Xciting grappling fights in UFC?

[EndlessCritic]

I remember Louis Smolka being in a damn good one maybe 1 or 2 years ago. I dont remember against who though.

You're probably thinking of the Ben Nguyen fight. But Smolka's been in a lot of fun fights otherwise.

 

[TurboHolocaust]

Jason McDonald vs Demian Maia

 

[marty182]

Did it save you much time by not adding the e to exciting?

 

[Luckyme]

Islam and Arman was a great grappling match. That shit was so high level. Even though Islam dominated Arman was extremely impressive.

Islam Makhachev vs Arman Tsarukyan

both guys will be top 5 in 2022

I'm glad people remember this fight. It's one of the most underrated UFC fights yet the most exciting display of MMA wrestling in recent memory.

This made me a fan of both Islam and Arman. Personally, I think this was Islam's best fight and one hell of a debut for Tsurikyan.

 

[GSP_37]

I remember Demian Maia vs Jason McDonald being good.

 

[Ogata]

Did it save you much time by not adding the e to exciting?

No because I had the E edited out since old school MMA was like "Xtreme Fighting" or "Xplosive" or "Xceptional" or whatever and that was the spirit of 90s/2000s MMA and I thought perhaps I would honor that in the thread title.

 

[Fahcough]

Not UFC but Newton vs Vassell
Can't find the full fight, but it was 3 rounds of ground flounders

 

[bigsmooth187]

I think I remember Frankie Edgar vs Tyson Griffin having some good wrestling and grappling exchanges, haven't watched it in a long time but have memory of it being a great fight. Probably one of my favorite grappling exchanges was Mir vs. Nog when Mir broke Nog's arm.

One of my favorites as well. That was Frankie's "welcome to the UFC" fight, too... few had even heard of him at the time.

 

[Rear Naked Toke]

No because I had the E edited out since old school MMA was like "Xtreme Fighting" or "Xplosive" or "Xceptional" or whatever and that was the spirit of 90s/2000s MMA and I thought perhaps I would honor that in the thread title.

Xtreme Couture, Xyience. Xyience probably doesn't count but they're my favorite sponsor from back in the day, and it starts with an X.

 

[Ogata]

Xtreme Couture, Xyience. Xyience probably doesn't count but they're my favorite sponsor from back in the day, and it starts with an X.

Good call!

Forgot about them. Also we have XFC:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xtreme_Fighting_Championships

 

[Dead Kennedy]

Belcher vs Paul Harris was pretty good. Especially with the way Harris was taking home legs...

 

[BabyBlue_Bomber]

Gurgle/Robinson
Couture/Ortiz
Sherk/Florian
Parisyan/Diaz
Diaz/Sanchez
Fitch/Silva
Hettes/Phan
Couture/Van Arsdale
Tate/McMann
Shamrock/Severn

 

[imbossing]

Bryce Mitchell vs Charles Rosa was an awesome fight, almost entirely grappling.

I hate how Rosa fights. Can't believe I watched any of his fights

 

[Alfonso Rodriguez]

Chiesa vs Jim Miller and Sotiropoulos vs Lauzon had some pretty dope grappling exchanges.

 

[Rorschachxx]

Smolka vs Elliott
Smolka vs Holohan
Smolka vs Nguyen


And no I'm not Smolka. Dude always puts on a show win or lose.

 

[gono btw]

Yusup Saadulaev vs Leandro Issa
Yusup Saadulaev vs Rodolfo Marques

 

[EndlessCritic]

I am binge watching old fights that are UFC and local fights. I noticed in the old days, you had insanely exciting grappling fights. Nick Diaz, Diego Sanchez and Karo Parisyan had really great grappling fights with each other. Joe Riggs and Chris Lytle had great grappling exchanges. Matt Hughes had one with Frank.

Now I got done watching the fight below and it was one of the BEST and most entertaining grappling fight ever:



Does exciting grappling fights still happen?

Screw the UFC. Minowa vs Silva this morning was incredible:

 

[mofunky]

Screw the UFC. Minowa vs Silva this morning was incredible:

Was just about to post this. What do you think of the result? Personally I thought that the loser should've won based on the grappling alone. Don't think the strikes on the ground put him in much danger.

 

[EndlessCritic]

Was just about to post this. What do you think of the result? Personally I thought that the loser should've won based on the grappling alone. Don't think the strikes on the ground put him in much danger.

Were you listening to the commentary? It was abysmal in my view.

It was a close fight, but Minowa was never in danger of being submitted, and was landing all the damage (especially in round 3). It was a great fight in which there was no real loser.

For examples of how dumb the commentary was:

At 3:01 Minowa hits a single leg takedown in a scramble:

Chilson: "See how he just pulls guard like that? Minowa thought he was going for the double leg, but then Alex Silva just floated underneath to get the half guard position."

At 3:25 in the video, Silva goes for a leglock, and Minowa brilliantly counters with an arm triangle grip which completely eliminates any leglock danger. (This is actually one of the leglock counters Demian Maia teaches in his science of jiujitsu series https://www.groundfighter.com/Demian-Maia-Science-of-Jiu-Jitsu-Instructional-DVDs/)

Schiavello: "Is this a better position for Minowa, dragon"
Chilson: "Not really."


Was really surprised that Franklin thought Silva was clearly winning.