It’s not news to anyone who follows MMA that having a strong wrestling base is an enormous advantage. The ranks of every division are stacked with exciting strikers who have good jiu-jitsu who run into a strong takedown artist and get smothered.

It’s the stronger wrestler who decides where the fight goes. Scared of that dude's striking? Take him down. Worried about that girl's ground game? Don't let her take you down. Concerned about both and significantly outmatched? Hold him against the fence for as long as possible.

But for every strong wrestler who succeeds in MMA, there are a dozen who fail to crack into the upper echelon of the sport. There have been plenty of Olympic medalists who have been thoroughly mediocre in MMA, like Kazayuki Miyata, and a few who have been flat-out embarrassing, like Istvan Majoros.

What former Olympian and current UFC light heavyweight Daniel Cormier does so well is apply his wrestling in ways that enable him to land significant strikes and surprise his opponents on the feet. Let's take a look at a couple of DC's better moments.

The Takedowns of Daniel Cormier

Cormier's most recent fight, against Roy Nelson, was a brilliant demonstration of wrestling creating openings for striking and vice versa. Cormier immediately took Nelson down with little trouble and repeated this several times in the first round.

My wrestling terminology is not great--I'm British after all--but in this instance, rather than the traditional running-the-pipe finish (where you pivot on the inside leg and dump your opponent down towards the side of the leg you are holding) Cormier lifts the single and uses his inside foot to block Nelson's other standing leg. Slick and clearly unexpected.

Here is the same technique again. This time Cormier tries to trip Nelson by stepping behind his standing leg; then he blocks it and changes direction.

Cormier's chaining of takedowns and his ability to play with his opponents' expectations is phenomenal. I'm sure we all remember his high crotch slam against Josh Barnett. That came off of playing with Barnett's expectations. In the second round Cormier was able to catch the leg and simply run the pipe to drag Barnett to the floor.

In the third round Cormier got to the same head-outside position on Barnett's leg, but this time, as Barnett prepared to defend the running of the pipe, Cormier lifted him instead and slung him to the mat.

While we're ogling brilliant high-crotch dumps, here's Quinton Jackson, before he forgot he was a wrestler, slamming Ikuhisa Minowa in response to a kimura attempt. Only loosely related, but tasty nonetheless.

The high crotch, or head outside single (depending on the entry), is not as favoured in mixed martial arts as it is in collegiate and Olympic wrestling partly because of the threat of the opponent hitting the switch and partly because of the danger of the crucifix.

It's the same reason we don't see so many over-the-shoulder judo throws like ippon seoi nag--most fighters don't like compromising their position on the ground through their choice of takedown. You could hit an incredible throw that would be worth ippon in a judo tournament and give your opponent your back within moments of landing.

Jake Shields has made an art of using the head-outside single and flowing straight into scrambling guard passes. But on the other side of the coin, Dan Henderson has made a habit of rolling for a crucifix whenever an opponent attacks his leg with their head outside. Here's Henderson performing the crucifix on Shields.

Of course, not many folks can actually finish from the crucifix position. You've got some brilliant one-handed choke artists like Baret Yoshida and Marcelo Garcia, but outside of them it's not all that common.

Notice in this instance, Shields reaches for Henderson's right foot, and as Henderson hops out of the way, Shields drops Henderson onto his left side. Throughout the fight, much scrambling ensued each time Shields got Henderson down and it took some time to flatten Henderson out.

Most MMA fighters are unlikely to be hitting switches or crucifixes on an Olympian, which means Cormier's willingness and skill with the head-outside single really just adds another threat to his game.

The Hands of “Black Fedor”

What really impresses about Cormier, and I suspect the reason many have given him the tongue-in-cheek nickname “Black Fedor,” is his ability to chain his striking and takedowns. Because of the type of wrestler Cormier has always been--one who plays with expectations and who chains techniques with thought and savvy--he has taken to striking wonderfully.

Cormier recognizes the value of the jab but realizes that sometimes he can catch an opponent by leading with a right (just ask “Bigfoot” Silva). His ringcraft is decent for a wrestler, too. Notice how he circles away from Nelson's right hand, and when Nelson throws it anyway, Cormier ducks and changes direction to come out behind the swing.

Cormier's striking leads me to believe he must be a dream to coach. Where many MMA fighters seem to train technical in their camp then swing wild and predictable in the ring, Cormier looks in the cage like he would on the pads.

