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SUBMISSION WRESTLING VS BJJ

By Benjamin Strusnik, June 20, 2022

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Submission Wrestling have a uniquely similar set of principles, as Submission Wrestling is a lot like gi or no gi bjj. There are many different forms of Submission Wrestling, as the Martial Art boasts having a significant influence on disciplines like sambo, luta livre, catch wrestling, judo and jiu jitsu. The art of Submission Wrestling uses a series of dynamic movements in order to maintain dominant control positions, and set up their opponents for a submission finish.

What This Article Covers:

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu uses a high paced grappling system and a controlled series of positional dominance, which is usually set up by a series of coordinated grip control of the Gi. In BJJ the outcome of the fight is determined by an opponent scoring the most points by the end of the allotted time, the only other way to win the fight is by submitting their opponent. Both Martial Arts rely on submission prowess as they look to secure numerous different joint locks on both the arms and legs, and a host of prolific choke holds.

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differences between bjj and submission wrestling

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DIFFERENT FORMS OF SUBMISSION WRESTLING

There are many forms of Submission Wrestling that have influenced many various styles of Martial Arts. The art of Submission Wrestling is a comprehensive grappling art which has ties to other forms that have descended from the ancient japan jiu jitsu art form. Submission Wrestling is a common form seen in Mixed Martial Arts as they are known to use moves like heel hooks, toe holds, wrist locks and other dangerous submissions. Some of the different types of submission wrestling arts are:

Catch wrestling: Which originated in Lancashire, Northern England and after some short term success it became one of the dominant wrestling styles in America during the 19th century. The art has recently gained momentum off the back of the popularity of Mixed Martial Arts. In the early career of professional wrestling it was once the more combative art of catch wrestling before the sport slowly transitioned into becoming sport entertainment during the mid 1920's.

Judo: This art is also a form of submission wrestling as the Japanese martial art focuses on high impact throws, pins, joint locks, and chokes. Judo has become a high calibre Olympic sport, with the only major difference being that they wear a judogi. This art does have a significant resemblance to many other forms of Submission Wrestling.

Japanese Jiu Jitsu: This art is one of the father's of Submission Wrestling or Grappling, as the ancient Japanese art has a considerable emphasis on joint locks, chokes and throws. In the most common practise of Japanese Jiu Jitsu a practitioner wears a Gi which is traditional to the art.

Sambo: This art is a deadly Russian style of grappling that wears a traditional Gi jacket called a Kurtka, shorts and wrestling shoes. The art utilises a deadly combination of Judo like throws, Wrestling style of takedowns and an extremely efficient style of submission skill.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu: This art has become increasingly popular throughout the world, as it has two styles within its discipline. These two styles are synonymous with the styling of gjj vs bjj as the Gracie Jiu Jitsu brand is commonly associated with the traditional Gi, compared to the No Gi style of BJJ. Both styles are representations of a formidable grappling art that is also similar to Luta livre, which is another form of Submission Wrestling that derived from Catch wrestling.

Malla Yuddha: This art is one of the oldest forms of submission wrestling, as it originated in India well before the partition of independence in 1947. Malla yuddha is divided into four separate techniques, each of them were named after particular Hindu gods and legendary fighters: Hanumanti which concentrates on technical and positional superiority, Jambuvanti which uses joint locks and choke holds to force their opponent into submission, Jarasandhi which concentrates on the more brutal aspect of breaking the limbs and joints and applying tracheal chokes while Bhimaseni focuses on power and strength.

Pankration: This brutal form of Submission Wrestling originated from the ancient Greeks. This style is like a hybrid version of bjj wrestling, which combines elements that are found in today's Mixed Martial Arts contests. This style utilises punching, kicking and various types of wrestling techniques that incorporate submissions.

Shoot wrestling: This art began in Japan, and is a martial art based on Freestyle Wrestling, Greco Roman Wrestling, Sambo, and Catch Wrestling. Later developments saw the art add other various forms like Karate, Muay Thai, and Judo. There are two major disciplines of shoot wrestling which are shooto and shootfighting. Shooto is a Japanese Martial Art composed of Catch Wrestling, Judo, Jujitsu, Sambo and Kickboxing. The other discipline is called Shootfighting which consists of two major styles, Muay Thai and Catch Wrestling.

Combat Submission Wrestling: This modern form of Submission Wrestling was developed by the famous Erik Paulson who was a previous Shooto light heavyweight champion. His art focuses on many MMA techniques like clinching, submissions, takedowns, and striking. This art form has blended many different Martial Arts and has a history of deadly fighters like; Sean Sherk, Josh Barnett and Ken Shamrock.

Submission Arts Wrestling: This Martial Art is a Japanese version that is similar to Catch Wrestling, as it uses similar concepts to Judo and Sambo. The art was created by the former Sambo World Champion Hidetaka Aso, who was a student of the famous Karl Gotch. This art is a combat system that uses a No Gi style of grappling where choke holds and joint locks are the main focus.

Hayastan Grappling System: This Martial Art is one of the most brutal ones, as it combines elements of Judo, Sambo, Catch Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Greco Roman and Freestyle Wrestling. This art was developed by the famous black belts Gokor Chivichyan and Gene LeBell. Their combat system includes some of the most dangerous submissions like; kneebars, heel hooks, shoulder locks, wrist locks, neck cranks, body cranks and a multitude of various choke holds.

