J-Dilla (and Robert Whittaker’s) Class on Defensive Wrestling in MMA

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Fear the Reaper

The Indomitable Grappling of Robert Whittaker

by J-Dilla

(previously published on 12/12/2022 on combatwrapup.substack.com)

Embodying the logical and technical evolution of Chuck Liddell style “sprawl-and-brawlers”, Australia’s Robert Whittaker is unique amongst unique men. Coming from a culture devoid of wrestling, with no international footprint of note competition-wise, Whittaker has had to develop his deep and layered bag of tricks with nothing but hard work and determination. Unlike fellow karateka turned powerhouse wrestler (and fellow UFC Middleweight Champion), Georges St-Pierre, Whittaker hasn’t adapted his blitzing karate style into heavy wrestling offense. Rather, The Reaper, crafted a multifaceted defensive wrestling approach based primarily off of textbook wrasslin’.

Despite his style as a striker, Robert Whittaker, facing the challenges of a wrestling heavy Middleweight division, was forced to develop a high level counterwrestling game in his ascent to world champion status in 2017. Finding a talented wrestling coach in Australia was difficult considering the lack of Oceanic wrestling culture, however former Australian Olympic freestyle coach Fabricio Itte joined team Whittaker in 2014. Having previously coached at the Olympic level and following two tenures with the Youth Olympics and Commonwealth national wrestling teams, Itte’s addition to the team would prove quite fortuitous in the following years. It was, however, Itte’s dual role as Whittaker’s “high-performance” coach that saw a rise in injuries and the severe case of burnout that “nearly made [Dana White] cry”. Itte, despite his many efforts towards Whittaker’s development, and co-hosting of Bobby Knuckle’s Grange TV podcast, has since left the team, leaving behind him a legacy of anti-wrestling of the highest order.

Tools of the Trade:

Wrestling… for dummies

To successfully understand just how spectacular The Reaper’s defensive wrestling is, one must first understand the basics of defensive wrestling. There are effectively 5 Lines of Defense in freestyle and folkstyle wrestling. Each line of defense is crucial to the success or failure of any attack. They are:

The Feet: like all things in MMA, the baseline defense is footwork and distance. An opponent can’t shoot on you if you’re not there to be shot on, right?

The Head: unlike all things in MMA, head positioning, as it relates to body positioning and posture, is critical to defensive wrestling. As your opponent changes their level to initiate a takedown, you too, must lower your head and posture accordingly.

The Hands: posting and framing are essential tools for creating a wedge between your body and your opponents in their efforts to score a takedown.

The Forearms: when faced with an opponent skilled enough to negate your initial frames, the meat of the forearms must be brought into play in any effort to avoid the takedown.

The Hips: probably the most well known, but perhaps the least understood aspect of takedown defense is the final line of defense; the hips. Acting under the assumption that an opponent has cleared all 4 of the previous layers of defense, a skilled wrestler must use their hips as a wall for the opponent to run onto, and as a lever to throw their weight back and away from the takedown.

While these 5 lines of defense may seem relatively simple, in the context of mixed martial arts with high level wrestlers, they’re anything but. Especially for a striker so well versed in keeping their hips under them. However, Whittaker has virtually mastered all of these elements at the highest level, staving off takedowns from former Olympian turned rock golem Yoel Romero. While these aspects of base level wrestling might seem easy, it is worth noting how incredibly hard and physically grueling wrestling is to master, especially as an adult. Whittaker, himself, credits a lot of his early success to simple “athletic gifts”. Likely this same athleticism and a work ethic second to none saw the Aussie standout develop his intuitive anti-wrestling.

In the years since his championship run, sidelined and ultimately cut short after a string of injuries and health concerns, Robert Whittaker is still a force in the middleweight division. Following a pair of losses to Israel Adesanya, Whittaker has cemented himself as firmly head and shoulders above the rest of the division; dominating the likes of Darren Till, Jared Cannonier, Kelvin Gastelum, and most recently Marvin Vettori. Standing as the lone survivor from the previous era of middleweights, Yoel Romero, Luke Rockhold, Jacare Souza, Chris Weidman, etc. Whittaker, alone, has had to face the changing landscape of the UFC’s 185 pound division. As previously noted, Middleweight’s former era was rife with elite top player grapplers and offensive wrestlers, and as Whittaker made his rise in the ranks his style adapted heavily towards these looming threats. Now, however, the only notable wrestlers at 185 pounds are Derek Brunson, sometimes Khamzat Chimaev (kinda), and maybe Bo Nickal one day? A massive change to say the least. With this noted, and a rudimentary understanding of basic wrestling outlined above, one can fully begin to appreciate the technicality of Bobby Knuckles’ game.

