Quick Definition
The ground game is the part of a mixed martial arts fight that takes place on the mat, where fighters grapple for position, hunt for submissions, and strike from the top rather than trading punches on their feet.
What is a ground game?
A fighter’s ground game is the full set of skills they use once a bout hits the canvas. It covers how they take an opponent down, how they hold or improve position, how they attack with submissions, and how they defend or escape when they end up on the bottom.
The skills come from grappling arts that MMA borrowed and blended. Brazilian jiu-jitsu supplies most of the submission and guard work, wrestling supplies takedowns and top control, and judo and sambo add throws and their own submission systems. In the cage, these blur together, since a fighter rarely cares which art a position came from once they are using it.
What sets the MMA ground game apart from pure grappling is one rule: strikes are legal on the mat. A wrestler can pin an opponent and punch. A jiu-jitsu player has to defend elbows while hunting an armbar. That changes which positions are worth holding, and it is why ground fighting in MMA looks nothing like a jiu-jitsu match.
What a ground game includes
Announcers throw the phrase around as if it were one skill. In practice, a ground game is several linked jobs a fighter handles once the fight leaves the feet.
The first is getting there. Takedowns from wrestling, trips from judo, or simply dragging an opponent down all belong to the ground game, as does the takedown defense that keeps a striker upright.
After that comes position, which is the heart of ground fighting. Where a fighter sits relative to their opponent decides almost everything about what they can do next. A few positions come up constantly in commentary:
| Position | What it means |
|---|---|
| Guard | The bottom fighter controls the top fighter with their legs |
| Side control | The top fighter pins across the opponent’s chest |
| Mount | The top fighter sits on the opponent’s torso |
| Back control | A fighter takes the opponent’s back, the most dominant spot on the mat |
From those positions, a fighter looks to finish. Submissions like the rear-naked choke or armbar force a tap. Ground and pound uses strikes from a dominant top position to end the fight or open a path to a submission. Working the other way, sweeps and escapes let a fighter reverse a bad spot or climb back to their feet. Defense counts as much as attack here, which is why some fighters build a respected ground game almost entirely on staying safe and getting back up.
Ground game vs stand-up game
The opposite of the ground game is the stand-up game, and most fight breakdowns split a fighter’s skills along that line. Stand-up covers everything that happens on the feet: striking arts like boxing and Muay Thai, plus footwork and clinch work. The ground game picks up the moment the fight hits the canvas.
| Category | Stand-up game | Ground game |
|---|---|---|
| Where it happens | On the feet | On the mat |
| Core disciplines | Boxing, Muay Thai, kickboxing | BJJ, wrestling, judo, sambo |
| Main weapons | Punches, kicks, knees, elbows | Control positions, submissions, ground strikes |
| How it ends a fight | Knockout or TKO | Submission or ground-and-pound stoppage |
Almost no fighter lives entirely on one side. A knockout artist still needs takedown defense to keep the fight standing, and a grappler needs enough striking to close the distance and shoot for a takedown. The labels describe where a fighter is most dangerous. They do not mark the only place a fighter can operate.
One point of confusion is worth clearing up. The ground game is not the same as Brazilian jiu-jitsu. BJJ is one of the arts that feeds into it, but a complete ground game also draws on wrestling and judo, and it has to account for strikes that no pure jiu-jitsu ruleset allows.
Why the ground game matters in MMA
Ground fighting is not a modern add-on to the sport. It is the reason MMA looks the way it does. When the UFC held its first event in 1993, a slight Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner named Royce Gracie submitted all three of his opponents in a single night, finishing the final against Gerard Gordeau with a rear-naked choke (ESPN fight record). His run showed a striking-heavy martial arts world that a fighter who could take the bout to the mat held a serious edge.
That lesson stuck. A fighter with no ground game is exposed the moment the fight changes levels, which is why cross-training in grappling became standard for anyone serious about competing. The numbers back it up. Across 8,591 UFC bouts through March 2026, submissions ended 19.3% of all fights, and the rear-naked choke is the most common submission of all, making up close to 44% of submission finishes in a tracked year, 2017 (Grappler HQ; MMA Hive). Add the fights decided by top control and ground strikes, and a large share of MMA is settled on the canvas rather than on the feet.
For a fan, understanding the ground game is what turns a confusing tangle of limbs into a readable contest. Knowing why a fighter fights for an underhook, or why the crowd erupts when someone takes the back, is the difference between watching two people wrestle and following a match.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the ground game the same as BJJ?
No. Brazilian jiu-jitsu is one of the arts that make up a ground game, but a full ground game also uses wrestling, judo, and sambo, and it accounts for strikes that jiu-jitsu competition does not allow.
What is the difference between the ground game and ground and pound?
Ground and pound is one tactic inside the ground game, meaning strikes thrown from a dominant top position. The ground game is the whole set of grappling skills, and ground and pound is only one piece of it.
Can a fighter win with only a ground game?
Sometimes, but rarely at a high level. A one-dimensional grappler still needs takedowns to reach the mat, and modern opponents train takedown defense specifically to keep the fight standing.
Who has the best ground game in MMA?
Any answer is subjective and shifts over time. Fighters often praised for their grappling include Khabib Nurmagomedov for his suffocating top control and Charles Oliveira for his submission finishing, though rankings stay a matter of opinion.
Does every MMA fighter need a ground game?
At the professional level, effectively yes. Even fighters who prefer to strike train grappling so they can defend takedowns and get back to their feet if the fight goes down.
Sources
- Wikipedia. “Ground fighting.” Accessed August 2026.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_fighting - Wikipedia. “Grappling position.” Accessed August 2026.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grappling_position - Grappler HQ. “UFC Statistics: Finish Rates and Fight Trends, 1994 to 2026.” Accessed August 2026.
https://www.grapplerhq.com/mma/ufc-statistics/ - Fight Matrix. “How Fights Actually End: Finish Rates by Weight Class.” Accessed August 2026.
https://www.fightmatrix.com/2026/07/31/how-fights-actually-end-finish-rates-by-weight-class/ - MMA Hive. “UFC Submission Statistics.” Accessed August 2026.
https://www.mmahive.com/ufc-submission-statistics/ - ESPN. “UFC 1: The Beginning.” Accessed August 2026.
https://www.espn.com/mma/fightcenter/_/id/400255729 - World MMA Awards. “Royce Gracie.” Accessed August 2026.
https://www.worldmmaawards.com/2023/06/01/royce-gracie/
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