Best grappler by division?

[SingerAuto]

Okay, so who are the best grapplers in each UFC weight class?
Not best wrestler or pure submission artist, but the best overall grappler.

My picks:

HW:
Werdum
Josh Barnett
Hon. Mention-Mir, Big Nog if he hadn't retired.

LHW:
Jon Jones. His combo of wrestling ability, GnP and willingness to work for submission is the best.

MW:
Jacare, duh.

WW:
Maia. Again, duh.

LW:
So tough to pick. Tons of great grapplers, but most excel in one area (Khabib TDs for example).
Nate has a great guard and top control but not a great wrestler.
Ferguson is a good grappler too.
I'll go with Khabib just because his TDs are so unstoppable.

FW:
Aldo when he uses it. Edgar is a great grappler too but doesn't attempt many sub's. Oliviera is very good, so is Holloway.

BW:
Tough to go against Cruz, such a great base but Sterling has shown to be a great grappler. But I'd vote Dom.

FLW:
Mighty Mouse. He's #1 P4P for a reason.

I know I stuck to more well known guys, surely some of you with more grappling experience can tell us some others.

For all time, I'd go:
HW-Werdum, Big Nog, Mir, Barnett
LHW-Shogun is up there, as is Machida. Outside of UFC its Arona by a mile.
MW-Demian Maia, Jacare
WW-GSP, Hughes.
LW-BJ, duh.

 

[pocket]

Okay, so who are the best grapplers in each UFC weight class?
Not best wrestler or pure submission artist, but the best overall grappler.

My picks:

HW:
Werdum
Josh Barnett
Hon. Mention-Mir, Big Nog if he hadn't retired.

LHW:
Jon Jones. His combo of wrestling ability, GnP and willingness to work for submission is the best.

MW:
Jacare, duh.

WW:
Maia. Again, duh.

LW:
So tough to pick. Tons of great grapplers, but most excel in one area (Khabib TDs for example).
Nate has a great guard and top control but not a great wrestler.
Ferguson is a good grappler too.
I'll go with Khabib just because his TDs are so unstoppable.

FW:
Aldo when he uses it. Edgar is a great grappler too but doesn't attempt many sub's. Oliviera is very good, so is Holloway.

BW:
Tough to go against Cruz, such a great base but Sterling has shown to be a great grappler. But I'd vote Dom.

FLW:
Mighty Mouse. He's #1 P4P for a reason.

I know I stuck to more well known guys, surely some of you with more grappling experience can tell us some others.

For all time, I'd go:
HW-Werdum, Big Nog, Mir, Barnett
LHW-Shogun is up there, as is Machida. Outside of UFC its Arona by a mile.
MW-Demian Maia, Jacare
WW-GSP, Hughes.
LW-BJ, duh.

Think we are seeing striking take the forefront of the title race right now...
Not a bad list.

 

[Kelman]

HW: The Black Beast
FW: Conor McGoator

Don't care about the rest.

 

[burningspear]

Khabib, Maia and Jacare. Would love to see GSP vs Maia.

 

[Drake]

HW: Werdum
LHW: DC
MW: Jacare
WW: Maia
LW: Khabib
FW: Aldo
BW: Cruz
WBW: Rounda
Fly: Johnson
SW: Gadelha

 

[jake nussbaum]

how can u put aldo at fw? regardless of his pedigree he hasn't subbed anyone. better choices are Olivera, Tavares, Ortega, or even Edgar or Mendes

 

[KONE]

WBW: Rounda

Why is this the first time I've seen this

 

[Drake]

Why is this the first time I've seen this

I say it all the time. I thought we were friends...

