Ed Gallo

The 2001 NCAA Championship bracket at 184 pounds was a bit of a minefield. At the time, Iowa State’s Cael Sanderson returned as the two-time…

Cuban judo Olympian Hector Lombard followed the same path as many other prolific grappling to MMA transfers. Noticing fairly early that he had the physical…

There’s no singular secret to success when it comes to world pound-for-pound #1 Abdulrashid Sadulaev of Dagestan. “The Avar Tank” dominated his way to one…

While there is evidence to suggest the wrestling skill and strategy of Jon Jones has regressed in recent years, the long-time UFC light heavyweight champion…

The sport of mixed martial arts allows for endless creative opportunities. When it comes to wrestling, there is no limit to the ways striking and…

The first Takedown Breakdown last week focused on Petr Yan and how he utilized head movement and footwork to set up a slick duck-under on…

After two decades of competitive wrestling, Rinya Nakamura of Japan is leaving his career on the mats behind. In a recent short statement delivered on…

I sincerely apologize for taking all this time to build interest in Olympic wrestling, only to have it (justifiably) snatched away. However, there will still…

Last week, I broke down some of the tactics and concepts that have made Brazil’s Jussier Formiga one of the most effective MMA wrestlers and…

Traditionally, the most effective MMA wrestlers are physical, often brutish players. Even slick operators like Zach Makovsky lean on insane athleticism to implement their strategy…

65 kg at the 2019 World Wrestling Championship was the bracket of death. On one side, you had Gadzhimurad Rashidov, three-time World champion Haji Aliyev,…

Ahead of his UFC Norfolk bout with Sean Brady, I found myself wondering how an exciting, athletic fighter like Ismail Naurdiev was able to defeat…

In the lead-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, every competition counts as the world’s best freestyle wrestlers race for seeding points and a place in…

In other “Wrestling for MMA” and wrestling breakdown articles, I’ve typically looked at fighters who have patterned systems that link their striking, wrestling and grappling.…

After winning two state titles for Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Penn State’s Vincenzo Joseph has gone on to have one of the strangest careers I’ve ever…

It may strike some as odd to frame a breakdown around the losing fighter in a matchup, but against flyweight title challenger Joseph Benavidez, Drexel…

After a four-year suspension (for using anabolics that gave him Wolverine powers), 2014 World wrestling bronze medalist Mohammad Hossei Askari Mohammadian appeared back in Iran’s…

They call him “Yazdani the Greatest”. Hassan Yazdanicharati, a two-time World champion and 2016 Olympic champion, the modern leader of Iran’s freestyle wrestling efforts. In…

Before we begin, let’s appreciate some nicknames in freestyle wrestling. The best nicknames are given to Americans by the Russians. Dave Schultz was “Sly Fox”,…

Happy Olympic year! It’s been an incredible year of both wrestling and mixed martial arts, and my first writing for Bloody Elbow. A huge thank…