It’s undeniable that when it comes to stand up techniques, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu could learn a thing or two from wrestling…at least that is without the gi. Obviously, the gi brings in an entire set of different takedowns that are usually taken from Judo. However, this article is focusing purely on takedowns that feature in a no gi setting.
So, what is the most common takedown that is attempted in no gi?
To answer this question, we shall look towards wrestling. This week, the NCAA (National collegiate athletic association) released a detailed statistical analysis of the most common takedowns that were attempted in the NCAA 2021 season. In other words, these were the most used takedown attempts used in wrestling. This doesn’t mean that these takedowns were particularly successful, more that they were the most commonly attacked. Having said that, it’s safe to assume that most of these are the most high-percentage takedowns too due to their popularity.
As it happens, the most commonly attempted takedown by some way was the sweep single. This move dominated the NCAA 2021 and made up 31.5 of the total takedown attempts. With just shy of 4000 sweep singles in total, these are quite big numbers to go by too. For those wondering, the sweep single is a foot sweep during a single-leg takedown.
In other words, your arms would be holding the opponent’s leg up, whilst your foot would sweep their free leg. It’s no secret that the bulk of wrestling takedowns usually comprise of double and single legs. However, it is interesting to see that the sweep variation was by far the most popular attack.
So, what does this mean in a Jiu Jitsu setting? Well, firstly it shows that single legs have been successful for years and this is quite obvious. However, due to competition rules in BJJ, there is one big issue with the single-leg sweep. That is, the opponent can opt to jump guard to avoid getting taken down into a bad position. In most competition formats, the result would award the takedown with 2 points, and rightly so.
However, the issue is from a safety perspective. Basically, if your opponent jumped guard from an angle (which it would be from the single leg) then it could potentially break your legs. This isn’t good and is not legal in wrestling, hence why it’s less safe from a BJJ perspective. With this in mind, it’s certainly something to think about.
Unsurprisingly, the second most commonly attempted takedown was the double leg which tried just over 2000 times, making up 16.6% of the total takedowns. This reinforces the idea that single and double legs have and will always dominate wrestling.
The rest of the takedown attempts comprised of high crotches, headlocks, low singles (ankle picks), snatch singles and slide bys/arm drags. Interestingly, the lowest performed throws were Judo moves that made up 2.4 of the total attempted takedown techniques. Whilst no gi Judo is certainly useful, it’s clearly not used in a wrestling setting.
In summary, what does this show us? Firstly, it’s that if you’re going to train no gi BJJ or MMA, then you should start practicing single and double leg takedowns. Secondly, it’s that all wrestling will help your BJJ no gi game as the two are universally linked and as they say, ‘good grappling is good grappling’.