Anti-Wrestling:

With a long and storied career to pick and choose from, perhaps no fight (or pair of fights) serves as a better case study in anti-wrestling than Whittaker vs Romero 1. December 17, 2017, Robert Whittaker faces Olympic silver medalist Yoel Romero for the interim title, effectively the real world title, but that’s an argument for another day. Against Jacare Souza, whom Whittaker bested to earn his interim title shot, Bobby Knuckles displayed excellent defensive grappling awareness and takedown defense, it was, however, in Romero that his true brilliance would be put on display. See below:

In a particularly freakish example, Romero attempts a double leg off a flying knee

Romero leads with a flying knee, occupying Whittaker’s guard. This is a dual faceted attack from Romero, remember the 5 lines of defense? In this instance he has removed 4 of them; the jump knee itself serves to cover distance, eliminating the feet as a viable takedown defense, and the posture, hands, and forearms are all occupied to guard the head. In a bizarrely cat-like display of agility, Romero changes levels and is in on a shot. Watch Whittaker’s hips here, he instinctively hips in to Romero, preventing the Cuban from getting grips and completing the takedown, and nearly simultaneously drops his left hand down for a down-block while catching an overhook with the right. Ultimately abandoning the underhook that typically comes off of a successful down-block, Whittaker posts off the mat to regain his hips and posture; with double-unders locked, Romero attempts an outside trip, which Whittaker is able to expertly avoid using his feet, and a well timed sprawl.

This is much more than just a wild grappling exchange. It’s an insanely creative takedown entry from Romero, that likely few could replicate, and expert adjustments by Whittaker to successfully stay on his feet. Whittaker is a master of framing, and Romero here used his explosivity and wrestling acumen to effectively bypass that essential element of Whittaker’s game. The Whittaker that fought Romero is a far cry from the Whittaker that was out wrestled by Court McGee just a few years prior. The most notable takeaway from the above clip is the intuitive, reflexive hips displayed by the Reaper. Many lesser athletes, and lesser wrestlers would’ve been taken down off the initial shot, and many more by the attempted trip. Not Whittaker however.

Perhaps the definitive guide to counter-wrestling in modern MMA

It was in the above sequence where brilliance flashed before fans the world over. In this sequence alone, Whittaker attempts to frame with the forearms, sit-out and turn in, hit a switch, and defend from the turtle position. To those who don’t train, this is essentially wizardry. The Wizard of Oz, Robert Whittaker, throws a right hand and quickly transitions his forearms to frames, anticipating Romero’s clash to chest-on-chest. Romero, the crafty grappler, steps around to the back, from there Whittaker immediately posts in order to reestablish his base, before hitting an instant reactive sit-out. The sit-out is a technique where a grappler, having lost the back clinch, creates space with their feet to drop their hips perpendicularly to the mat and scoots them away from the opponent’s back control. Whittaker is able to use the sit-out to momentarily establish the turtle position, from which he posts to a quad-pod and attempts a switch. Realizing his primary methods of escape have failed, Whittaker adapts; darting for the cage from where he may peel Romero off, before sitting to an active turtle position with his right elbow wedged under the crook of Romero’s biceps, placing the cornerstone for him to build his escape. All the more impressive when contextualized; Whittaker had suffered a grade 2 tear in his MCL in the very first exchange of the fight.

More so than the individual techniques on display, the real magic is in the foundations. The mechanics of each technique serve to support the greater narrative of Whittaker’s approach to wrestling. The framing of the forearms acts as a temporary stopgap, putting an obstacle in between his chest and Romero’s, thereby limiting the depth of his shot. From there, the emphasis on maintaining a base is critical, an athlete can neither defend a takedown, or pursue their own offense with a compromised base. Any driving ability would have been lost had Whittaker not course-corrected prior to the sit-out and again after he had conceded the turtle position. Much further than just learning a few wrestling techniques like the sit-out or the switch, Whittaker worked diligently to master the systems of defensive wrestling. Breaking grips, occupying the opponent’s base and balance, and most importantly the constant pace. Against Romero specifically, an explosive athlete prone to fatiguing over long engagements, this was imperative. In the span of a few short years, Robert Whittaker became a full fledged wrestler, in and out of the context of MMA, having been selected to represent Australia in the Commonwealth Games.

While this article is only a brief insight into the grappling game of one of the UFC’s all time best middleweights, there is much more to study and analyze. However, this introductory look at some of the core elements of Whittaker’s grappling serves to lay the framework for further studies in the future. Next, I plan on examining Whittaker’s offensive wrestling and his use of jiujitsu, namely the butterfly hooks and how they lend themselves to his wrestling game. Until then, I hope this article was educational and easily digestible.

The purpose of reposting this piece, aside from the fact that it remains unfinished, is to provide insight on some common misconceptions in wrestling/grappling. Namely, The Hips; the hips as a means of defensive wrestling is not an exclusive term for the sprawl. A fighter with good hips rather “hips in” to their opponent’s oncoming shots, preventing them from getting deep on a shot and using the natural angulation of the leg to slope the opponent’s shot downwards, and away from their hips (and therefore base). From there the defensive wrestler can properly sprawl. A sprawl is not a front headlock or a snap-down; in the sprawl the defensive wrestler wants their hips actively crushing down on an attacker’s head and neck, elongating his base and grinding him into the mat. Make no mistake, a wrestler can use their hips and angles in a variety of ways to stuff a takedown, but to refer to the hips as solely for sprawling is a massive misrepresentation and myopic approach to a nuanced aspect of grappling that is already widely misunderstood.