For instance, Cormier's corner repeatedly shouted, “Get his hands up,” during his fight with Nelson, so Nelson would be vulnerable to takedowns. Cormier responded by hitting an inside low kick straight into a lead high kick. Basic Muay Thai but not something you will see all that often in the cage, and certainly taxing on the opponent when he is already worrying about takedowns and punches.

Cormier is happy to double up with his hands, too. Not only can he hook off the jab, he will hook off of the jab. You would be astonished how many fighters can throw a jab to a left hook but don't because they feel it lacks power. But as soon as this left hook landed on Bigfoot Silva's dome, announcer Frank Shamrock summed up the value of a quick jab-hook combination: “Speed kills.”

Another double up into a knockdown. Variety is, after all, the spice of life.

Using the idea of doubling up to segue into talking about body work, here is Cormier using Julio Cesar Chavez's favourite lever punch (two or more punches off the same hand in succession)--the left hook to the head followed by the left hook under the now-raised right elbow and capped off by another left hook upstairs.

Working the Body

Easily one of Daniel Cormier's greatest skills is his use of body work along the fence. Body work in MMA is painfully undervalued. If you're in a 15- or 25-minute fight, and you're wearing four-ounce gloves, it'll only take a few good, consistent strikes to the body to quicken an opponent's fatigue.

Cormier will hold opponents along the fence and seemingly have them in a blind panic about an impending takedown. From here he will often use his head to lean on them a little while getting his hands to an opportune place in order to push off and flurry the body with punches. Against Frank Mir and Roy Nelson, Cormier was able to do this all night.

But what if his opponent can't fight him off at all in the clinch? Frank Mir was basically pushed around by Cormier for the entire 15 minutes of their bout. I spoke a couple of weeks ago about Cormier's use of an underhook (which he propped on the top of the fence: questionable but effective ... and legal) to expose Mir's ribs. Just beautiful.



Cormier has a strong underhook on Mir's left side. Cormier rests his arm on top of the fence.



1. Cormier joins his hands …

2. And begins forcing his left forearm in front of Mir's right collarbone. Notice how he has been able to raise Mir's left elbow, exposing his body to knees.

Basically any time Cormier could get Mir near the fence, he would attack with punches, clinch up, and get into position to knee the ribs again.

Even when Mir caught Cormier against the fence, Cormier was able to turn it around immediately.

Fighters normally craft their offence around things that they personally find difficult to defend against. It's one of the interesting aspects of the fight game: If a fighter uses a lot of thrust kicks to the legs, that's probably a clue that you should throw some back?

Cormier, for example, seems to have trouble weathering body strikes. He’s never been knocked down by one, but his larger opponents have often forced a decent break in his poker face with some hard body shots.

Here Frank Mir catches Cormier with a hard roundhouse kick as Cormier circles.

Josh Barnett was also able to land a couple of nice knees to the body along the fence that made DC grimace. Striking at his body as he circles seems like it might give the great wrestler some trouble.

Conclusions

Whether you want to believe it or not, the ability to wrestle in one form or another governs exchanges in all combat sports. Any striker in any combat sport can be made better by learning to muscle his opponent around and get them off-balance. World-class boxers Adrien Broner and Floyd Mayweather use the same techniques out in the open, but when they're in the heat of the infight Broner tries to box, while Mayweather clinches, cross faces, bumps, and looks to remove or create space as he needs it. Muhammad Ali's later career was a master class in stealing two rounds then holding for one.

To hit and not get hit is the ideal. Whether you do that by hitting and moving or hitting and clinching doesn't matter one damn bit.

The wrestler has always had the advantage in MMA because of his ability to control where the fight takes place. And for many, that’s enough. Most wrestlers learn some other skills and use them in bits and pieces when needed, but they’re always looking to get back to using their wrestling. Others forget their wrestling and swing wild. What we see in Daniel Cormier is someone who not only recognizes that wrestling is his greatest strength but someone who clearly finds joy in learning new things and in applying those things. His game is always growing, but it remains rooted in that incredible wrestling base.

Check out these earlier breakdowns from Jack Slack:

Can Gegard Mousasi Solve the Lyoto Machida Riddle?

The Shape-Shifting Gegard Mousasi

The Heavyweight Weaknesses of Alistair Overeem and Frank Mir