Ufc Wrestlers List

1. Ufc Fighters List 2007
2. Ufc Fighters List 2013
3. Ufc Fighters List Retired
4. Wrestlers In Mma
5. Olympic Wrestlers In Ufc
6. Ufc Fighters List All Time
7. Best Mma Wrestler

Half of the current UFC champions came from a wrestling background: Daniel Cormier, Jon Jones, Kumaru Usman, and Henry Cejduo. Current UFC star Ben. Brock Lesnar, Mark Coleman and Phil Davis help comprise an exclusive fraternity of college wrestlers who have excelled at the highest level before moving on to mixed martial arts. Hughes was the first dominant UFC Champion. In the 170lb division Hughes was the gold standard for champions. In the early days of the UFC, Hughes was one of the first wrestlers to adapt his game around other skills he constantly developed. In Iowa Hughes trained at.

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Wrestling might be the single best martial art background for MMA fighters. Today, 6 of 7 UFC male champions have a wrestling background. Better wrestler dictates where the fight takes place, so there is no surprise that MMA fighters with good wrestling make up the best fighters in the UFC.

I have to mention that the given list of best wrestlers in UFC is not ordered. I considered many factors, like their UFC resume, wrestling resume, percentage of takedowns and takedown defenses, etc. [1]

So, let’s take a closer look at fighters who made it to the list.

Also, I made lists similar to this for every martial art. Take a look at the best Muay Thai fighters in the UFC, best boxers in the UFC, best BJJ practitioners in the UFC, and best kickboxers in the UFC.

Khabib Nurmagomedov

Division: UFC Lightweight

MMA record: 29-0

I might have just started our list with the best wrestler MMA has ever seen. Khabib “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov is an unprecedented force inside the Octagon. He fought 29 times inside the cage. 29 men have tried, 29 have failed. Khabib is undefeated his whole career. In his UFC career, he has only lost a single round (against Conor McGregor in the biggest fight in UFC history).

Nurmagomedov is the best ground and pound fighter of all time. There is just a matter of time when his opponents will be on the back and Khabib on top of them. Until now, nobody has yet figured how to solve the mystery of Khabib’s wrestling. Khabib also holds the record for most takedowns in a single fight.

He is the current UFC lightweight champion of the world with 3 title defenses to his name. It is uncertain if we will see Khabib step into the Octagon for one more time, to fulfill his father’s wish and to get that perfect 30-0.

Daniel Cormier

Division: UFC Heavyweight and UFC Light Heavyweight (retired)

MMA record: 22-3 (1 NC)

Daniel “DC” Cormier is an Olympic and NCAA Division I wrestler. He is one of the, if not the best wrestler in the history of the heavyweight division. In his extraordinary career, he came short of a win only three times. Two of those (actually one, because one is no contest) came from his biggest rival, Jon Jones. Two come from the current UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic.

Cormier is known for his height (only 5 ft 11 in) and reaches (only 72 and a half in). Despite those small sizes, when it comes to dictating the pace of the fight and setting up the pressure on his opponents, he is one of the best to ever do it. With his extraordinary cardio for a weight class, Daniel is always in his opponent’s face, leaving them no room to breathe.

Daniel Cormier retired after the trilogy fight with Stipe Miocic. He lost the fight on the judge’s decision and failed to recapture the heavyweight gold. Still, DC retired as one of the greatest of all time.

Jon Jones

Division: UFC Heavyweight, formerly UFC Light Heavyweight

MMA record: 26-1 (1 NC)

Jon “Bones” Jones is arguably the best fighter that has ever stepped foot inside the Octagon. He is the youngest man that has ever won the UFC championship belt (at the age of just 23 years old). Jones is undefeated for his whole career (actually, he has one loss, against Matt Hamill, when he was disqualified for 12-6 elbows in the fight where Jon was dominating completely).

In his first title reign, Jon, a young kid from Albuquerque, completely wiped out the whole UFC Light Heavyweight division. In the process, he absolutely dominated the best fighters and champions from that era, including Shogun, Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Alexander Gustaffson, Glover Teixeira, and Daniel Cormier. He defended the belt on seven occasions.

But, in 2015, problems have started for Jones. He was involved in a lot of scandals and illegal substances usages, so he was stripped of the title and took some time outside the Octagon. He had problems for years, and when he finally came back in 2019, he quickly regained the UFC Light Heavyweight throne, and in just over a year, started to clear the division once again. In his second run, he is at 3 title defenses (Smith, Santos, Reyes).

