The Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling events have ended and we’ll examine the techniques used as well as how they relate to mixed martial arts.

“Dirty boxing” has been synonymous with Greco-Roman wrestling ever since the likes of Randy Couture and Matt Lindland demonstrated the viability of positional clinch control as a way to setup and deliver strikes. Over time the clinch game in MMA evolved to incorporate stylistic elements of Muay Thai as well.

The primary difference between the Greco-Roman clinch and the Muay Thai clinch is the positional hierarchy. Greco-Roman wrestlers want to achieve double underhooks or a bodylock, while the double collar tie is the most dominant position in the Muay Thai clinch. While underhooks are useful in Muay Thai, the lack of strikes in Greco makes the double collar tie nearly useless, except for wearing an opponent out by yanking on their neck.

Watch a Greco-Roman match and for the most part you’ll see the wrestlers moving on bent legs, jostling to get their foreheads in the side of their opponent’s face, and generally tying to get their base underneath their opponent. In contrast, nak muays stand more upright in the clinch due to the threat of knees. Today the best clinch fighters in MMA combine the two perspectives and use them in synergy.

When MMA fighters enter the clinch, they typically fall right into an over/under position or lock up an easy collar tie as an opponent swings an arching punch. Many fighters like to throw a straight and step through with the rear leg, putting them shoulder to shoulder with their opponent. This leads nicely into an underhook as the punching arm drops. Getting shoulder to shoulder makes it more difficult to fight for grips and secure a dominant position, but it provides the more important function of keeping a fighter safe as they enter the clinch.

This is not the case for wrestlers who don’t have to worry about strikes. Every grip is hard-fought and must be quickly used if one doesn’t want it stripped off. The better part of a Greco match is spent grip-fighting, looking for an entry into control positions or setting up attacks off an opponent’s grip. While a fighter can slip in an underhook on an opponent reacting to strikes, a wrestler must first bypass his opponent’s hands, shoulder and head, which are actively blocking while preventing his opponent from doing the same.

Although it’s usually too dangerous for an MMA fighter to advance with arms extended and ready to grip fight, a notable exception does exist. When a fighter is pressed against the cage, his stance flattens out and his hips square up, which leaves him unable to generate power in his strikes. This presents a perfect opportunity for his opponent to step in and hand-fight.

Jon Jones’ recent fights demonstrate this principle aptly. Jones will push his opponents to the fence to smother their stance before grabbing hold of both wrists. He uses double wrist control as a base of operations from which he can manipulate his opponent’s hand position to set up attacks and transitions. He’ll pin his opponent’s wrist to their chest before coming upstairs with an arching elbow and once his opponent is focused on his strikes, he’ll shoot in on the hips. Coming in hands-first like this allows Jones to secure dominant grips and deny his opponent the ability to make any.

Double underhooks and standing bodylocks in Greco are analogous to the mount in MMA – rarely seen in high level matchups, and then usually only briefly. Uzbekistani wrestler Tasmuradov tries to thread his right arm through and pop up his opponent’s right arm to open up an underhook, but his opponent withdraws the arm as Tasmuradov reaches, causing him to miss. This leaves him out of position and forces him to give up a takedown. When a wrestler is able to secure double underhooks or a body lock, a takedown usually follows quickly.

Although double underhooks is a dominant position, it’s possible to hit throws from less advantageous positions as well. Here Shinobu Ota drops his level to secure double underhooks, but he presses forward carelessly. As Ota stands up and raises his hips, his opponent, Rovshan Bayramov, is able to get his own hips underneath them and throw him with double overhooks. Throws from double overhooks are uncommon in MMA, as there are generally more useful and less risky things to be doing with your arms. A whizzer and crossface leads nicely into knees, as does the double collar tie. MMA fighters spend a lot more time in double underhooks than wrestlers (largely due to the cage) which also provides time to pummel back to a neutral position. However, none of that stopped Jon Jones from hitting a gorgeous throw from double overhooks on Stephan Bonnar.

