Who is the third best grappler in mma?

[MichaelT]

Hard to pick an overall grappler, there's guys that have either world class wrestling but not great bjj, like Usman/Colby, and world class bjj but weak wrestling, like Ortega

Jake Shields for an 'overall' grappler?

 

[Psychojoe86]

Hmm, it sure if there’s a difference with wrestling and Bjj in this case.

1) fedor
2) werdum
3) Maia

essentially these 3 dominated nearly anyone they went to the mats with, regardless of grappling background. And in the case of werdum and Maia, it was never a good game plan to take these guys to the ground

 

[MMAart]

Smooth reversal against an Olympic wrestler. He made it looked easy.

 

[Bogeyman]

I would have put Werdum and Maia in with Khabib for a top three. Not sure why anyone is talking about Jones, he's more of a striker than anything else.

 

[GOATtalks]

The issue with Khabib is that we've never seen him grapple vs actually good grapplers, fighters who have a well rounded grappling game. GSP we have and was pretty dominant. To this day I still question if Khabib would be just as good vs guys like Bendo, Edgar, Alverez, Chandler, Ferguson on the ground.

RDA and Poirier are BJJ black belts. Gaethje is a D1 wrestler. It doesn’t matter to Khabib, nobody at LW would’ve stopped him. Usman and Colby probably would

 

[chinarice]

ROUND 2
Ortega slides out of the way of Tavares’ opening salvo, then whips around and drops the Brazilian with a spinning elbow. Tavares jumps up and wags his finger -- the elbow may have simply caught him off balance -- and then winds up on top as Ortega tries a guard pull with a guillotine. Ortega loses the choke as soon as they hit the ground, and Tavares postures over him, still dripping blood, trying to advance past half guard. Referee Dan Miragliotta twice warns Ortega for grabbing the fence with his toes as the American tries to walk off the cage and escape. Back on his feet halfway through the round, Ortega is whipped down to the mat again seconds later. Ortega throws up a triangle, loses it and nearly has his back taken as he winds up belly-down on the mat. Tavares is spraying blood all over the canvas as he rolls Ortega over, mounts and begins unloading with punches. Ortega escapes danger with a kneebar attempt, and while the submission doesn’t come to fruition, it does get him back to the standing position. Tavares gets another takedown in short order, and now he works in the middle of the cage with 90 seconds left in the frame. There’s an obscene amount of blood coming from Tavares’ face but he manages to keep top control to the end of the round, working the body and head of Ortega with short punches.
SHERDOG SCORES
Jordan Breen scores the round 10-9 Tavares
TJ De Santis scores the round 10-9 Tavares
Chris Nelson scores the round 10-9 Tavares

https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/U...lay-Updates-87225#brian-ortega-thiago-tavares

Khabib has TDs in all his UFC fights, but the Tavares one.

You guys can move the goal posts around, but Tavares is a high quality grappler, and Khabib was able to deal with him without his opponent finding his strengths.

He didn't out grapple him? sure.. Tavares sucks at mma? yeah okay, sure..

He went 0fer against Tibau and was taken down.

 

[Thepaintbucket]

Effective grappling or being a proven grappler?

Fedor, Khabib, Werdum, Jacare, Maia etc are all proven grapplers in other sports. GSP is an effective grapper just like Jon Jones.

IDK how any sane fan could give a reasonable answer to this given all the variables involved in MMA.

 

[loyalyolayal]

ADCC is the proving ground for grapplers. Too many factors in mma to consider how one can be called the beat grappler. Werdum, Jacare, Maia.

 

[FIGHTING TALK]

Fitch maybe if you mean effective in MMA.

Leg locked twice in recent memory, his very most recent fight he lost by heel hook.
Also put to sleep by Josh Burkman.
Taken down repeatedly by a natural lightweight/featherweight in BJ Penn.

 

[Beherit]

The issue with Khabib is that we've never seen him grapple vs actually good grapplers, fighters who have a well rounded grappling game. GSP we have and was pretty dominant. To this day I still question if Khabib would be just as good vs guys like Bendo, Edgar, Alverez, Chandler, Ferguson on the ground.