Although nobody in the UFC has a resume even nearly similar to Jones’, people are still doubting his status as the greatest of all time (because of his actions outside of the Octagon). To clear that doubt, Jones said, that in the near future, he will step up, and go to the UFC Heavyweight division to clear that one as well, and secure his status as “the baddest man that has ever walked the Earth”.

Yoel Romero

Divison: Formerly UFC Middleweight

MMA record: 13-5

Yoel “Soldier of God” Romero is a Cuban Olympic Silver wrestler. When you see him, Yoel is just scary. The UFC Middleweight fighter might just be the most athletic and fittest fighter that has ever lived. At the age of 43, he has a body and strength that absolutely defies all laws of human aging.

Romero’s outstanding wrestling and control of opponent is matched just with his insane one punch KO power. Cuban wrestler is a fighter that absolutely nobody wants to face. Just as Dana White said:

“I never get anybody calling me and saying, ‘Hey Dana, I want to fight Yoel Romero,’” White said. “When do you ever hear a guy call him out? It doesn’t happen. Guys wind up fighting him because the rankings dictate it or whatever, but no one is volunteering for that. [Adesanya] just kept blowing up my phone: ‘I want Romero. I want Romero. I want Romero.’ I respect that. You want to fight a guy like that, I respect it and so we made it happen.”

Kamaru Usman

Division: UFC Welterweight

MMA record: 18-1

Kamaru “The Nigerian Nightmare” Usman is the current UFC Welterweight champion of the world. In his title fight against former champion Tyron Woodley, Usman absolutely dominated the whole five rounds. He set an unbelievably high pace, and with his amazing wrestling abilities, Kamaru took Tyron down almost at will.

Ufc Fighters List 2007

Worth noticing is that Woodley’s takedown defense before that fight was incredible (94% takedown defense), but Usman still took him down whenever he wanted.

Usman is an NCAA Division II wrestler. His wrestling background enabled him the achieve current success in the UFC. He averages 3.44 successful takedowns per 15 minute fight, which is incredible.

His takedown accuracy is incredible with half of his takedown attempts being successful. When we talk about Usman’s takedown defense, it stands at an extraordinary 100%. No fighter in the UFC has yet managed to take Usman down.

“The Nigerian Nightmare” defended his title three times; against Colby Covington, Jorge Masvidal, and Gilbert Burns. When it is all set and done, Usman might go in the history as one of the greatest of all time.

Colby Covington

Divison: UFC Welterweight

MMA record: 18-2

Colby “Chaos” Covington, an NCAA Divison I wrestler. Probably the most hated guy inside the UFC. After his first nine UFC fights, UFC was set to release him. They said, that his wrestling style and boring personality just weren’t the right fit for the company. Soon, Colby realized he had to change something.

After his fight against Demian Maia in São Paulo, Brazil, where he completely outclassed Maia, he called a whole country of Brazil “a bunch of filthy animals” and “Brazil, you absolutely s–k”. The post-fight interview soon went viral, and everyone started to hate Covington. For UFC, that meant one thing, money. They gave Colby a new contract, and Covington’s rise to notoriety started. Soon, he managed to get the whole world to hate him, insulting absolutely everyone in the process.

But, to set Colby’s marketing strategy aside, he is one of the best wrestlers the UFC has ever seen. His cardio and pressure are off the charts. Colby scores an insane 4.91 takedowns per 15 minutes with a 51% takedown accuracy. The pressure and control that he puts on his opponents are absolutely incredible. Colby dominates almost all of his opponents, and that earned him a title shot against Usman. Although he lost via TKO in the 5th round, the fight was an absolute war.

In his fight against Robbie Lawler, Covington set the UFC record for most strikes thrown in a single fight with an absolutely incredible amount of 541 strikes.

Georges St-Pierre

Divison: UFC Welterweight, UFC Middleweight (retired)

MMA record: 28-2

Georges “Rush” St-Pierre is a Canadian MMA fighter. He is a true legend of the sport, inside and outside of the Octagon. GSP comes into talk both when talking about the fan favorite fighters, and when talking about the best to ever do it. Georges is often regarded as one of the best ground and pound fighters in the history of MMA.

GSP is the fourth multi-divisional champion in UFC history. He was the UFC Welterweight champion for more than 2000 days with 9 title defenses to his name. In 2017, he came out of retirement to win the UFC Middleweight belt also (against Michael Bisping). But soon retired once again.