Greco-Roman wrestling is ostensibly about throwing your opponent, but the majority of points are not scored from a standing position. Greco only permits upper body throws, disallowing the leg attacks of freestyle and the reaping throws and trips of Judo. The majority of freestyle takedowns are leg attacks, and this is because they are the highest percentage takedowns available. Upper body throws are very difficult to hit on a quality opponent and Greco-Roman Olympians are very good at not getting thrown. Because of this, it’s very common for Greco matches to involve long periods of nothing happening on the feet.

In order to break up the monotony and promote scoring, referees are quick to call inactivity penalties. The first time a wrestler is called for inactivity acts as a warning. The second time, the referee will order them into the par terre position, with the offending wrestler on his hands and knees and his opponent kneeling behind him. If a wrestler is ordered into the par terre position a second time, a point is awarded to his opponent.

Most points are scored through exposure in the par terre position. Wrestlers are awarded two points for turning their opponent’s back to the mat, usually by way of a gut-wrench. High amplitude five point throws are more common from par terre as well.

Because leg attacks are not permitted in Greco, techniques and positions that attack the upper body take on an increased prominence. Here Shinobu Ota changes levels to get underhooks, but Bayramov is expecting it. He keeps his arms tight and drops his level to prevent Ota from getting the underhooks. Ota uses Bayramov’s reaction against him, springing up and pulling his head down into a front headlock. Bayramov attempts to throw him, but can’t get the leverage he needs and Ota drops back and bridges into what is essentially a guillotine reversal for the pin.

Božo Starčević made creative use of the front headlock in his match against Roman Vlasov. Vlasov got exposure points and began working for a pin, while Bozo wrapped his head and began turning onto his right hip to apply a makeshift guillotine choke. He used the choke to roll Vlasov right into a pin, where it was revealed that Vlasov had passed out. Božo was awarded two points for the escape, but the pin on an unconscious opponent was not counted and Vlasov went on to win not only the match, but the gold medal in his division.

Techniques that attack the back such as arm drags and duck-unders are especially common. Usually a wrestler will drop to his stomach when his opponent moves to the back, choosing to give up two points for a takedown instead of risking a higher point throw.

Here’s a slick move to the back by Belarusian Javid Hamzatov. He starts out with inside bicep control on his left side while his right hand is grip fighting with his opponent. He circles his right wrist out to break off the grip and wraps his opponent’s head, while his bicep control prevents his opponent from doing the same to him. He uses his bicep tie to direct his opponent’s right arm across his body and shoves his head under his opponent’s armpit. This continues pushing the arm across and allows Hamzatov to angle out, while preventing his opponent from turning into him. As he moves around to the back, his opponent goes belly down to avoid giving up more points than he has to.

A simple arm drag to the back executed perfectly by the Kyrgyzstani Arsen Eraliev.

Kim Hyeon-woo hits a beautiful duck-under on Božo Starčević. Kim secures double wrist control on Božo’s left arm and twists his wrist to the right. This opens Božo’s elbow and turns his shoulder up, exposing the path to his back under the arm. When Kim has the grip secured, he throws the arm over his shoulder and pulls Božo’s head down to prevent him from backing up, before changing his level and ducking under to the back. Here is a clip of Tristar coach Firas Zahabi demonstrating the wrist twist Kim used to open up Božo’s shoulder in the context of setting up a d’arce choke.

Gold medalist Ismael Borrero likes to attack with a two-on-one tie and force opponents to the ground with pressure on their trapped shoulder. Shinobu Ota came prepared to deal with this attack in the 59kg finals. Every time Borrero forced Ota to the mat with a two-on-one, Ota would base out on his head and far arm and “cartwheel” over, ending up on top. This is essentially the same technique Ronda Rousey used to reverse Cat Zingano’s bodylock takedown. Zingano’s underhook acted as a lever that forced her onto her back and into bottom side control when Rousey cartwheeled, while Borrero’s arm tie doesn’t provide Ota control of his body to force him onto his back. Although Ota had an answer for the two-on-one, Borrero was able to rack up six points from the par terre position early. Borrero chained the two-on-one to an arm drag near the end of the match to pickup a win by technical superiority.

The Olympic Greco events came to an end on Tuesday, but Freestyle is just starting for anyone who hasn’t yet got their wrestling fix. Freestyle is generally more viewer-friendly and will look more familiar to MMA fans, with double legs, single legs, and the occasional trip.