Sprawl

A defensive wrestling move where a fighter thrusts their legs backward and drops their hips to the mat the instant an opponent shoots for a takedown, using their body weight to flatten the opponent's head and shoulders and stop the shot from completing. A good sprawl is the difference between staying on your feet, where a striker wants to be, and ending up on your back against a fighter whose entire gameplan is grinding out top control. It's one of the most fundamental defensive skills in the sport precisely because it's the direct counter to wrestling-heavy gameplans, and fighters with genuinely elite takedown defense — built on repeated, instinctive sprawling — can neutralize opponents who'd otherwise dominate them on the ground. Sherdog has detailed technical breakdowns of wrestling exchanges like this one.