Top 10 Grapplers, Ever!

These types of "lists" are DESIGNED to spark debate. Sports Illustrated does it all the time, and now graciemag.com apparently has done it.

People just need to remember the details. "Grappling" encompasses so many different sports, such as wrestling (freestyle, greco-roman), judo, BJJ, etc.

Of course no one has been around since the dawn of time to comment adequately on every grappler who ever lived. Nor has written history documented every such grappler. To that end, it's still OK to give opinions, with the foregone conclusion that they are exactly that and nothing more.

I personally would prefer to hear the opinions of true grappling history buffs, not just a 17-year-old MMA fan who doesn't train but has seen enough UFC's to come up with a brilliant post such as, "Nuh uh...Saku's da bomb, boy, and would kick Fedor's ass...huh huh huh."
 
DMcKayBJJ said:
I personally would prefer to hear the opinions of true grappling history buffs, not just a 17-year-old MMA fan who doesn't train but has seen enough UFC's to come up with a brilliant post such as, "Nuh uh...Saku's da bomb, boy, and would kick Fedor's ass...huh huh huh."
Ditto, and also not from BJJ nuthuggers... :/
 
Masakatsu Funaki #1 said:
I understand what you're saying, but when you have people listing their opinions of the top 10 best grapplers ever, and each of those grappler's bases are BJJ and they are still alive, causes the whole whole idea if listing them pretty idiotic. Your argument using the basketball scenario isn't very good either. Grappling was the first sport ever. Its been around since the dawn of man, to create a list of the top 10 grapplers ever, you would either have to be the biggest history buff ever (which is still flawed, since you havent witnessed some of the grapplers, that you might list based on folk tales,etc) or you'd have to have lived since the begining of man. Basketball is a pretty new sport, really, so creating a list of the top ten basketball players wouldn't be nearly as difficult as making a grapplers list. I do understand you though, making a list of the top ten best grapplers in the past century would be highly realistic. So yeah, you win the argument as far as that goes :p

Thanks - sorry I came across too harsh. I guess I was making my point too aggressively. These sorts of lists are nothing more than conversation starters so they are not definitive. I hear you.
 
#1 Shinya Aoki
#2 Rumina Sato
#3 Masakazu Imanari
#4 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
#5 Kazushi Sakuraba
#6 Carlos Newton
#7 Rickson Gracie
#8 BJ Penn
#9 Paulo Filho
#10 Fedor (WHY? Because he's in every category)
 
#1 Shinya Aoki
#2 Rumina Sato
#3 Masakazu Imanari
#4 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
#5 Kazushi Sakuraba
#6 Carlos Newton
#7 Rickson Gracie
#8 BJ Penn
#9 Paulo Filho
#10 Fedor (WHY? Because he's in every category)


you obviously have no idea what you are talking about
 
I agree with the list but I would also add my friend Soca Freitas there.
 
#1 Shinya Aoki
#2 Rumina Sato
#3 Masakazu Imanari
#4 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
#5 Kazushi Sakuraba
#6 Carlos Newton
#7 Rickson Gracie
#8 BJ Penn
#9 Paulo Filho
#10 Fedor (WHY? Because he's in every category)

Hahaha
Your list is wrong.

Only Rickson and perhaps Penn have a right to even be considered as top 10 of all time.
 
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