MMA is becoming an increasingly popular sport among the public and wrestlers.
High level college wrestlers are being pushed to become MMA fighters. Most would probably be quite successful.
The reason wrestlers are specifically targeted and are pushed to become MMA fighters is because,
- 1. There is no professional wrestling. No matter what the level of wrestling is, wrestlers will
never get paid. They work for themselves and the satisfaction of being a champion. If a wrestler
eventually goes into MMA, he will then be participating in a professional sport where he will
be getting paid. There is finally a professional outlet for wrestlers, although MMA is quite
different than wrestling, there are many similarities. If a wrestler fights MMA will be very
fimiliar with the positions he would end up in, he could also control where the fight takes place.
- 2. Wrestlers are already physically conditioned. All a wrestler
would need to add to his game to be a successful MMA fighter would be punches. If he
really wanted to get into to it he would take a martial art and learn submissions or further
his art of striking. But, MMA in itself is based off of wrestling. Wrestling was the first sport
and is still the most dominant. Wrestler control the fight, they have unmatched strength. While
other fighters or martial artists may be strong, none will have the same kind of strength of
a wrestler. The prime example of this is Randy Couture. A wrestler who started MMA just for
fun and quickly became a champion, and in my opinion the greatest ever, just by adding punches
and chokes to his game. Here's a link, Couture's Highlight
Notice the wrestling!