ESPN's MMA Live names the Top 5 Wrestlers in MMA
 

Who Are MMA’s Top 5 Wrestlers? | MMA NEWS MMA News | Mixed Martial Arts | UFC News | BJPenn | MMA Fight | UFC Fights

Agree or disagree?

Are we talking MMA wrestling? If so, then how could you not have Rashad Evans in there? He has taken down every single opponent but Jones and Machida which are his only 2 losses, and he has never been swept.

I would even put Jones and Phil Davis in there instead of Weidman . Cormier has high caliber wrestling, but I dont recall him using it much in his fights.

It is a confusing list, are they going by wrestling, mma wrestling, or wrestling credentials? I don't have a problem with anybody on there, but I'd make it top ten, and include Sonnen, Maynard, Rashad, Edgar, and Bones.

Chael?

Agree, Rashad has one of best MMA wrestling as well. Even Cain Velasquez as he has taken down HW a lot bigger than him with relative ease.

Weidman belongs on that list, or should be ranked higher than Phil Davis. I believe Weidman holds victories over both Davis and Bader back in college.

Josh Koscheck belongs on that list as well. In fact he should be right behind GSP as he is the only WW to ever takedown GSP. As great as Askren's wrestling credentials are, he has not faced any high caliber wrestlers in Bellator. Lets first see how he holds out against guys like GSP, Kos, Fitch, Hendricks before we decide to put him on that list.

I don't understand this list... what is the criteria?

Outside of the top two, I think it is really up for debate and they probably would've done themselves a service by rounding out the top ten, as there are many potential oversights here.

I wouldn't consider Askren's as a top five personally, if only because he isn't fighting anywhere near the WWs with TDD that the UFC roster offers and that his style of wrestling leaves him wide open for submissions, which I believe could be exploited against a higher caliber fighter.

Names I'd suggest be added into the top tier conversation include:
Rashad, Davis, Gray, Mo, Cain, Sonnen, Woodley, Munoz and Hendricks, maybe Mendes and Volkmann. Outside of ZUFFA alongside Askren, I'd recommend Nathan Coy and obviously Bubba Jenkins and Joe Warren.

Also, there is a really big difference between MMA wrestling and NCAA wrestling, catagorization is very subjective here. Are we going off of credentials or applicability in an actual MMA bout?

Im assuming they mean MMA wrestling, its hard to put GSP infront of an Olympic wrestler if they are not focusing on the MMA aspect of it

hughes took down gsp in their first fight and armbared him.

Ben Askren pins everyone on that list except for Cormier due to size.

Also people forget that Askren is a good BJJ practitioner. He is a legit Brown Belt, and trains with Marcello Garcia. He always has wrestled "funky"...he knows what he leaves out for subs and such.