Katie 612 Report post Posted October 27 (edited) 1 hour ago, Billyhoyle said: If he stuck with freestyle, Burroughs would have taken his spot in 2011. Good point. After the 2008 Olympics, Askren realistically only had two more chances to make a world team: in 2009 and in 2010. Edited October 27 by Katie Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Katie 612 Report post Posted October 27 1 hour ago, cjc007 said: His style was folkstyle funk, expose your back, spaghetti wrestling. He just couldn't adapt without the funk. Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk Askren's scrambling ability is out of this world, and he is much more athletic than the average person. With those two gifts, he was able to dominate NCAA wrestling. But once you put freestyle rules into place (and thereby make scrambling less useful), and once you put him up against world-class athletes (instead of elite college kids), he wasn't able to get it done at the biggest stage. No shame there. Personally, I think that when it comes to freestyle, Askren's relative lack of athleticism was a big problem. Stephen Abas, for instance, used a lot of funk techniques in college. But he still managed to win an Olympic silver because he was also a world-class athlete. 2 cjc007 and grappler111 reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jon 129 Report post Posted October 27 (edited) 39 minutes ago, wrestlingnerd said: Askren was one of the most entertaining and creative college wrestlers ever. He was a modern day Wade Schalles. Easily on a top 20 all time list and arguably hovering in rarefied air above that. He gave freestyle a serious go, making the sacrifices required to do so at the time (certainly, there was no financial incentive, to say the least). He made an Olympic team, a rare feat. He has always been a tremendous ambassador to the sport and represented wrestling well in MMA. He started one of the top yourh club programs in the country and has served as formal and informal assistant coach in D1. He now head coaches at an RTC. Askren transitioned to the big leagues too late in his career after having made quite a bit of money in large part for the love of competition, to prove himself. It didn’t work out, but there is no shame in his effort whatsoever. He lost to world-class fighters in a sport where nobody has ever gone undefeated. I’m a huge fan of Askren and hope others will recognize how much of an asset he has been and continues to be for wrestling. If he calls it a career now, he should rightfully do so with his head held up high. I hope he stays influential in wrestling for a very long time and becomes a D1 head coach at some point in the future. Noteworthy too: He's tried his hand at promoting events, starting up leagues. And the podcasts he's co-hosted are all really good. And the story of Askren toting briefcase, when walking to the mat for state-tourney finals, is hilarious! Edited October 27 by jon 2 pamela and cjc007 reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
2td3nf 457 Report post Posted October 27 How about Maia? Looks like that guy could snap limbs from anywhere and he's 41. Looks great. Gotta give credit to Ben for going in there on takedowns and grappling with him. Also pretty cool Ben came out of retirement to fight in the UFC. If he wants to, can he just retire now or does he have a certain contract to fulfill with UFC? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scribe 1,654 Report post Posted October 28 Can’t believe Ben is 35 already. Where’s the time gone? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shiraz123 503 Report post Posted October 28 Most of the wrestlers who were succesful against Maia didn't do much grappling with him outside of defending takedowns. Going to the ground with that guy is a bad idea for 99% of fighters. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crotalus 230 Report post Posted October 28 12 hours ago, 2td3nf said: If he wants to, can he just retire now or does he have a certain contract to fulfill with UFC? Almost certain he can retire whenever he wants. He just couldn't fight anywhere else unless they agreed to release him from his contract (or he got traded again). I'm sure Dana White would be happy to have the Askren experiment over with and wouldn't have a problem either way. 1 2td3nf reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AHamilton 127 Report post Posted October 28 One thing I learned from this fight: Almost every high level BJJ fighter does their RNC with the right arm under the chin, but Maia uses his left and it really throws people off. Why wouldn't more people learn to do their RNC "left handed" if it creates such issues? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wrestlingnerd 2,361 Report post Posted October 28 43 minutes ago, AHamilton said: One thing I learned from this fight: Almost every high level BJJ fighter does their RNC with the right arm under the chin, but Maia uses his left and it really throws people off. Why wouldn't more people learn to do their RNC "left handed" if it creates such issues? For the same reason the majority of champion wrestlers shoot with a lead right leg. They're right-handed and doing things the other way is harder, especially when you're tired. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AHamilton 127 Report post Posted October 28 4 minutes ago, wrestlingnerd said: For the same reason the majority of champion wrestlers shoot with a lead right leg. They're right-handed and doing things the other way is harder, especially when you're tired. I understand all that... but maybe 10% of championship wrestlers are lefty leads... some are ambidextrous. The commentators made it seem as if Maia is unique in doing his RNC with the left arm. Almost as if he is pretty much the only one, whereas many of us could easily name a few "lefty" lead wrestlers pretty easily. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wrestlingnerd 2,361 Report post Posted October 28 The announcers are wrong! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AHamilton 127 Report post Posted October 28 8 minutes ago, wrestlingnerd said: The announcers are wrong! OK. I'm willing to accept that. I watch it, but I don't know enough about high level BJJ to know if what I was hearing was accurate. It just seemed a bit off. It was primarily Tyron Woodley saying it, and I figured he knew something because he had fought Maia. BTW, I strongly encouraged my right-handed son to be a left legged lead when he began wrestling. Also, he is "not allowed" to line up on an opponents right side when starting in the referee's position (but does it sometimes anyway). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wrestlingnerd 2,361 Report post Posted October 28 As Tommy Rowlands likeS to say, you’re automatically 15% better if you’re left-handed so you’re on to something. 1 AHamilton reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
grappler111 7 Report post Posted October 29 OK. I'm willing to accept that. I watch it, but I don't know enough about high level BJJ to know if what I was hearing was accurate. It just seemed a bit off. It was primarily Tyron Woodley saying it, and I figured he knew something because he had fought Maia. BTW, I strongly encouraged my right-handed son to be a left legged lead when he began wrestling. Also, he is "not allowed" to line up on an opponents right side when starting in the referee's position (but does it sometimes anyway).Tyron Woodley defeated another multi time bjj world champion : Galvao. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
