has some of the greatest Jiu-Jitsu skills in all of MMA, but he's also an excellent boxer and always tries to keep the fight on his feet. However, once taken down, which sometimes is inevitable, he doesn't just lay on his back, he's constantly looking for submissions to apply. BJ Penn is the exact same way.

So, yeah, it's kind of a lame answer I suppose, but I'll pretty much always respect those who are well rounded and can do more then just one style to win a fight, more so then someone who only focuses on one aspect, because there’s always going to be someone better in that one aspect and you won’t have any other way to beat that person. For example, Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar is coming up. Both are GNP guys and Brock obviously has the advantage since he's so much bigger and stronger then Couture. So if Couture is mostly working on his takedowns and ground and pound during training, then he's wasting his time if you ask me. He needs to focus, on how you put it, 'Sprawl and Brawl' and Jiu-Jitsu, otherwise the fight is over before it starts. It’s very important in today’s MMA game to be real good at more then one style, because like I said, the one style you’re superb at, there’s always going to be someone to come along who’s better then you at it and you won’t have any other style to rely on to get you out of a dangerous situation.