Is Maia/Shields the highest level grappling fight we've seen so far in MMA?

[SaintSoldier]

I can't think of any better examples.

 

[JKS]

Minotoro Nogueira/Josh Barnett 1 from OWGP 06

 

[Aerose91]

Palhaurus/shields is up there

 

[Hans Gercmiov]

Newton vs Sakuraba is one of my favorites.

 

[stormofshadow]

Palhaurus/shields is up there

i only saw the finish... was the grappling actually competitive? i should probably watch it.

 

[Arm Barbarian]

Palhaurus/shields is up there

 

[Fight Professor]

Palhares vs Belcher was a great one.

 

[Hans Gercmiov]

i only saw the finish... was the grappling actually competitive? i should probably watch it.

Palhares showed eye poking technique that would make Jones give up cocaine.

 

[chopstick]

Newton vs Sakuraba is one of my favorites.

Grappling classic. I have this on dvd, gonna watch it now.

 

[zephid]

Sakuraba vs Newton at PRIDE 3

 

[arrmike]

I swear this same thread with the same exact title has been done before.

I think yes is the answer though. And Maia got the better of the overall grappling. He had better takedowns, took the back more than once, and pretty much didn't have his own guard passed.

Not even getting into the mma scoring controversy, but it is hard to argue that Maia didn't grapple slightly better.

 

[DuncanFan819]

Derrick Lewis vs. Matt Mitrione at UFC Fight Night 50.

 

[Troublesome10]

Even though Maia started dominating after the first round, Maia vs Nelson was extremely technical and an absolute joy to watch.

 

[sidecheckkick]

Saku vs Newton

 

[UkraineFreightTrain]

Aoki Vs Ribiero & Aoki Vs Kitaoka were good as well

 

[Lyoto Jackson]

Maia vs. MacDonald was good.

 

[Shintothecup]

Mir and big nog anyone?

 

[Glove]

Shinya Aoki vs. Akira Kikuchi

 

[MMAViewer]

The two best grapples in mma right now are Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier.

 

[Hulk Brogan]

derrick black beast lewis vs ruan potts is the pinnacle of grappling battles