Hendricks Compares Amateur Wrestling & MMA Wrestling

Johny Hendricks (Pictured), on “Beatdown,” discussing the difference between amateur wrestling and MMA wrestling:

“If you get Georges St. Pierre to try to go with a guy that can’t even place probably in the NCAAs, just straight-up wrestling, [St. Pierre’s] probably not going to beat him. Just because there’s so many things that you don’t get [in wrestling] that you get in MMA. For one, you get a cage. If you drive somebody to the cage, if you know what you’re doing, it’s easier to get the takedown off of the cage. Whenever I go up to [Oklahoma State University], they’re like, ‘Johny, how do people get taken down and they’re wrestlers?’ I’m like, ‘Just get up against the cage.’ These are guys that are still in shape; they’re still wrestling every day. I’m like, ‘Get up against the cage. You tell me when you want me to go.’ And I let them fight and fight and fight and then I’m like, ‘OK, here I go,’ and I take them down. They’re like, ‘Oh.’ Just because you don’t have everything that you normally do when you’re free of the cage. When you go out of bounds, you come back and start back neutral. That’s one huge thing. Two, you get to throw punches and kicks. A lot of takedowns that Georges St. Pierre does comes off catching kicks or a guy overextending himself throwing a couple of punches. Those takedowns come easier. You’re not going to get that in actual wrestling. You’re going to get guys that are going to stay in a more solid stance. You’ve got to set it up differently. You don’t get to hit somebody in the face and them cover up and then you get a wide-open shot.”