Where a fight happens usually decides who wins it. Our engine grades takedowns, takedown defense and grappling control; we took the highest combined scores and checked them against what these fighters actually did — Olympic pedigree, record books and fight-changing scrambles. These are the ten best wrestle-grapplers in MMA.
Two different skills that share one word
"Wrestling" in MMA covers two things that barely overlap. Offensive wrestling is putting
someone on the mat and keeping them there. Defensive wrestling is refusing to go, and the
fighters who are elite at one are frequently ordinary at the other.
The counted data makes the split obvious. Merab Dvalishvili averages 5.97
takedowns per fifteen minutes, one of the highest sustained rates in the sport — pure offence.
Ilia Topuria sits at 95% takedown defence, and Islam Makhachev
at 91% while also averaging 3.22 takedowns himself, which is the rarer profile: both directions
at once.
Why a great wrestler can show poor takedown defence
It is worth knowing that Curtis Blaydes — one of the best offensive
wrestlers in heavyweight history — records only 35% takedown defence. That figure is not a flaw
in his wrestling. It is a sample artifact: he is almost always the one shooting, so the
takedowns attempted against him are rare and come from the few opponents who fancied their
chances. Reading these numbers without knowing which direction a fighter usually works in is
the fastest way to reach a wrong conclusion.
Who just missed
Khamzat Chimaev — 5.32 takedowns per fifteen at 87% defence is list-worthy;
the sample is still short. Sean Brady — 3.58 landed and 86% defended, quietly
one of the most complete grapplers at welterweight. Kamaru Usman — 90% defence
and a wrestling base that reshaped a division, edged out only on recent activity.
Takedowns are not the goal
A takedown scores, but control is what wins the round, and control time is the stat casual
viewers ignore most. A fighter who lands six takedowns and gets stood up each time can lose to
one who landed two and held position. When you run these names in the
simulator, the grappling phase weights control far more heavily than the entry —
which is why a high takedown count alone does not carry a fight.
1Jon Jones · Light Heavyweight
Grappling: S+ (our engine)
Widely regarded as the GOAT, Jones retired in 2025 without a legitimate loss on his record. His grappling was elite in both directions — suffocating top control and takedown defense that frustrated even a decorated wrestler like Daniel Cormier.
2Khabib Nurmagomedov · Lightweight
Grappling: S+ (our engine)
Twenty-nine and zero, and arguably the most dominant grappler the sport has seen. Once he got hold of you the fight was effectively over; he “smeshed” a generation of elite lightweights into the canvas.
3Kayla Harrison · Women's Bantamweight
Grappling: S+ (our engine)
A two-time Olympic judo gold medalist who needed just three UFC fights to win the women’s bantamweight title, finishing Julianna Peña with a kimura at UFC 316. Her grip and throws are simply a different sport.
4Georges St Pierre · Welterweight
Grappling: S+ (our engine)
Holds the UFC record for most takedowns landed, at 90. GSP turned wrestling into an art of control, taking down and holding down elite strikers and grapplers alike across two divisions.
5Khamzat Chimaev · Middleweight
Grappling: S+ (our engine)
At UFC 319 he gave a wrestling clinic to win the middleweight title, controlling Dricus du Plessis for five rounds and landing a UFC-record 529 strikes — most of them from dominant grappling positions.
6Daniel Cormier · Heavyweight
Grappling: S+ (our engine)
A two-time Olympic wrestler and two-division UFC champion whose trips and chain wrestling let him bully much bigger men all the way up at heavyweight.
7Islam Makhachev · Welterweight
Grappling: S (our engine)
Khabib’s protégé and now a two-division champion. He moved up and smothered welterweight champ Jack Della Maddalena for twenty-five minutes at UFC 322, running his win streak to sixteen.
8Tatiana Suarez · Women's Strawweight
Grappling: S (our engine)
A wrecking-ball wrestler who went undefeated and took down everyone in her path — until she finally ran into the elite striking and takedown defense of Zhang Weili at UFC 312.
9Merab Dvalishvili · Bantamweight
Grappling: S (our engine)
The only fighter in UFC history with 100+ career takedowns. He pairs that volume with a motor that lets him keep shooting, and finishing, late into every fight.
10Demetrious Johnson · Flyweight
Grappling: S+ (our engine)
Beyond the pace, DJ was a scrambling genius. His transitions and submissions — like the flying armbar that finished Ray Borg — showed a creativity on the mat nobody else had.
Settle it yourself
Think the list is wrong? Pick any two of these fighters and let our engine simulate the fight — free.
Open the Fight Simulator →