It Was Just Another Typical High School Wrestling Match Until One Competitor Went A Little Bit Crazy… Sparking A Violent Brawl…
One advantage that many American MMA fighters have over most of their European counterparts is their background in wrestling. It’s a very common sport practiced in high schools all across the United States, something which just simply isn’t part of the European curriculum at all.
Of course, there are some exceptions, with the Eastern Bloc growing particularly strong in Greco-Roman Olympic-style wrestling and many fighters from the Caucasus skilled in grappling arts like sambo. Slowly, the Europeans are catching up.
Anyway, earlier this year, footage was captured at a high school wrestling competition. Everything was very normal… until suddenly it wasn’t. Watch the footage below of the time a young teenager went crazy and started raining blows down when he shouldn’t have been punching at all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f2FPgraJ8M
Bad Loser
One of the quintessential parts of grappling is that there is no striking. It’s that simple. You’re trying to dominate your opponent physically without actually punching them. That’s why wrestlers usually have freakishly strong core strength – something Conor McGregor is going to have to deal with when he fights Khabib Nurmagamedov next month.
Anyway, in this case, we have a typical scenario where a bad loser snaps. He is being dominated on the floor and just can’t handle defeat with any good grace. He snaps and starts raining down blows on the back of his opponent’s head. Fortunately for the other boy – a much more talented wrestler as well – his headgear softens what are pretty weak punches anyway.
Bad Referee
We also have to ask the question: what is the referee doing in this one? He intervenes ridiculously late. Maybe he’s been inspired by Mario Yamasaki or Herb Dean because he just stands and watches as one boy gets hit repeatedly.
Hopefully, he got hit with some sort of sanction after this footage spread across the internet like wildfire, because someone who won’t do anything shouldn’t be protecting hot-tempered teenage boys from each other. It’s very poor on his part.
Successful Wrestlers
Maybe the lad with anger issues needs to cross over to MMA. Martial arts are a great source of discipline, and if he combined his foundation in wrestling with some sort of striking art, it could be very effective. Just ask UFC champions Khabib Nurmagamedov, Daniel Cormier and Henry Cejudo.
The last two are both former Olympians – with Cejudo a gold medallist in Beijing, and the youngest in US wrestling history. It just shows how effective wrestling in across all weight classes, as ‘The Messenger’ is champion at flyweight and ‘DC’ champion of the two heaviest divisions in the world’s biggest MMA promotion.
Joe Rogan also recently stated that he believes out of all the disciplines, wrestling is the single most important to really practice, because it’s so difficult to fight someone who can pressure you and shut down your own attacks. Just ask the crazy boy in the video up there.
