Takedowns · Every session

Freestyle Wrestling
in Cork

Freestyle wrestling for grapplers, in Ballyvolane, Cork City.

Be clear on what this is before you come: we are not a dedicated wrestling club. Wrestling is taught inside every adults session at Aontach — takedowns, scrambles, top pressure, and getting back to your feet — as part of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training rather than as a separate sport with its own competition calendar.

If you want to stop being the person who gets taken down, you’re in the right place.

 (01) · The approach

Wrestling for jiu-jitsu

Most jiu-jitsu rooms treat the standing position as an inconvenience. Everyone shakes hands, sits down, and the match starts on the floor. It works fine until you meet someone who won’t sit down.

We don’t train that way. Freestyle wrestling is built into every adults session at Aontach — not as a warm-up, and not as an occasional seminar. Takedowns, sprawls, scrambles, getting back to your feet and staying on top are part of how the class runs, week in and week out.

The freestyle rule set is the foundation, adapted for grappling. That means legs are live, level changes matter more than raw strength, and the goal is the same one jiu-jitsu wants anyway: get on top and stay there.

Is there a dedicated wrestling class?

No, and we’d rather say so plainly. There is no separate wrestling session on the timetable and no wrestling-only membership. Wrestling is taught within the Gi and NoGi classes, every week. If you are looking for a pure freestyle club with a competition calendar, we are not it — but there isn’t one in Cork, and this is the closest you’ll get to the training.

Yes, particularly the NoGi sessions. Takedowns, cage-adjacent scrambles and top control transfer directly. What you won’t get here is striking or cage work — for that you’d want an MMA gym, and this alongside it.

No. Almost nobody in the room came from a wrestling background — Ireland has very little of it. Everyone learned the takedowns here, from the beginning, alongside the jiu-jitsu.

It can be, which is why the intensity is controlled. Takedowns are drilled before they are used live, landings are taught, and nobody gets slammed. You’ll be sore. You shouldn’t be injured.

Shorts and a rash guard or t-shirt. Wrestling shoes are optional and most people don’t bother. A mouthguard if you have one.

Learn to take people down.

Ballyvolane Commercial Park, Unit 24, Ballyvolane, Cork, T23 E685. Free parking on site, ten minutes from Cork city centre. First class on us — message ahead so we know you’re coming.

083 465 1592 · aontachjj@gmail.com