Sherdog’s Top 10: MMA Wrestlers

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8. Demetrious Johnson

Unlike most of the competitors on this list, Johnson’s formal experience in wrestling came to an end after high school. He placed third and then second at the state competition as a junior and senior but never took part in any national-level tournaments. He was a three-sport athlete, competing in track and cross country in addition to wrestling, and few who fit that mold receive much attention from the recruiters; and as far as I can tell, he never pursued a collegiate wrestling career.

Instead, Johnson went straight into MMA, taking his first fight at the tender age of 20. He has spent his entire career under the direction of Matt Hume, perhaps the most underrated trainer in the sport and a master of the art of transitions. Despite his picture-perfect double-leg, what makes those takedowns work is Johnson’s unerring sense of when to shoot them and how to distract his opponent. http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1721411/4_medium_medium.gif, or a beautiful reactive shot as his opponent walks forward, Johnson excels at shortening his path to getting in on the hips, where he can finish. Re-shots and chain wrestling are also a specialty, though his initial shot is usually so clean that he does not require them. That approach translates to an incredible volume of landed takedowns, with 14 in his most recent outing against Kyoji Horiguchi, 12 against John Moraga and five against John Dodson.

Although his defensive wrestling was a bit questionable earlier in his career, that deficit was mostly a function of the massive size difference he faced in almost every fight. Since dropping to flyweight, opponents have completed 10 of 54 takedown attempts, a paltry 18.5 percent rate. Johnson is quite simply one of the very best functional wrestlers in the sport. If his opposition were a little more imposing, he would likely rank even higher on this list.

Continue Reading: Number 7 » He possesses incredible drive on his preferred double-legs and finishes with incredible authority, effortlessly slamming his opponents to the mat. He relied on that rinse-and-repeat takedown game a great deal early in his MMA career, but since then has settled into more of a sprawl-and-brawl mode. He is well suited to it, with the ability to shuck off takedown attempts even when his opponent seems like a lock to finish one.