Georges is well known for his incredible fight IQ. In combination with his extraordinary wrestling abilities, he always chooses where the fight will take place. In his case, that is often on the ground. GSP holds the UFC record for most takedowns in history (90). He takes his opponents to the ground, secures a good position, and then ground-and-pounds them until he wins. Georges also has a takedown accuracy of 74%, which is just unreal.

Henry Cejudo

Divison: UFC Bantamweight and UFC Flyweight (retired)

MMA record: 18-2

Henry “The Messenger” Cejudo, also known as “Triple C”, is the first man to be the champion of two UFC divisions (flyweight and bantamweight) and to have an Olympic Gold.

Henry is an Olympic Gold medalist in freestyle wrestling. In 2018 he won his first UFC gold (flyweight division) against Demetrious Johnson, ending his 11 title defenses reign (which is the longest title reign in the UFC history). Next year, he made his first title defense in flyweight against one of the best bantamweights of all time, TJ Dillashaw, knocking him out in just 32 seconds.

Later that year, Henry moved up to the UFC Bantamweight division where he challenged Marlon Moraes for the vacant belt. In the third round, he TKOed Moraes, thus becoming the 4th fighter to hold two UFC belts simultaneously. With two UFC belts around his shoulders and Olympic Gold medal around his neck, he earned his new nickname, “Triple Champion”, or shorter, “Triple C”.

Next year, “Triple C” defended his belt against one of the best bantamweights of all time, Dominick Cruz. Following the win, he retired and went into history as one of the greatest and most decorated combat sports athletes of all time.

Dominick Cruz

Division: UFC Bantamweight

MMA record: 22-3

Dominick “The Dominator” Cruz is one of the greatest UFC Bantamweights of all time. But, his tremendous career is overshadowed by his injuries. He was the UFC Bantamweight champion until 2011 when he had to postpone his career due to injuries.

Cruz came back in 2016 to immediately challenge the then-current champion, TJ Dillashaw. Dominick regained his title by split decision in what was for most the biggest comeback in the MMA history. At the end of the year, he lost his belt against Cody Garbrandt, and due to injuries went out of the game for another 4 years.

He returned to the Octagon in 2021 and lost to Henry Cejudo in a title fight.

Dominick is well known for his fighting IQ, cardio, and incredible wrestling skills. He comes from a strong wrestling background, thus, the number of 3.17 average takedowns per 15 minutes is no surprise at all.

Tyron Woodley

Division: UFC Welterweight

MMA record: 19-6 (1 draw)

Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley is an American NCAA Division I MMA fighter. He has a strong wrestling background, which he successfully translated to MMA. Woodley has 3 UFC Welterweight title defenses to his name; against Stephen Thompson, Demian Maia, and Darren Till.

Although, having an incredible wrestling background, Tyron is known for his one-punch KO power. Actually, he rarely uses his wrestling abilities to take opponents down (average of just 1.21. successful takedowns in 15 minutes), he puts his wrestling skills to use to defend the takedowns. Woodley has an astonishing takedown defense.

Of all the times when his opponents tried to take him down, Tyron successfully defended 92% of those attempts, which is absolutely high number.

TJ Dillashaw

Division: UFC Bantamweight, one time UFC Flyweight

MMA record: 20-4

T.J. Dillashaw is an American mixed martial arts fighter. He began his martial arts journey in a high school wrestling team. Through his education, his wrestling has evolved all the way to NCAA Division I. He holds the record for most UFC Bantamweight title defenses (tied with Dominick Cruz; both have 3 title defenses).

While he was the bantamweight champion (135 pound limit) in 2019, he decided to challenge Henry Cejudo for the UFC Flyweight gold (125 pound limit). TJ already had problems with making the 135 weight limit, and when he said that he is ready to go down in weight class, it was absolutely ridiculous.

During the weight cut to 125, he looked like a walking skeleton; no fat, no water, nothing. Nonetheless, he hit the scale successfully, making the 125 pound limit. He lost to Henry in that fight. Sometime later, it was revealed that Dillashaw used forbidden substances during the weight cut, which resulted in his 2 year ban. He is expected to return to the Octagon in 2021.

Stipe Miocic

Division: UFC Heavyweight

MMA record: 20-3

Stipe Miocic is the current UFC Heavyweight champion of the world, and with that, has the title of “the baddest man on the planet”. In the heavyweight division, Stipe is one of the most explosive fighters, and his footwork and wrestling skills allow him to control other fighters almost at will.

