Cael Sanderson - HL Clip

Wrestling as a sport in this country goes mostly unnoticed but as combat athletes wrestlers are second to none. Well renowned for their base, balance, cat like reflexes and aggression the goal is to get a pin or takedown whilst never stalling the game. Unlike jiu-jitsu they never land on their back at all costs, which can attract some bad jokes, think Roy and HG. Many wrestlers have paved the path in MMA including Henderson, Couture, Koscheck, Lindland, Randleman and Coleman. When good wrestling is combined with boxing skills and a solid submission defence you have a very difficult opponent indeed. I like wrestling because it provides a great contrast and balance to jiu-jitsu training which can be very laid back and lazy at times where as wrestlers always go at 110%. One of the best things about training at Extreme is that John Donehue and Chris Brown bring this perspective to our training. Developing our takedowns and clinch skills are vital to becoming a well rounded grappler and wrestling should be your blueprint for these skills.

Cael Sanderson is an American wrestler and current head wrestling coach at Iowa State. A 2004 Olympic champion, he also went undefeated in four years of college wrestling (159-0), including four consecutive NCAA titles (1999-2002) and was the first NCAA wrestler to go undefeated with more than 100 wins. Sports Illustrated named his college career as the No. 2 most outstanding achievement in college history. He was also the 2003 World Championship silver medalist, and a three-time national freestyle champion (2001-03). Not bad eh? Enjoy this clip of some of his international matches. At the 2.39 mark of the clip Cael breaks his opponents nose after snapping his head to the mat, and the guy dosent miss a beat and just keeps wrassling. Now that is commitment. I named one of my sons after this guy because I really Iike the name but also out of respect and admiration of his achievements as a combat athlete.