The Dagestani school, first-hand
Not an approximation learned from video. Artur grew up in the Dagestani wrestling system and teaches the chain attacks, top pressure and pace exactly as he was taught them.
Adults · All Levels
Dagestani Wrestling in Maple, Ontario
Takedowns, chain wrestling and relentless top pressure. Six days a week at 7:00 PM.
Claim Your Free WeekWrestling is the oldest and most physically honest grappling sport there is: put the other person on the ground and keep them there. Freestyle allows attacks on both the upper and lower body, which makes it the most directly useful version for anyone who also trains Jiu-Jitsu or MMA.
What separates this class is where the coaching comes from. Artur is Dagestani, and he teaches the wrestling he was raised in. Dagestan is a small republic in the Russian Caucasus that produces more elite wrestlers per head than anywhere on earth — the tradition behind it has shaped modern MMA more than any other single style, and the names that came out of Makhachkala in the last decade are the reason people now talk about Dagestani wrestling as its own thing.
It is a recognisable style rather than a marketing label. Dagestani wrestling is built on constant forward pressure, chain attacks that link one takedown into the next rather than betting everything on a single shot, heavy top control once the takedown lands, and a level of conditioning that assumes the other person will break first. If you have watched a fight where one wrestler simply never stopped coming, that is the shape of it.
Artur brings more than thirty years of it. He is a former Dagestan regional champion, a champion of Southern Russia, a winner of the Ivan Yarygin tournament, and holds the title of Master of Sport in Freestyle Wrestling. He has trained alongside elite fighters including Alexander Volkov and Zabit Magomedsharipov. None of that is common coaching to find in the GTA.
The class itself is taught for beginners as much as for competitors. You will not be thrown into live goes on your first night, and most of the room started wrestling as adults with no background at all.
What makes this class different
A Dagestan regional title is not a regional title
The depth in Dagestan is such that its republic championship is widely considered harder to win than most countries' national titles. Artur won it, then took a Southern Russia title and the Ivan Yarygin on top.
Every day at 7:00 PM
Monday through Friday at 7:00 PM, Saturday at 2:00 PM. It sits directly between Muay Thai and evening BJJ, so stacking two classes is easy.
Built for grapplers, not just wrestlers
The curriculum is aimed at people who will use these takedowns under Jiu-Jitsu and MMA rules, so we train the finish and the follow-up, not just the entry.
No wrestling background assumed
Canadian adults rarely wrestled at school. Most of this room started from zero, and the class is taught on that assumption.
Class schedule
Monday
- 7:00 PM – 8:00 PMWrestling
Tuesday
- 7:00 PM – 8:00 PMWrestling
Wednesday
- 7:00 PM – 8:00 PMWrestling
Thursday
- 7:00 PM – 8:00 PMWrestling
Friday
- 7:00 PM – 8:00 PMWrestling
Saturday
- 2:00 PM – 3:00 PMWrestling
Times are pulled live from the academy schedule, so this page cannot drift out of date. See the full timetable for every class we run.
Questions parents and beginners ask
What is Dagestani wrestling, and how is it different?
Dagestani wrestling is freestyle wrestling as it is taught in Dagestan, a republic in the Russian Caucasus with the deepest wrestling culture in the world. The differences are stylistic rather than technical: constant forward pressure, chain attacks that link takedowns together instead of relying on one big shot, punishing top control, and a pace built to break the other person. It travels extremely well into Jiu-Jitsu and MMA, which is why it has come to dominate both.
Do I need a wrestling background to train here?
No. Most of the room started as adults with none at all. The Dagestani approach is demanding, but it is taught here as a progression — stance and motion first, then level changes, then finishes — not as a trial by fire.
Do I need wrestling shoes?
Not for your first few classes — clean indoor training shoes or bare feet are fine. If you stick with it, wrestling shoes are worth buying for the ankle support and the grip when you shoot.
Is wrestling harder on the body than BJJ?
It is more demanding on the legs and lungs, yes. But you control your own intensity in drilling, and the class is built around technique and repetition rather than all-out live goes every night.
I only want takedowns for my Jiu-Jitsu. Is that fine?
That is exactly why most of this room is here. The class is taught with grappling and MMA application in mind, not competitive freestyle rules.
Is wrestling included in the regular membership?
Yes. One adult membership covers wrestling, Muay Thai, BJJ and open mat. Nothing on the adult schedule is priced separately.
Your first week is free
No commitment and no sales pitch. Come in, take a class, and decide afterwards. We are at 20 Cranston Park Ave in Maple, minutes from Vaughan and Richmond Hill.