Non wrestlers who got good enough to outwrestle wrestlers list

[ChessJitsu]

Wrestlers = people who wrestled before MMA career.

Non-wrestlers = people who only started wrestling for MMA.

Charles Oliveira is a BJJ/striking guy but he went on to outwrestle Michael Chandler.

Demian Maia pulled guard a lot in sport jiu-jitsu but went on to trash around Chael Sonnen and D1 wrestlers.

Of course we all know about GSP becoming one of the wrestling GOATs but not actually wrestling before MMA.

It's an interesting list isn't it? It's actually rare to see people outwrestle fighters who wrestled from childhood but in the context of MMA I guess it happens sometimes.

And by the way, when I talk about outwrestling I mean actually taking opponent down more than the other way around, not sprawl n ' brawls.

 

[VinceArch]

Bas Rutten did pretty well when he competed.

 

[dog y]

Jacaré had solid wrestling for a former pure BJJ guy.

 

[Megatronlee]

Wrestlings part of Bjj. Just depends where you train tbh.

I’ve been wrestling since I was 12 (35) and I’m the most wrestle centric guy at my current gym but I wouldn’t say i have the best takedowns at all.

 

[Luthien]

Black Beast?

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Prime Fedor GOAT

 

[Söze Aldo]

DDP tore through Rob's anti-wrestling

 

[ocfightfan]

In most cases you don't have to be anywhere near as good a wrestler. You just have to be a good enough anti-wrestler. If you can mix that with superior strikes then you can really be cooking with gas. Like Volk in the first fight with Islam. Craig Jones taught him some good anti-wrestling and it allowed him to survive well on the ground with Islam.

 

[volcom5]

That one French Karate Fighter from Canada did okay, I think his name was Georges Periera or something.

 

[Laheys'Liquorland]

That one French Karate Fighter from Canada did okay, I think his name was Georges Periera or something.

Thread ended. The only answer.

 

[Patof]

Rory Mac ended up taking down Tyron Woodley if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

Leon Edwards wrestling is quite good. Also managed to take down Usman. Used his wrestling to beat Nate if I can recall. Used it a lot against Colby offensively, albeit usually came out on the losing end.

The Nurmagomedov brothers were strikers primarily. They did grow up in Dagestan so they likely wrestled for fun which gave them a leg up, but they learned how to really wrestle after becoming fighters with Khabib.

Lyoto Machida out wrestled Tito Ortiz and probably took some other dudes down once in a while. Maybe he doesn't count because he did sumo.

 

[Roop Holstry]

Petr Yan. He is great offensively and defensively

Excellent hips, base, and balance on that dude and great instincts

 

[fortheo]

DDP tore through Rob's anti-wrestling

DDP has been wrestling since he was 12, though. Judo and wrestling are his base. It was still impressive

 

[Egészségére!]

BJ

Hughs, Serra, Sherk, Fitch

 

[ejazahmednit]

Alexander Gustafsson
Successfully took down both Jones and Cormier
Was very hard to take down for Jones
Cormier did toss him once though
And then Rumble happened

 

[CroCopsLHK]

Gustaffson was first (and only?) Man to take down Jones. I think he may have taken down DC too

Not sure if that qualifies because Jones won both fights and clearly manhandled him second time

 

[CroCopsLHK]

Alexander Gustafsson
Successfully took down both Jones and Cormier
Was very hard to take down for Jones
Cormier did toss him once though
And then Rumble happened

Whoops beat me to it lmao

 

[mkt]

GSP is clearly the GOAT of this. The other examples aren't so great IMO. Chandler is now 38 and hasn't used a wrestling-centered gameplan since he fought Brent Primus in 2018. He's basically like Hendo and Yoel during the end of their careers. Will Brooks arguably outwrestled a 29-year old Chandler which is more impressive than Oliveira beating an old wrestle-boxer.

There's also the fact that some wrestlers don't want to go to the ground with submission specialists like Oliveira, Jacare and Maia. They fight defensively and try to avoid the ground, which goes against their background as wrestlers and doesn't always work out well.

I don't recall Jacare actually outwrestling guys like Yoel and Weidman, but I don't remember much about those fights.

JDS avoided all of Carwin's TDs and actually took Carwin down a few times. But does that mean he'd have beaten Carwin in a pure wrestling match? Probably not. The dynamics of MMA, with kicks/punches/knees/elbows and fighters avoiding the ground with submission specialists make it hard to call someone a "better wrestler" in many cases. GSP clearly outwrestled a bunch of D1 guys in grappling-heavy matches so it's pretty clear in his case, especially because it happened so often.

 

[broc5k]

He has a collegiate wrestling background from Cal Poly so it doesn't really count, but I remember watching an interview with Chuck Liddell where he said the only reason he ever trained in amateur wrestling during his MMA run was to be able to stop the takedown and keep it on the feet. The Godfather of Sprawl & Brawl.