Who are the Most Well Rounded High level Grapplers in Combat Sports?

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I just saw a thread about a disgraced Olympic Judoka training in Bjj now and it got me thinking. In all of the grappling arts, including MMA, which grapplers have the most well rounded abilities? This means having world class skill in more than one grappling art. There are multiple ways to look at it. Competitive accomplishments are the best way to gauge this but you also have to consider guys who have excelled competitively in 1 art but then spent many years training in another. Off the top of my head Id have to start with:

-Greg Gibson: Multiple world and Olympic medals in both freestyle and Greco roman wrestling as well as a 2x NCAA DI All American. He was also the 1st American world champ in sambo (or sombo as it was referred to then). And interestingly, he actually learned and used submissions to win in sambo rather than relying on takedowns and basically just be a wrestler competing in sambo.

-Gokor Chivichyan: Olympic level judoka while also being highly trained in sambo, freestyle, and Greco roman wrestling, bjj, and catch. Competed successfully in pretty much every rule set and every for of grappling imaginable.

-Adam Wheeler: Olympic bronze medalist in Greco, many international and national medals in freestyle, won gold in the no gi worlds at black belt masters division.

-Rustam Chsiev: K Dojo fighter who has medaled at ADCC, won many titles against the best BJJ and sub grappling guys in the world, done moderately well in International level freestyle wrestling against very good opposition.

-Mark Kerr: NCAA DI champ, 2x world team trials champ in freestyle, Olympic trials runner up, multiple time ADCC gold medalist.

-Khabib Nurmagomedov: Combat sambo world champ, Naga champion in expert division, trained with many world and Olympic champion freestyle wrestlers for years.

-Jake Shields: Very good California HS wrestler, Placed in the California State JUCO championships, received a wrestling scholarship to wrestle for a D II school, ADCC medalist, Pan Am champ.

Im extremely curious what additions can be made to this list. I know many of the Brazilian Bjj legends are also at a high level in judo but I don't know any of their competitive judo accomplishments. I know Dave Camarillo is a top judoka and a top Bjj blackbelt but I don't know specifics.

 

[ChainFlow]

Travis Stevens - Olympic silver medalist in Judo, high level BJJ competitor.

 

[Franklegit]

Erik Paulson

 

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Erik Paulson

Aside from MMA does Paulson have any competitive grappling experience?

 

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Travis Stevens - Olympic silver medalist in Judo, high level BJJ competitor.

Also Brian Picklo. NCAA D I All American and finished high in the judo Olympic trials. Lovato Jrs coach.

 

[Coconutwater]

I believe he even beat a future Olympic Bronze medalist as a college freshman.

 

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I believe he even beat a future Olympic Bronze medalist as a college freshman.

It is so tough to find details on the college wrestling careers of Japanese MMA guys. There's a few JMMA guys with legit international freestyle or greco experience but college is really tough. Fujita and Miyata were really good wrestlers. I've heard Sakuraba and Call Uno were too but I've not been able to find anything. Kid Yamamoto was very good but he wrestled High School in the USA. Ive heard he received scholarship offers but he returned to Japan.

 

[Coconutwater]

It is so tough to find details on the college wrestling careers of Japanese MMA guys. There's a few JMMA guys with legit international freestyle or greco experience but college is really tough. Fujita and Miyata were really good wrestlers. I've heard Sakuraba and Call Uno were too but I've not been able to find anything. Kid Yamamoto was very good but he wrestled High School in the USA. Ive heard he received offers but he returned to Japan.

Yeah, that bronze medalist thing has always been trumpeted about Sakuraba. He was offered a college coaching position later but went to pro wrestling I believe.

 

[ArtemV]

Beslan Mudranov has been a sambo world champion and is an Olympic champion in Judo, is a two-time European champion and two-time World silver medalist in Judo. Beslan's brother, Aslan has recently become a sambo world champion too - in 2017.

Same story with Uali Kurzhev, but to a lesser extent. He is a sambo world champion and has two gold medals and multiple silvers/bronzes in some of the grand slam/grand prix Judo events.

 

[ArtemV]

Bilyal Makhov is a 3-time world champion in freestyle wrestling, European champion and Olympic bronze medalist and has also won 2 world bronze medals in greco roman.

 

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Bilyal Makhov is a 3-time world champion in freestyle wrestling, European champion and Olympic bronze medalist and has also won 2 world bronze medals in greco roman.

I was torn on including guys who had just TD arts on their resume, or just submission arts. Certainly being world class in both FS and Greco makes you very well rounded but if he had some sambo or judo, or some FILA/UWW grappling thatd be more impressive (obviously). What the hell is up with Makhov anyway? Has he backed out on MMA? Hes been wrestling a lot lately in Russia.