Miocic is arguably the best heavyweight MMA fighter of all time. He is the only fighter that has defended the UFC Heavyweight belt three times in a row. He then lost the belt to Daniel Cormier, but soon regained the throne in the rematch, thus began his second reign.

Stipe has been involved with wrestling since high school and competed ever since. Eventually, in college, he went all the way through to the NCAA Divison I. Being in the wrestling his whole life, has unquestionably helped him in his MMA career. That was best seen in his title defense against Francis Ngannou.

Ngannou is probably the hardest hitter that has ever stepped foot inside the Octagon, but Stipe utilized his wrestling and was able to take down Francis to the ground almost at will. On his back, there was no danger of the Ngannou’s devastating KO punch power. He outwrestled Francis for the whole 25 minutes and went home with the belt.

Islam Makhachev

Division: UFC Lightweight

MMA record: 19-1

Islam Makhachev is another Dagestani fighter on our list. As Islam has grown up with Khabib Nurmagomedov, and the two are training partners for years, Islam is just like Khabib, a world class sambo practitioner. Islam’s wrestling abilities are something that most of the fighters in the UFC have no answer to.

Right now, he is on a run in the UFC Lightweight division, with 6 consecutive wins to his resume. His plan is to take over the belt, once Khabib retires.

When we talk about wrestling and Islam, we have to take a look at the stats. On average, he scores 3.4 takedowns every 15 minutes, which is incredible. On top of that, he has an unbelievable takedown accuracy with 68%. On the other hand, if Islam’s opponents try to take him down, that won’t be easy as well. The fighter from Dagestan stops 93% of the takedown attempts from his opponents.

Ben Askren

Division: UFC Welterweight (retired)

MMA record: 19-2 (1 NC)

Ben “Funky” Askren is a retired American mixed martial artist and former Olympic wrestler. He is one of the few fighters inside the UFC that have competed at the Olympics. Ben is known for his outstanding wrestling skills and abilities to control where the fight goes (in Ben’s fights, usually opponents on the ground, and Ben on top of them).

Askren is a former Bellator and ONE Championship welterweight champion of the world. For the years, people have talked about how well would he compete against the top guys inside the UFC. While he was in those two promotions, no opponent has found a way to survive Ben’s wrestling and grappling. He had an undefeated record of 18-0 (1 NC).

Ufc Fighters List 2013

In 2019, when Ben Askren signed with the UFC, we got the answer. Although he submitted Robbie Lawler in his UFC debut, he then got brutally KO’d by Jorge Masvidal and submitted by Damian Maia. Ben truly was one of the best wrestlers in the game, but his lack of striking abilities was the cause he couldn’t compete with the best inside the UFC. After those two fight, Askren retired because of hip problems.

Alexander Volkanovski

Division: UFC Featherweight

MMA record: 22-1

Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski is the current UFC Featherweight champion of the world. He began his martial arts career training in Greco-Roman wrestling and won the national title at the age of 12. Then he started pursuing a career in rugby. After some time, Volkanovski changed the sport to MMA.

With his wrestling and rugby background, Alexander is the cardio machine with an excellent ability to control his opponents with wrestling skills. He is currently on an unbelievable 18 win streak, with 8 of those coming inside the UFC.

Currently, he is in consideration for the UFC Featherweight GOAT status. He has an incredible resume inside the UFC, where he TKO’d former title challenger Chad Mendes, then proceeded to get a win over former UFC featherweight king, Jose Aldo, and in the end, get hold of the belt by absolutely outclassing former champion Max Holloway for 5 rounds and then defended the belt again against Max.

PITTSBURGH -- This is his home, and these are 18,000 of his friends, so Ben Askren doesn't hesitate when he sees a pocket of open seats.

'Are these taken?' he says to three middle-aged dudes in Iowa State gear.

The strangers immediately recognize Askren -- the UFC star and former Missouri All-American wrestler -- but they barely look up from the eight matches below. Here at the NCAA wrestling championships in mid-March, Askren is an A-list star, but he's like a famous person at his own family reunion -- so popular and well-known that nobody really bothers him for selfies or introductions. He's just good ol' Uncle Ben walking around.

The Iowa State fans wave for him to come on in and have a seat. One guy squishes his legs to the side, craning his head past Askren's body so he doesn't have to miss a single second of the wrestling below.

