The 5 Greatest Wrestlers in UFC History

Alright I've been thinking about this for a bit and I finally locked it in. This is the top 5 greatest wrestlers in UFC history. Not just guys who had wrestling backgrounds, but guys who actually used wrestling to dominate inside the octagon. There's a difference. A lot of fighters wrestled in college. These five made it the reason they won championships.

5. Kamaru Usman

Usman wrestled his way through the entire welterweight division and made it look like a chore for everybody involved. Five consecutive title defenses. NCAA Division II national champion. And the most suffocating cage wrestling style the UFC has probably ever seen.

His whole game was built on pinning you against the fence, getting the underhook, and just grinding on you for 25 minutes while landing knees to the body and short shots that you couldn't do anything about. It wasn't always pretty. Fans called him boring early in his career because he was winning fights through pure wrestling pressure without the flashy finishes. But he was winning every single one of them.

Then he started knocking people out. He flatlined Colby Covington. He KO'd Jorge Masvidal with a head kick. He dropped Gilbert Burns. But even when the striking was working, the wrestling was always there as the foundation. His opponents had to worry about the takedown on every exchange, which is what opened up the striking in the first place. That's the cheat code of being a great wrestler in MMA. Even when you're not wrestling, the threat of it changes everything.

Usman went 19-1 in the UFC. He beat Tyron Woodley, Colby Covington twice, Jorge Masvidal twice, Gilbert Burns, Leon Edwards. The welterweight division was his for years and wrestling is the reason why. "The Nigerian Nightmare" earned that nickname.

4. Islam Makhachev

If you're wondering why Makhachev is on a list of greatest wrestlers when his base is technically combat sambo, watch any of his fights and tell me that's not wrestling. The chain grappling, the cage work, the transitions from takedown to submission to ground and pound. It's all built on a wrestling foundation and he's doing it at the highest level the sport has ever seen.

Makhachev is on a 15 fight UFC win streak. He won the lightweight title. Then he went up and took the welterweight belt from Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322. Two division champion. His takedown accuracy is 69%, which is third all time in the UFC with a minimum of 25 attempts. And the level of competition he's been doing this against is insane. Charles Oliveira, Dustin Poirier, Alexander Volkanovski (twice), Bobby Green, Dan Hooker. All of them ended up on the mat getting controlled.

Khabib trained him. DC trained with him. He came up through the same AKA system that produced some of the best grapplers in MMA history. But Makhachev might actually be a more complete grappler than Khabib because his submission game is sharper. He'll take you down AND submit you. Khabib would take you down and beat on you. Makhachev will take you down and finish you with an arm triangle or a D'Arce choke before you even realize what happened.

He's still active. He's still winning. He's still adding to this resume. And if he keeps going, he might move up this list by the time it's all said and done. But right now, at four, the guys above him had either longer runs or more dominant wrestling specifically.

3. Daniel Cormier

DC's wrestling resume before MMA is so stacked it's almost unfair.

Two time Olympian. Six time US World or Olympic team member. NCAA Division I finalist at Oklahoma State, where his only loss in the final was to Cael Sanderson, who went 159-0 in college. That's not a loss. That's just running into the most dominant college wrestler in history. Pan American Games gold medalist. Two time Pan American champion. World bronze medalist. He was the flag bearer for the US Olympic team at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Then he came to MMA and won the UFC light heavyweight title and the UFC heavyweight title. First fighter to defend titles in two divisions. His signature move was this high crotch single leg into a slam where he'd just pick grown men up off the ground and dump them on their heads. He did it to Dan Henderson, who's a Greco Roman Olympian. He did it to Josh Barnett, who's one of the best heavyweight grapplers ever. These are not small human beings and DC was throwing them around like they were training dummies.

The only person who could neutralize DC's wrestling was Jon Jones. And Jones is Jones. That's not a knock on Cormier, that's just the reality of fighting the GOAT. Against literally everyone else, DC's wrestling was the most dominant force in whatever division he was in. He ragdolled heavyweights. He controlled light heavyweights for 25 minutes straight. Nobody had an answer for it.

2. Georges St-Pierre

GSP has 90 career takedowns in the UFC. That's the all time record. His accuracy was 73.8%. And he outwrestled NCAA Division I All-Americans like Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, and Matt Hughes. Dominated all of them. Made them look like they'd never grappled before.

