Ben Askren is the former UFC welterweight and Olympic veteran. He has been a vocal advocate for wrestling over other sports, particularly soccer. In a recent interview, Askren shared his thoughts on the state of Jiu-Jitsu training and the common missteps he sees in many Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gyms.
Askren, a decorated wrestler and brown belt in BJJ, believes that the fundamental issue with many BJJ gyms is their lack of emphasis on position-specific training. “The worst thing I think a lot of Jiu-Jitsu coaches do is they don’t do any position-specific grappling or minimal,” Askren explained to Tommy McGee. “There’s a lot of gyms that’ll say, okay, here’s three or four techniques, and then, all right, we’re doing five-minute goes. Go. And just do whatever you want for five minutes.”
According to the former Olympian, this approach does not effectively improve students’ skills in specific positions. “But if you want to make something good at something, you should be putting them in like position-specific application so you can get better positions because if you just let two people go, they’re likely going to do the things that they’re already good at or the things they’re already comfortable with, which doesn’t actually make them better at the thing.”
Askren’s perspective is rooted in his extensive experience as a wrestler and grappler. He believes that targeted, position-specific training is essential for developing true proficiency in Jiu-Jitsu. “You should be putting them in like position-specific application so you can get better positions,” he emphasized.
Ben Askren is quite vocal about aspects of sport he loves. He famously once recounted how repulsed he was by soccer saying:
“It was really the first time I watched soccer all year. I was really appalled when I am seeing all these guys falling on the ground, rolling around, crying. And then you know the worst part about it is, they show the instant replay and you can tell – most of these guys, they don’t even get hit, they’re faking it.”
“When I’m thinking of sports, when I’m thinking of a boy growing up and being a man, I’m thinking of three things – honor, integrity, and toughness. And a grown man, faking an injury, rolling around on the field fails all three of those tests.”
Ben Askren went on to say there is no honor in playacting the way modern soccer/football players do:
“There’s no honor in faking an injury. There is no integrity because you are lying about it. And there’s no toughness because you are in front of millions of people, and you’re rolling around on the field, crying – CRYING – about a fake injury that never happened.”
“Listen folks, if you want your son to grow up to be a man, don’t have him run around on a field kicking a ball, get him wrestling.”
And while Askren might’ve had limitations in the tail end of his career he is certainly an expert grappler having relied exclusively on his wrestling skills to capture several MMA titles.