Askren offers an important window into the latest evolution in the sometimes delicate relationship between wrestling and MMA. It's long been accepted that there is no better base for MMA success than wrestling, and more specifically, American folkstyle wrestling.

For just one small snapshot of the impact of college wrestling, scroll through the NCAA brackets from Askren's junior season in 2006. That tournament featured Askren, Johny Hendricks, Phil Davis, Chris Weidman, Ryan Bader, Cain Velasquez and Gregor Gillespie, to name just a few. That means there is a very good chance that on those eight mats down below Askren, the next wave of elite MMA fighters is probably rolling around.

Ufc Fighters List Retired

But 15 years ago, when Askren was starting his illustrious Missouri and international wrestling career, many in his community thought MMA was a violent corruption of their craft and only begrudgingly accepted that it was a new career path for the best wrestlers.

'That was still the dark ages of MMA,' Askren says.

Times have changed. At NCAAs this year, wrestlers, coaches and fans were almost unanimously supportive of the sport. Part of that is the post-grad opportunity it presents.

Askren says even during a heyday of U.S. international wrestling, with an uptick in new wrestling jobs popping up in regional training centers across the country, there still are very few professional tracks for college wrestlers. And almost none that would pay like MMA does.

'Look up what I made for my first UFC fight,' Askren says. (He got a base amount of $350,000 for his debut against Robbie Lawler in March.) 'It took me a while to get there, but that is a higher ceiling than you'll find in wrestling.'

Wrestlers In Mma

Bo Nickal, a Penn State senior and one of the best American college wrestlers to ever put on a singlet, understands what could be ahead. He would eventually close out that weekend in Pittsburgh with a third NCAA title and instant legend status. Nickal and his family offer a perfect window into how dramatically the relationship between MMA and U.S. amateur wrestling has changed over the past 10 years.

'The plan is to do the Olympics in 2020,' Nickal told ESPN. 'Then start fighting.'

He says it as though MMA is the obvious next choice, like a law school graduate passing the bar and saying he'll probably be a lawyer. The casualness in his voice is important. Even though it's still a tough choice for great wrestlers to leave international wrestling and skip the coaching path, Nickal is one of the many wrestlers at NCAAs who spoke of MMA as an exciting next step, not some devastating breakup they needed to initiate in order to pay the mortgage.

A few minutes later, his teammate, NCAA heavyweight champ Anthony Cassar, says he too wants to pursue the 2020 Olympics and will transition to fighting after that.

'I grew up watching Fedor Emelianenko and Vitor Belfort as a kid,' Cassar says. 'It's one of my goals, and I'm going to immerse myself in it someday.'

MMA, though, is not for the faint of heart, even by the Nickal family standards. Nickal's dad, Jason, is a lifelong wrestler and longtime coach who played football at Chadron State. His mom, Sandy, is a former San Diego State basketball player who went 5-0 as an amateur boxer, training out of Jackson Wink MMA in New Mexico. She used to take Bo to the gym when she'd spar, and she says he won the one jiu-jitsu tournament he participated in as a kid. Nickal is Exhibit A of this generation of college wrestler -- not only is MMA a mainstream part of his life, it's part of his entire family.

But still: Nickal could end up eating elbows, or getting kicked in the face, or choked out ...

His mom interrupts. 'That's what doctors are for,' Sandy says with a wave of the hand.

Northwestern wrestler Sebastian Rivera tried to duck into his family's house this summer without his dad noticing his brand-new broken nose. But it was only a matter of time until the star 125-pound wrestler was busted: He'd been sparring with former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, an old family friend of the Riveras, and Rivera hadn't seen an Edgar knee heading north at breakneck speed. Suddenly, out came the blood.

Rivera says his parents, especially his dad, Steve, worry about his fascination with MMA. His dad is a wrestling lifer and coached Edgar back in the day at Toms River High School in New Jersey. Rivera spent his youth running around the wrestling room, hoping to be just like Edgar someday. That has extended to Edgar's MMA career -- Rivera fully intends to follow in his UFC footsteps once wrestling is over.

Of all the wrestlers interviewed in Pittsburgh, Rivera had the most MMA training on the side. The majority still said they watched on TV and dabbled in occasional armbars and boxing sparring, but nothing serious. Rivera, though, works hard, especially with Edgar, on jiu-jitsu and striking, and when he talks MMA strategy, he already sounds like a UFC veteran. He struggled at first to adapt to working off his back -- that's the biggest nightmare position in a wrestling match -- but has adapted to it and now prefers to work submissions off his back.

