I've heard people talking up Shane Carwin as "the guy" to beat Lesnar because it'll nullify the huge advantage in wrestling. Now, Carwin was a division II champ and Lesnar was a division I champ, so how do these compare? Is there any "conventional wisdom" about how a DII champ would do in DI? Top ten? Top twenty? None of the above?

Also, Matt Hamil is always said to be a super great wrestler, but he was a DIII champ and his "world class" label comes from winning the world games for the deaf. Thing is though, it seems to work well in MMA and he seems to be able to control guys with "higher level" wrestling like Boetsh and especially Holman.

I realize that a lot of this is just how well you apply your skills to MMA, but in general, how do you compare different levels of collegiate wrestling to each other?

Thanks for any thoughts you have.

A hundred and forty views and no one has anything to say? I guess this is either a tough question or a really stupid one.

Well, you can always try and compare the wrestling credentials of different wrestlers, but this is MMA, not wrestling. The same thing happens with BJJers. You have a lower belt submitting a higher belt because he's better at MMA. Then you have guys like GSP who throw a monkey wrench into the whole thing because they have no credentials and are still taking down guys like Hughes and Koshchek.

there is no good hard reliable way of comparing them, it is frequently said that in wrestling D3 is better than D2, though i don't know of any statistics that confirm or deny this, in wrestling the divisions do mix and compete against one another so it should be possible to get information on it. generally yes D1 is the best but there are exceptions(like John Peterson and Marcus LeVaseur) and how much better and where the champions will place in other divisions is very very hard to say. can a D3 powerhouse like Augsberg hope to beat Iowa in a meet? not likely, will they win a few matches? possibly, will there be close matches? almost certainly

A D-1 Champ or All American will usually be better than D-2 or D-3 Champ/ All American.
Aside from that it depends on the individual and specific school. D-3 does not give scholarships, D-2 does but are not many schools, D-1 gives scholarships but only a very small percent get a "Full Ride" . College also has great wrestlers in the NAIA. Some studs are in the NAIA because they are not subject to the same Title 9 and eligability restrictions as D-1, 2 & 3 and they generally give better scholarships.
We also have JUCO and the California JC College system that produces many great wrestlers who go directly to Greco or Freestyle or MMA.

I may be wrong but I thought it was reveresed I thought D2 couldn't give scholorships & D3 did,

Also to further complecate things last year R.P.I a college club wrestling team beat UVA in a duel meet, it depends on the region as well. I am from pittsburgh Pa and I am an assistant wrestling coach outside albany ny, the small schools where I am from would probably beat most of the large schools here in a duel meet!

Thanks for all the input guys. There are some sports where it's obvious what the pecking order is. The DIII champion football team would almost certainly be unable to beat any DI football team. Probably the same for basketball and baseball (unless there was one good shutdown pitcher). Track is obvious as well because you can just look at the times and see the different levels. I guess this isn't the case for wrestling.

What I'm getting from you guys is that its most likely the case that the DI wrestling champ would beat the DII and DII and NAIA and JUCO champs, but it's not nearly as certain as in other sports. I realize in MMA it's a totally different ball game, but just based on credentials I shouldn't assume that a DII or DIII all american is levels and levels below a DI all american.

Right?