Headlined by fighters like Jose Aldo, Joanna Jedrzejczyk and recent UFC Hall of Fame Inductee Wanderlei Silva, Muay Thai has a strong case as the most dominant combat sports discipline to be integrated into MMA.
While wrestling brings a strong resume, as well, with over 20 UFC champions having wrestled collegiately, Fury FC’s Jacob Berry knows which style the fans prefer.
This debate, which will probably never be settled, will continue to provide new arguments as new fighters with different disciplines enter the cage every day.
When all is said and done, you can add another name to the list of Thai fighters who turned to the cage.
Berry comes to the cage equipped with over two dozen amateur Muay Thai fights and a 3-0 MMA record.
Berry isn’t simply a practitioner who took his talent to the cage straightaway. Instead, Berry got the hardware to prove he’s done more than enough to earn his stripes in the Thai world.
“I’ve got a Muay Thai background,” Berry said. “I have four Muay Thai national titles as an amateur. I have a bunch of Muay Thai fights as an amateur and that’s what I came up in.”
A battle-tested Berry will step into the ring with another Fury FC up and comer and former Buffalo wrestler Kyle Todrank, who stunned the MMA world in December by pulling off a twister submission in his pro debut.
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While Berry can acknowledge the ripple effect of Todrank’s professional debut, he isn’t intimidated by the finish or even his wrestling background.
“Kyle [Todrank], all respect to him, he’s got a good wrestling pedigree, but wrestling is not fighting,” Berry bluntly stated. “Wrestling is a different thing entirely. I would argue that what I’ve done is much closer to fighting than what he has done.”
While Bo Nickal, Daniel Cormier, Frankie Edgar and more weren’t getting punched in the face on the mat, Berry was cutting his teeth, figuratively and literally, in one of the most brutal forms of combat training.
Muay Thai is violent and arguably more entertaining for MMA viewers, but the list of legendary fighters with a wrestling background would contradict Berry’s viewpoint.
Though showing love to wrestling for the competition aspect, Berry believes that what he represents is what the fans want to see.
“At the end of the day, we’re in the entertainment business; as fighters, we are entertainers and we have to be fun to watch,” Berry said. “That’s what puts butts in seats. I feel like my style really bodes to that fun to watch, entertaining, gritty, violent, and showmanship kind of style.”
No matter one’s opinion on wrestling, it isn’t going anywhere in MMA. To make it on the UFC radar you need to be offensive in every discipline and, in return, be able to defend.
This mix of styles is what makes MMA so popular, and Berry is one of millions that appreciate the blend.
“Honestly, I love MMA, I really do,” Berry said. “I’m a striker at heart. I love Muay Thai, I love standup and things like that, but I love MMA, the mixing of the styles and being able to blend things and be creative and have fun with it. I think I’ve kind of fallen in love with the sport of MMA all around, including the wrestling and jiu jitsu and everything that comes with it.”
Ahead of this Sunday’s matchup, Berry plans on bringing everything he has into the Fury cage. To make that next step, Berry knows he needs a resume of diverse-disciplined opponents to catch UFC CEO Dana White’s eye.
“I need to fight a guy like this and show that I can be in there with a wrestler and stay on my feet and make it a violent and fun fight to watch,” Berry said. “I’ve been, for the better part of a decade, working on being able to defend wrestling and takedowns and developing my own wrestling skills. This gives me a good chance against a high-level wrestler to show that I have those abilities.”
While only 3-0 in pro MMA, Berry feels his extensive Muay Thai experience gives him an upper hand on Todrank mentally before the walk to the cage. The fight inside the cage may be a mystery, but Berry firmly believes he has already won the battle before the battle.
“Every time I’ve gotten into a ring or cage, I’ve gotten in there with someone trying to take my head off and hit me,” Berry explained. “It’s still relatively new to him in the grand scheme of things that someone is trying to do that to him, so I would imagine, in however many fights he’s had, that he hasn’t gotten used to that. It takes time to learn to accept that feeling. I imagine that it’s going to weigh on him.”
Fury FC 87 sets the stage for both Berry and Todrank to take a big step forward. Muay Thai versus wrestling is an argument that will continue as long as MMA is alive, and Sunday will showcase a new bullet point for one side of the debate.
Will Jacob Berry turn the table on Kyle Todrank and step into the MMA spotlight?
Fury FC 87 is LIVE on Sunday, exclusively on UFC FIGHT PASS!