'I will wake up at 8 a.m. in the summer and just go and grapple and get punched in the face all day,' Rivera says. 'I love it. I want to fight, ultimately, and Frankie wants me to do it.' His parents will take some convincing, though. He says they just don't want to see him get hurt, like he did that day with Edgar.

'I'm gonna send you back to Northwestern for the summer,' he says his dad told him.

Rivera isn't the only one with an Edgar connection. When Rutgers coach Scott Goodale took the Scarlet Knights gig in 2007, he immediately made Edgar, a former Clarion University wrestler, one of his assistants. Edgar got his first UFC fight that same year, but he continued to coach and use the Rutgers wrestling room as a way to keep his grappling sharp. Goodale admits he was lukewarm at first but got drawn in over the years, mostly because of Edgar. But he also loved seeing elite wrestlers have a new way to make a living using wrestling.

'This is what young wrestlers are watching as they grow up,' Goodale says. 'And that's a good thing for the sport.'

That kind of open-mindedness is certainly benefiting Rutgers, which crowned the first two national champions in school history at this year's NCAAs. One in particular, Nick Suriano, seems especially intrigued by joining the wrestler-turned-fighter crowd.

'I've been doing it off and on since high school,' Suriano says. 'I've worked out with Frankie and really enjoyed it. It's funny. MMA and wrestling are both fights. And I love to win the fight.'

After winning his national title on March 23 in Pittsburgh, Suriano, a junior, meanders around the floor of the PPG Paints Arena, posing for a relentless stream of photos, one after the other after the other. He has a nice-sized gash above his eye that looks like it's a gentle breeze away from opening up and bleeding all over. It's tiring just to watch the constant insta-smiles and handshakes and head nod, then someone is standing there waiting for the next one. It's a dizzying scene, and Suriano has clearly lost track of who's asking for what.

But he's not hustling to get away, either -- he is reveling in this moment. The 133-pounder is a bit of a showman, taking acting classes and never shy about riling up rival crowds when he's on the mat.

When one man in his mid-20s asks for a photo, the latest in an assembly line of selfie-seekers, Suriano starts to smile and stands beside the guy as a phone camera snaps away. He doesn't even notice who's asking for the shot until the guy speaks.

'Congratulations, champ, that win was all heart, all mindset,' the guy says as a friend takes photos.

There's something about the man's voice that causes Suriano to pause and really look at his new biggest fan: It's Henry Cejudo. 'Thanks, champ,' Suriano says. Then Suriano gets out of the picture and asks to take a shot of Cejudo, the UFC flyweight champion and 2008 Olympic gold medalist wrestler, for himself.

In that moment, it's not hard to already see the Cejudo vs. Suriano UFC PPV promo video. Maybe one of those photos is on the screen, with the voices of the two champion wrestlers in the background, talking up a chance to punch each other in the face. One generation of star wrestler versus another.

As Askren watches the bouts happening in front of him, he smiles when he's asked which five wrestlers might be great future fighters.

'I can't name five,' he says. He pauses for effect, then finishes his thought: 'Because all 330 guys here could be great fighters. That's how good the wrestling base is in the fight game.'

And here's the really scary thing derived from Pittsburgh, a point that Askren agrees with: This generation of wrestlers has grown up with UFC fights and fighters as a mainstream part of their lives, with MMA training facilities right around the corner from their houses. Which means, as good as the Daniel Cormiers and Ben Askrens of the MMA world have been, there is a 2.0 version of those great ex-wrestlers who aren't just adding on punches and kicks when their careers are over.

Olympic Wrestlers In Ufc

'Bo Nickal absolutely, in a heartbeat, could be great,' Askren says. 'The one thing I would tell him is, don't wait too long. No matter how good wrestlers are, it's gonna take them two or three years to get to a big show -- maybe even longer because people don't want to fight good wrestlers. As good as he is, it's not looking real rosy for him to beat the other top American Olympic candidates. In my opinion, he's not beating those guys.'

Ufc Fighters List All Time

If Askren is right, that means Nickal would perhaps have a crossroads decision to make next year: Keep chasing international wrestling, or try his hand at MMA?

Best Mma Wrestler

'It'd be a shame if he doesn't get to wrestle in the Olympics,' his mom says. 'But I don't have any doubts about how well he'll do in a cage fight. It'll be bad for that other guy.'