Judo, Jiu Jitsu or wrestling?

[Fantouz]

I recently moved from London to Chicago and I have not been able to find a BJJ club near where I live. However I have found a judo, traditional jiujitsu and wrestling clubs.
Just wanted to know what would be your recommendations among these three arts. I am not too familiar with JJJ but I understand it is quite different from BJJ which is actually closer to judo.

Basically I have only done some kickboxing and BJJ; my aim being to learn a skill that would be effectively transferable to BJJ or submission grappling.

Cheers!!

[brick top]

if you have some sambo around go for it pretty good.

[Fantouz]

Thanks for your reply man. Sadly there isn't any sambo. Only the three choices I already mentionned.

[ninjashoes]

I would go for Judo as its the closest of the 3 to BJJ. I would stay after class every other time or so and drill submissions with other people who are interested. Wrestling is great for alot of reasons but you wont learn any subs or how to work off your back and you'll end up like Matt Hamill. Japanese Jujitsu means too many different things depending whos teaching so i would stay away from it out of fear of mcdojoness.

If you take Judo I would also work without the gi from time to time although wearing the gi does improve your tecnique for some odd reason.

[Evil]

Judo for sure.

[wave_mann]

Judo

[Fantouz]

Thank you very much for your answers. So I guess judo it is and I will let you know how it goes.

[Evil]

Great I hope it works for you.

[Outnumbered]

I would start with wrestling then work with judo later on. Just because the wrestling club's I've been to are free. So I suppose it's the same elsewhere. So you might want to try wrestling out and see how you like it.

[skunknuts[ADR]]

id go with JJ because you learn basic takedowns and submissions

[Fantouz]

id go with JJ because you learn basic takedowns and submissions

I thought that you did that in judo aswell but with more emphasis on throws. What I like about BJJ is the guard game which is in neither of the arts.

As an update I have also found a Tae Kwon do and Jeet Kune Do club locally, but yet to being my training. My schedule is insane havent worked out or trained in almost two months.

[Brickfist]

Judo for sure

[spirkov]

+1

[Titanium]

Both Judo and BJJ were derived from traditional Japanese Jiu-Jitsu. The "founders" of these styles took only what they found useful and used it in there new style.

I have done some Judo and I found it useful because it works on many of the aspects that are used in a real fight. The emphasis is on throws, hold downs and submissions. In my opinion, Judo is useful for MMA and even more useful in a street fight (throwing someone on mats or in the ring acomplishes a takedown with some extra pain, but in the street it can end the fight immediately).

Traditional japanese Jiu-Jitsu is actually quite similar to BJJ but it is trained in an ineffective way (traditional) for MMA. It is similar to Aikido in its training methods.

Wrestling is known for its takedowns and positional control on the ground. It is also very useful for learning to fight in MMA.

My suggestion for you is to join Judo and Wrestling if time and money permits. No offense to traditional Jiu-Jitsu and its practitioners, but I think your time will be better spent training elsewhere if you want to fight MMA.

btw, if you train in Judo you wont be exposed to any leg locks, so you should learn them somewhere else or you will get tapped out repeatedly when you start BJJ (I know first hand)

This is a long first post. I really like your site

[brycelei]

Do Judo for gi or wrestling for no gi but either way, BJJ is a must. Judokas and wrestlers have a really good base and takedowns but their submissions stink. My friend who is an olympic judo black belt can tap me but I tapped his brown belt student when I was still a BJJ white belt. O_O Try to find a training partner to commute to a BJJ school together so it's more bearable.

[Hendricks]

I would pick wrestling. It's an amazing base with very good takedown skills and emphasize on control. This makes the transition with submissions much easier. Also in wrestling you learn shoots and throws.

[Fantouz]

Thank you for your replies gents. As I am standing now I ought to begin my Judo training this coming Monday. I have decided to organise my schedule around my training.

Titanium, I found your post particularly insightful but I am not interested in doing any MMA, I am 26 and just returned to postgrad education so I dont think I have time to train for any amateur events; altough I really enjoy kickboxing and BJJ i dont see it happening.

Unfortunately I havent met anyone in my University who is interested in BJJ, but I did find a former high school wrestler who I convinced to go back into training. So I might tag along with him a couple of times.

Again, will update you guys when it all begins; if you are interested of course.

[jcastle]

wrestling is the best base to start with then start learn submisson defense and submissons

[Internet Predator]

bjj

[aikidoka]

judo

[Judoka]

judo. and as far a bjj being better at subs than judo i disagree. it depends on how you train. i know several judokas who are as good if not better at submissions than most bjj guys. yes the throws are emphasized more but that does not mean that the ground game suffers. submissions are also easier to get after you've picked the fucker up and hit him with the earth.

[Judoka]

Getting into a dominate position quickly after the person is on the ground is emphasized heavily in judo. We are stood up when a stalemate is reached on the ground. So our philosophy is slam the guy, smother him, then submit him quickly. Loosening the guy up with a slam helps alot too. Make sure you incorporate leg locks too tough if you decide to compete in something other than a judo tourney. Any good judo coach will know some and would probably be happy to teach you after a class.

[AdamantiumPI]

bjj is a must with wrestling.

[nakedrear]

JUUUUDDDDDOOOO

you get takedowns and ground. it's a great base. can always polish with bjj and wrestling later.

[nakedrear]

judo. and as far a bjj being better at subs than judo i disagree. it depends on how you train. i know several judokas who are as good if not better at submissions than most bjj guys. yes the throws are emphasized more but that does not mean that the ground game suffers. submissions are also easier to get after you've picked the fucker up and hit him with the earth.

what BJJ really has is the highly developed/emphasized guard. that's where they separate themselves from other grappling arts like judo, sambo, catch wrestling.

You won't find a lot of guard-pulling in judo, they make a point to avoid it.

So yes, I've seen Judoka with great submissions (from top generally), but if we're looking for a point of difference, I would say it's a weaker guard.

[InternetHero]

Wrestling. It translates best into mma based on mathematical success.

(Wrestlers by numbers > JJ by numbers >>> Judo by numbers. There is no argument with the numbers.)

[YouFrgotPoland]

Wrestling for the reasons already stated.

But practice some BJJ on the side with some friends or something if you can, so you don't get too used to exposing your neck and back and whatnot.

[Foxer]

Have you ever done any wrestling before? If so go ahead and learn you some Judo