RDA or tavares are better grapplers than all the one u mentioned yet ...

fucking alvarez and edgar saying they never were able to take down barboza in sparring, while khabib is playing with barboza like he is son. Chandler is a lesser justin gaethje, worse striking, worse cardio, worse takedown defense actually, and do nothing on the ground other than lay and pray. Chandler could try to take khabib down, he ll gass as fuck and mostly get subbed anyway. Khabib aint belabor lvl LMAO.

Be objective, u really think khabib would ve struggle to finish a dan hardy type fighters on the ground lmao.

GSP might be the better overall fighter, but grappling wise it is pretty obvious who is the best.

 

[MMAart]

Best MMA BJJ:

1. Werdum
2. Maia
3. Shields / Palhares​

Best MMA wrestling:

1. Jones
2. Cormier / Stipe / Khabib / GSP / /Mighty Mouse / Cejudo / Usman
3. Blaydes / Romero / Covington​

Best MMA BJJ+wrestling (aka "grappling"?):

1. Jones / Khabib / Jacare / Shields / Maia / Mighty Mouse
2. GSP / Ferguson / Oliveira / Dos Anjos​

 

[FIGHTING TALK]

Two of the best grapplers to enter the sport right here.
Great scramble.
In hindsight Johnson could have driven through to his left and gone through Cejudo threatening the back once he had his post, but zagged back out, disengaging. It’s these moments which fascinate me having watched so much MMA rarely does anything new happen at this stage in the game

 

[FIGHTING TALK]

Best grapplers to ever do it in MMA:

GSP (still so vastly underrated - watch him rolling with Braulio for proof, his rate of improvement from his early days is astonishing)



Lovato Jr



Aoki



Hall


Jones

 

[FIGHTING TALK]

Khabib


Rickson

 

[Joseph_McBride]

What about rda?

Also a striker, but yeah the best grappler Khabib has fought idk how I forgot him. But he is PURELY a top game guy tho, zero guard skills & not much scramble ability.

 

[SteveColdStone]

Werdum has to be top 3. I’d probably have to put him at #1. Submitted top grapplers in huge fights. Wrestling isn’t great but as a grappler he is incredibly dangerous. GSP is definitely not in the top 3 — great double leg and solid on top, but his actual mat game is not on Werdum, Maia, Jacare’s level. When I think of grappling I think of rolling around on the mat.

 

[Oeshon]

Mir subbed a shit ton of guys

 

[Katsushyro]

How crazy it would be if MM had passed his left leg over Cejudo Leg and went for an amrbar.

On topic. Khabib for sure have an argument for top 1-2. One of the most dominant ever to it, super sharp and diverse takedowns and top control, record for most consecutive subs on tittle fights.

You have to take Maia in to account also, to be abble to pull off those wins with pure bjj, even having a lame takedown game and bad stand up, and with his age and milleage, that shows how much of a wizzard that guy is.

Besides those two standouts you have guys like Werdum, Jacare, Josh Barnett (submited fking Dean Lister), Olinik (deadliest chokes in the game), DC and many more, so it's a tought one.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

Khabib hasn't grappled any good grapplers.

Gaethje hadn't used his wrestling for 10 year, and literally admitted he didn't know BJJ.

Dustin Poirer's wrestling sucks, and his BJJ isn't top tier either.

Conor is the best grappler Khabib fought, which is saying something, because Diaz submitted him faster than Khabib did.

@Goatbib imagine naming yourself after a fighter not named Chael Sonnen.

Conor is a better grappler than RDA?

 

[moosaev]

Khabib hasn't grappled any good grapplers.

Gaethje hadn't used his wrestling for 10 year, and literally admitted he didn't know BJJ.

Dustin Poirer's wrestling sucks, and his BJJ isn't top tier either.

Conor is the best grappler Khabib fought, which is saying something, because Diaz submitted him faster than Khabib did.

@Goatbib imagine naming yourself after a fighter not named Chael Sonnen.

RDA, very strong grappler high level black belt, Khabib rag dogged him when he wasn’t even at his peak yet. Khabib is the greatest grappler in mma history by far. It’s not even a question anymore except with a few hipster Sherbros.