 

[Aleksander_Kharitonov]

135: Rani Yahya

 

[Michael Wetzel]

HW: Werdum JJ, Barnett wrestling
LHW: Cormier
MW: Jacare JJ, Weidman wrestling
WW: Maia JJ, GSP wrestling
LW: Aoki JJ, Khabib wrestling
FW: Olivera JJ, Edgar wrestling
BW: Faber
FlyW: Formiga JJ, Johnson wrestling
Womens BW: Rousey judo, Tate wrestling
Womens SW: Gadelha

 

[ArtemV]

FW: is debatable, Wilson Reis and Formiga are probably both better submission artists than Mighty Mouse, but probably not as strong wrestlers as he is.

EDIT: 135 is Yahya, everybody forgets about him.

 

[tdavis925]

Wow, surprised to see people forgetting Shields at WW. Dude may be boring as fuck, but he's an undeniably good grappler. He managed to outgrapple Maia for fuck's sake!

 

[hiagops]

Wow, surprised to see people forgetting Shields at WW. Dude may be boring as fuck, but he's an undeniably good grappler. He managed to outgrapple Maia for fuck's sake!

Wow, surprised to see people forgetting Palhares at WW. Dude is exciting as fuck and an undeniably good grappler. He managed to outgrapple Shields for fuck's sake!

 

[TrainInVain]

HW: Werdum
LHW: DC
MW: Jacare
WW: Maia
LW: Khabib
FW: Aldo
BW: Cruz
WBW: Rounda
Fly: Johnson
SW: Gadelha

Whatchu talkin bout? Joanna had a 50% takedown rate and 1 sub attempt. Claudia only 30% no subs attempts.

 

[Drake]

Whatchu talkin bout? Joanna had a 50% takedown rate and 1 sub attempt. Claudia only 30% no subs attempts.

 

[Big_Chief_Stove]

Flyweight- Mighty Mouse

BantamWeight- Urijah Faber. His dynamic wrestling and aggressive submission style earned him the spot IMO.

Featherweight-Charles Oliveira

Lightweight-Khabib Nurmagomedov/Nate Diaz

Welterweight-Demian Maia

Middleweight-Jacare

Light heavyweight- DC possibly. Jones is a more dominant wrestler IMO, but DC has displayed very effect BJJ skills with his position control and transitions.

HWT- Werdum, hands down, no question.

 

[tdavis925]

GSP. Hands down. You knew it was coming, but you couldn't do a damn thing about it!

Wow, surprised to see people forgetting Palhares at WW. Dude is exciting as fuck and an undeniably good grappler. He managed to outgrapple Shields for fuck's sake!

Palhares is up there, but he had to cheat to beat Shields. Gouged the absolute fuck out of his eyes.

 

[ExitLUPin]

Werdum
Phil Davis (Glover if just UFC)
Jacare or Luke tossup
Demian
Khabib
Aloe Vera
Aljo
Bagautinov (tho this is the most open division IMO, JoeB, Demetrious, Makovsky, Ian etc. Guys like Smolka are coming up too)

 

[fortheo]

Wow, surprised to see people forgetting Shields at WW. Dude may be boring as fuck, but he's an undeniably good grappler. He managed to outgrapple Maia for fuck's sake!

Nah, he won because of sloppy kickboxing and a few nice reversals. Score the grappling aspect of that fight and Maia would have won via more take downs, and more dangerous positions (he had shields back more than once). Shields had a nice reversal and sat in Maia's guard for a while, then won a sloppy kickboxing exchange.

Shields is elite though and an acceptable answer, but saying he out grappled Maia is a bit disingenuous.

 

[tdavis925]

Nah, he won because of sloppy kickboxing and a few nice reversals. Score the grappling aspect of that fight and Maia would have won via more take downs, and more dangerous positions (he had shields back more than once). Shields had a nice reversal and sat in Maia's guard for a while, then won a sloppy kickboxing exchange.

Shields is elite though and an acceptable answer, but saying he out grappled Maia is a bit disingenuous.

You're right, but the fact that he even held his own was telling. I still consider him as one of the absolute best, though I'd rank Maia over him in terms of grappling accomplishments in MMA.