And dude never wrestled a day in his life before MMA.

No high school wrestling. No college wrestling. No international competition. GSP grew up doing Kyokushin karate in Montreal and picked up wrestling as part of his MMA training. The fact that a karate kid from Quebec became the greatest takedown artist in UFC history without ever competing in organized wrestling is genuinely one of the most impressive things any athlete has done in any sport. I will die on that hill.

His timing was unreal. He'd throw a jab or a superman punch to get your hands up, then level change into a double leg before you could react. The striking set up the wrestling. The wrestling set up the striking. Nobody could solve it for over a decade. He defended the welterweight title nine times. He beat Hughes three times. He came back after four years away and submitted Michael Bisping for the middleweight title because apparently taking a half decade off doesn't matter when you're that good.

Even Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, Khabib's father and one of the most respected wrestling coaches in combat sports history, was openly impressed by GSP's wrestling. When the best wrestling mind in Dagestan tips his hat to a karate guy from Canada, you know you're watching something special.

1. Khabib Nurmagomedov

29-0. That's it. That's the argument.

I'm being serious though. Khabib retired undefeated. He retired as champion. He mauled every single person the UFC put in front of him and not one of them, not one, figured out how to stop it. Conor McGregor couldn't stop it. Dustin Poirier couldn't stop it. Justin Gaethje couldn't stop it. Rafael dos Anjos, Michael Johnson, Edson Barboza, Al Iaquinta. Everybody got the same treatment. Everybody ended up on the ground getting smothered.

His base was combat sambo and judo, trained under his father Abdulmanap in Dagestan starting at eight years old. He famously wrestled a bear when he was nine. That's not a joke. There's video. That's just what life is like in Dagestan.

His style was the Dagestani chain wrestling approach, and the difference between what he did and what American wrestlers do is what made him untouchable. American wrestlers shoot, get the takedown, work from top, and if the guy gets up, they reset. Khabib didn't reset. He'd grab a leg, walk you into the cage, trip you, take your back, control your wrists, and smother you for five minutes straight. Then do it again. And again. His opponents knew exactly what was coming and they still couldn't stop it.

He set the UFC record with 21 takedowns against Abel Trujillo. In a three round fight. That's seven takedowns per round. He said all he planned to do was "grab and throw his opponent for 15 minutes straight." And that's exactly what he did.

The scariest part wasn't the takedowns though. It was what happened after. He'd lock up an arm and a leg, pin your hips to the mat, and just beat on you with measured ground strikes while you were completely helpless. He turned elite UFC fighters into heavy bags. Multiple champions and top contenders went into fights with full game plans and came out looking like they'd never trained for grappling in their lives.

29-0. Zero losses. Retired on top. Nobody is touching that. Khabib is the greatest wrestler in UFC history and it's honestly not that close.

Thanks for riding with CageLore. Stay locked in!

Frequently Asked Questions About the Best Wrestlers in UFC History

Who is the greatest wrestler in UFC history?

Khabib Nurmagomedov. 29-0 undefeated record, retired as champion, holds the UFC single-fight takedown record with 21, and completely dominated every opponent with his Dagestani chain wrestling style.

Who has the most takedowns in UFC history?

Georges St-Pierre with 90 career takedowns at 73.8% accuracy. He holds the all time record despite having no formal wrestling background before MMA.

Which UFC fighter has the best wrestling credentials?

Daniel Cormier. Two-time Olympian, six-time US World/Olympic team member, NCAA D1 finalist, Pan American Games gold medalist. Kamaru Usman was an NCAA Division II national champion who used wrestling to dominate the welterweight division for years.

Is Islam Makhachev one of the best wrestlers in UFC history?

Yes. Makhachev is a two-division UFC champion with a 69% takedown accuracy (third all-time) and a 15-fight UFC win streak. His sambo/wrestling base combined with elite submissions makes him one of the most complete grapplers the sport has seen.

Did Georges St-Pierre have a wrestling background?

No. GSP started with Kyokushin karate and had no organized wrestling experience before MMA. Despite this, he became the UFC's all-time leader in takedowns and outwrestled multiple NCAA Division I All-Americans.