HOW DOES BJJ STACK UP AGAINST SUBMISSION WRESTLING

Looking at both of these Martial Arts they do compare extremely well, as they both have a very similar process of grappling. Each art uses a highly complex system of technical submission proficiency, and a smothering dominance in controlling body position. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a specialist art that comprises a multitude of highly complex flow chains. Each of these chains have defensive counters and attacks from each counter, as the well of techniques goes extremely deep within this exceedingly complicated Martial Art.

Submission Wrestling has a number of different elements attached which sets them apart from BJJ. Even though Submission Wrestling possesses similar qualities to BJJ, they also take components out of other favourable Martial Arts. The ferocity involved within Submission Wrestling has extremely intensive moves that are heavily aligned with Sambo, Jiu Jitsu, Judo and all forms of Wrestling. This art has an excellent wealth of knowledge and an even greater source of application within its teachings.

Both Martial Arts do stack up exceptionally well against each other, as the arts do have a very similar essence and functionality. This has been battle tested through many of the ongoing feuds between MMA fighters like Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock, Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir and Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones.

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HOW DOES TRAINING IN THESE TWO ARTS COMPARE

In a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school the training programs can be extremely high paced as they offer students a humble way to increase their fitness, dexterity, agility, flexibility and strength and conditioning. The techniques learnt are essential for self defense and include multiple ways to handle different scenarios. A BJJ fighter will learn how to fight off their back and on top of an opponent, they will also learn skills in taking their opponents to the ground. A typical training session involves a heated series of warmup movements, all of which are directly linked to certain technical movements within the art. Students will then practise some techniques taught by the instructor, before battle testing all of their technical refinements inside a real situational sparring session.

Training in Submission Wrestling can be quite rigorous, as there are many different aspects to cover. Just like BJJ, students will learn a comprehensive system of grappling that includes multiple ways to handle different scenarios. There is a self defense component to Submission Wrestling as the combative techniques taught will help a student in a real life situation. Students will also learn numerous different throws with many of them relating to Wrestling maneuvers, as the athletes that train in Submission Wrestling wear No Gi clothing. Many MMA athletes train in this form of combat because of the direct links between the sports.

ARE THERE ANY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BJJ AND SUBMISSION WRESTLING

There are very few differences between Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Submission Wrestling, as the two power houses in grappling have a very similar series of movements. Both of the grappling arts have a technical proficiency in submission attack and a similar series of control positions. BJJ does have a major difference, as one of its disciplines uses a traditional Gi which is comprehensively different to the well known No Gi stylings of Submission Wrestling. BJJ has its own identity of controlling and passing an opponent's guard, where Submission Wrestling takes on other ideologies like Greco Roman and Freestyle Wrestling.

One of the main differences between the two arts is how they can finish the fight. In BJJ it is very common to see a practitioner competing in a Gi, which has a number of advantages and disadvantages. The Gi offers many more chances at choking an opponent as they can utilise cross collar chokes, baseball bat chokes, ezekiel chokes, loop chokes, clock chokes, brabo chokes and numerous other lapel chokes. They can also use grips on the Gi to execute sweeps or pass the guard easier.

In Submission Wrestling practitioners will wear shorts and a rashguard, meaning they cannot grip their opponents clothes. This narrows the field for a Submission Wrestler as they have a shorter list of chokes they can go for. The flipside to this problem is an extremely realistic advantage for the Submission Wrestler, as they have a much broader range of joint locking submissions to go for. Many of these submissions include leg locks like; inside and outside heel hooks, kneebars, toe holds, calf slicers ànd twisting foot locks. There is also a range of upper body submissions that are easier to achieve like; darce chokes, neck cranks, gogoplatas and various other submissions that come straight out of a positional escape.

Because Submission Wrestling is a hybrid version of grappling there are no official rankings, as it is most commonly trained among already seasoned Martial Artists. BJJ on the other hand has an extremely advanced belt ranking system that incorporates 13 kids belts and 8 adult belts. The kids start from white before moving through the belt groups of grey, yellow, orange and green. The adults go from white to blue, then purple, then brown and then black. There are also two coral belts and a red belt but these belts are extremely hard to achieve and are mainly reserved for pioneers of the sport. Adults will spend roughly two years per belt and will receive 4 stripes on every belt before being upgraded to the next level.

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BJJ VS SUBMISSION WRESTLING: THE WINNER

These two combative systems of Martial Arts have many similarities between them, as they both use extensive submission fighting systems. Trying to pick a winner between the two would be exceptionally hard as on any given day one could defeat the other. BJJ specialises in the ground fighting aspect, with a smooth transitional skill for control domination and submission prowess.

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Submission Wrestling has the same skill with the only real difference being they do not wear a Gi. This means they can utilise grips on a BJJ fighter, whereas a BJJ fighter cannot. This could be the only deciding factor as a Submission Wrestler probably has a greater chance of escape and submission by using a more comprehensive leg locking game. So this fight could go either way, because both fighting systems have an excellent defensive and offensive skill set.

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