Who is the Best Grappler of all time? Your Opinion

[mataleaos]

Marcelo and Roger.

Yeah my top 3 (outside of MMA) are Marcelo, Roger, and Braulio.

it sounds stupid to say Braulio is underrated because he got double gold at ADCC, defended his superfight title, and is a multi-time Worlds champ. But despite all of that I think he is still even better than what some think. I also think he's the best teacher (by a long shot) out of all the upper echelon competitors.

It's bad ass too that he's one of the GOATs and is always refining and adding new techniques to his game. He's a true student that's still in love with learning new jiu-jitsu. He's currently doing a lot of creative work with heel hooks and using the cradle. He adds a lot from other martial arts. It's clear he keeps up with new instructionals, and he even adds things from 10th Planet and catch wrestling.

Over the past few years I've grown to appreciate Braulio every bit as much as Marcelo who was my main grappling hero from day one.

 

[DatCutman]

Maia? Roger Gracie? Fucking Rickson? Get real. There is naught, nor ought there be, no one so exalted on the face of god's green Earth as that king of grappling, Milo of Croton.

Croton was a god damn hornets nest of pissed off nude wrestlers (think Dagestan, but older and more nude), and this bad ass was the best motherfucker there. He practically invented bro-science, taking progressive resistance to insane levels, lifting a calf until it became a cow, and beyond.

In terms of grappling, he won six men's wrestling titles between 536 and 520 BCE. Compare that to Karelin, who only won 3. Milo also won seven crowns at the Pythian Games, ten at the Isthmian Games, and nine at the Nemean Games. Milo was a five-time Periodonikes, a "grand slam" sort of title bestowed on the winner of all four festivals in the same cycle. Milo's career at the highest level of competition must have spanned 24 years.

He's also indirectly responsible for ruining everyone's life via math, when he saved Pythagoras's life. A pillar collapsed in a banquet hall and he supported the roof until Pythagoras could reach safety. Pythagoras would later go on to create an annoying ass theorem that you probably forgot about after highschool.

I know, I know, "but what about MMA?" Spare me. Let me kick it up a notch, Milo didn't go into some nambly pambly MMA promotion, he fought in a god damn war. He dressed up as Hercules, patron saint of wrestling, replete with Olympic crowns, club, a bow and some arrows, a lion skin, and a prominently displayed tiny dong, and led the charge, turning back the first wave of troops. Show me any other grappler that succeeded in war with his grappling skill.

Honorable mentions to:

Arrhichion, who was such a ride or die grappler that never tapped.

Polydamas, who fucking out grappled a lion AND a bull, and took on 3 dudes at once.

Dioxippus, who double under-ed a dude who was throwing god damn javelins at him, threw him down, took away his sword, and stepped on his neck (Dioxippus later killing himself by falling on his own sword, because he was the only bad enough motherfucker that could kill him).

 

[dsdoubled]

His wrestling facilitates his clinch work. Have you ever seen him get taken down even though he's constantly coming forward into clinch range throwing elbows? It's not like Muay Thai style clinching *doesn't* involve a high level of wrestling. The spacing is different of course since you want room for knees and elbows, but it's still wrestling.

Yes that was my point. I believe that his awesome clinch work is very high level and a fantastic hybrid of wrestling and MT-ish striking skills. He really has a nice understanding of the subtleties of the clinch. That trip he hit on Lawler was a thing of beauty. As for Matt being taken down, I only remember Hendricks getting him down which is obviously nothing to be ashamed of.

 

[Ranger]

Renato Laranja