Former UFC star and coach Din Thomas believes leg locks and submissions from bottom position could emerge as the next major evolution to counter wrestling-dominant styles in MMA, particularly against the Dagestani wrestling approach that has dominated the sport in recent years.
“When somebody gets taken down, what’s the first thing they do – they leg lace, Dagestani handcuffs, it’s all the same,” Thomas explained in appearance on Casuals MMA podcast. “When Khabib Nurmagomedov was doing that stuff, he was the first one to do it. Now everybody’s prepared for it and they’re starting to catch up.”
Thomas suggests that as fighters become more adept at defending against the Dagestani wrestling style pioneered by Khabib Nurmagomedov, innovative submission attempts from bottom position could provide an effective counter-strategy. He points to the emerging wave of high-level jiu-jitsu practitioners entering MMA as potential game-changers.
“All the great brilliant jiu-jitsu minds are still doing jiu-jitsu,” Thomas noted, highlighting fighters like the Ruotolo brothers as examples of the next generation who could successfully implement this approach. “They just haven’t really been able to cross over to do MMA.”
The key, according to Thomas, is developing safe and effective ways to apply submission-heavy jiu-jitsu in an MMA context. He believes that once fighters perfect this approach, it could fundamentally change how wrestlers approach takedowns.
“If you have that danger factor, wrestlers are not going to want to take you down,” Thomas explained. “They’re going to have to strike with you.”
While some past attempts to implement a submission-heavy bottom game haven’t found consistent success in MMA, Thomas remains convinced that younger practitioners with the right skill set and training approach could make it work effectively against wrestling-based styles that currently dominate the sport.
