Dan Hardy on wrestlers wrestling to avoid losing
The five-time UFC vet explains that even though he actually wrote the words, the problem is there’s beginning to be…
The five-time UFC vet explains that even though he actually wrote the words, the problem is there’s beginning to be too much wrestling in UFC Octagon, he didn’t mean it as an insult to wrestlers, per se.
It was quite broad, the opinion that I was giving. It wasn’t necessarily aimed at wrestler as such. It was aimed at people coming into a fight and avoiding the fight. The same could be said of strikers at times. My first fight in the UFC was very frustrating. I fought Akihiro Gono at UFC 89 and for 15 minutes I chased him around the Octagon. There wasn’t really any engagement from him at all … We’ve seen a trend recently of wrestlers not avoiding the fight but not coming to finish their opponents. They’re using their wrestling to control the fight rather than (do) damage.
Wrestlers recently have been using their wrestling to just avoid losing. Now obviously the rules are more well established and the judging is more well established. People know the judging criteria and they can kind of play to it. Clinging on to someone’s legs or taking them down and burying your face in their bellybutton for 15 minutes, to me, isn’t winning a fight, you know what I mean? You’re making no effort to get your opponent out of there before the final bell. That’s really my issue.
It’s a very grey area in the sport. It’s a very difficult area to approach and a problem to solve. I think more than anything it (comes) down to the fighter. It’s their responsibility to get in there and fight.
