Best top game in MMA history?

If we're talking fucking people up with g-n-p then Fedor and Jon.

If we're talking slowly smothering, hitting to open up a submission then Maia and Khabib

If we're talking about total control and a bit of damage being inflicted but not really going "for it" then GSP.
 
You can also look at stats.

Like how much damage, control, finishes and subs they can achieve with their takedowns.

Purely with that factor I would rate Maia and Luke higher and Gsp lower.
Maia and Luke have fights where they have 1-3 takedown and completely dominate and finish their opponents where Gsp to do something similar needs close to 10 takedowns.

Per takedowns Maia and Luke achieve way more.
 
If we're talking fucking people up with g-n-p then Fedor and Jon.

If we're talking slowly smothering, hitting to open up a submission then Maia and Khabib

If we're talking about total control and a bit of damage being inflicted but not really going "for it" then GSP.

It's interesting how looking at TS list I'd actually be willing to put over half of them as having better bottom games than top games. Khabib, Fedor, and Maia are better on the bottom than on top IMO.

GSP's we simply never got to see enough to say where it was at, though I'm sure it was great too as GSP was just that kind of perfectionist. And he did get out from under Condit after that massive headkick just fine after all.

Luke though is definitively top game heavy.
 
There was a time...

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You can also look at stats.

Like how much damage, control, finishes and subs they can achieve with their takedowns.

Purely with that factor I would rate Maia and Luke higher and Gsp lower.
Maia and Luke have fights where they have 1-3 takedown and completely dominate and finish their opponents where Gsp to do something similar needs close to 10 takedowns.

Per takedowns Maia and Luke achieve way more.
Also Jones is really hard to judge.

Post pico Jones can't achieve much with his takedowns. Yeah he did sub Gane but that's an exception.

Pre pico Jones can sub, control or hurt people with a few takedowns.
Most of his takedowns are ultra efficient and dangerous if he lands them. Even more so than Maia and Luke because more well rounded.
 
Khabib would be my pick, once he got a hold of you on top, you were not getting out and he had good gnp and subs
 
GSP and Khabib and then in the distance everyone else, imho. I tend to lean Khabib because he was smothering and did a lot of damage from the top, so much so that it opened up submission attempts. GSP was more of a get dominant position and damage you but not allow you to improve position or even attempt to.
 
Imagine if Rockhold had put in some serious work into his takedown game and fought smart...
My dream Rockhold would have been a leg lock Rockhold.

He would use his kicks to set up his rolls and leg entanglement.
Like an elite athletic Ryan Hall.

Imo it would have been elite for way longer.
I can see this version of Rokchold beating Bisping, beating Yoel and beating Weidman with way more ease.
 
Khabib would be my pick, once he got a hold of you on top, you were not getting out and he had good gnp and subs

I mean, even Conor escaped out from under him and back to his feet in the 2nd round, got back up from his knee to his feet in the 3rd, and shrimped out from under his mount in the 4th.

Khabib's greatest strength wasn't that he was so great at keeping hold of someone and preventing them from doing anything, but rather that he was so great at continuing to pursue them until something finally did stick.

Like Dustin said "I can't get him the fuck off me, man."
 
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