 

[ArtemV]

I was torn on including guys who had just TD arts on their resume, or just submission arts. Certainly being world class in both FS and Greco makes you very well rounded but if he had some sambo or judo, or some FILA/UWW grappling thatd be more impressive (obviously). What the hell is up with Makhov anyway? Has he backed out on MMA? Hes been wrestling a lot lately in Russia.

I really have no idea, he recently won in Vladikavkaz a week ago, and got gold. As for mma, I don't think we will see him in it. If he were around 25/6, it would be worth waiting for, but I don't see him making the transition now.

 

[nefti]

From bjj I would say galvao

 

[kjg1672]

You could probably include Chris Weidman.

 

[Uchi Mata]

Travis Stevens, Justin Flores, Flavio Canto, and Jason Morris all come to mind from Judo (also, don't believe the hype about Gokor being Olympic level. His people like to say that, but he had ample opportunities to prove it in international competition and never did. He's very good but I don't think there's any reason to believe he was ever really that good).

Quite a few MMA fighters are really spectacular wrestlers with strong submission skills. Khabib, Weidman, Jacare, Maia, Bones, DJ, Cejudo, all those guys have multiple submission victories and either are themselves or have taken down elite wrestlers.

Back in the day, Mark Schultz was almost certainly the first wrestling Olympian to also get a BJJ BB. Guys like Kerr and Van Arsdale also had real submission chops while also being excellent wrestlers. People like Arona and Almeida were BJJ experts with very good wrestling as well.

 

[mataleaos]

I think Chris Weidman is slept on.

He's done great in wrestling. He went to ADCC as a purple belt, and although he didn't place, he gave Andre Galvao a hell of a match, and looked very impressive. Then in MMA he's shown the ability to finish people on the feet as well as the floor. He's got some of the best "not against the fence" takedowns in MMA, he has a good variety of takedowns, and he's great at a variety of subs (darces, guillotines, arm triangles, kimuras, rear nakeds, etc.)

His striking IQ is pretty high. People credit that Silva win to Silva fucking up and playing around, but Weidman was smart enough to know what Silva was doing, and so he threw a left right right left combo instead of a traditional left right left right. So he knew Silva was leaning back side to side, and threw the 3rd punch with the same hand as the 2nd in order to set it up so Silva would be moving into the direction of the big 4th punch.

 

[mataleaos]

I want to throw Tony Ferguson name into the hat as well. He was an NCWA national champ in college. Then he went on the ultimate fighter and won the show by KOing everybody. Then he went into the UFC and started strangling people. He can submit people from the top and the bottom. He's got very creative transitions. He blends all the elements together very well, and when people call themselves "freestyle fighters" I think that sums up Tony perfectly. He actually does improvise and freestyle in fights, and he will try things in fights that he hasn't done in practice before, which is incredibly rare.

The one knock I could say is that he hasn't done a lot of pure BJJ or submission grappling, so I guess he hasn't had the success in that realm. But I think his grappling game in particular is very well rounded, even though he does a lot of unorthodox techniques.

You could probably include Chris Weidman.

Yep. I would toss in Luke Rockhold as well.

 

[mataleaos]

I know Dave Camarillo is a top judoka and a top Bjj blackbelt but I don't know specifics.

Dave doesn't have a lot of major accomplishments in terms of IBJJF titles or ADCC titles, but I've rolled with many "big name" grapplers, and Dave is one of the best people I've ever rolled with, and I think that he and Rafa Mendes have the 2 best armbars of anyone on the planet. Dave eats, sleeps, and breaths armbars. Speaking ersonally, Dave is the most well rounded martial artist I have ever trained with.

He is great at self defense, including weapons. He's great at sport grappling. He is amazing at BJJ, submission grappling, Judo, and freestyle wrestling. He's also got incredible flying attacks, and he forced Judo to change some of their rules regarding flying armbars, because he was so effective at them. He's got a good striking game too. And he's got a good MMA game from all the training he did with Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, Mike Swick, etc.

Also this may be a little bit out there, but firearms training IMO is sort of a martial art in its own right, and Dave is very skilled at that. If I needed someone to have my back in a gunfight, Dave would be the first choice.

 

[randomg1t]

Yep. I would toss in Luke Rockhold as well.

rockhold's top game is brilliant. i think overall, his jiu jitsu is very underrated, but once he gets on top of guys he smashes them to shit.

 

[mataleaos]

rockhold's top game is brilliant. i think overall, his jiu jitsu is very underrated, but once he gets on top of guys he smashes them to shit.

Yep. I think he won worlds at purple belt too. He's definitely into bjj. Buchecha said when they roll nogi that Rockhold taps him sometimes.

When it comes to Rockhold and Weidman, I've heard some practice room performance stories from people I know that train with them that almost seem unbelievable.

Two other mma guys that I've also heard practice room stories about are Khabib and Tony Ferguson. I hope they get to fight eventually.