Who is/was the best grappler ever?

**crappler** · Posted On: 8/02/2009 8:15pm

What do you mean by "grappler"?

**DKJr** · Posted On: 8/02/2009 8:24pm

Jacob wrestled God. God was losing and had to cheat with a hip lock when he knew hip locks were banned.

**atom** · Posted On: 8/02/2009 8:25pm

i'd say chuck norris but that wouldn't be funny, his takedown defense sucks

I don't know about the "ever" part, but these days,
marcelo is a safe pick
minotauro is a safe pick
every ADCC and BJJ mundials open class champ is a safe pick

**Matt Phillips** · Posted On: 8/02/2009 8:36pm

Originally Posted by Phrost

Beowulf was up there too.

Grendal was robbed.

**marcusdbrutus** · Posted On: 8/02/2009 8:44pm

Hercules rocking the single.

Hercules dominating the hound of Hades.

Hercules taking down Death himself.

I rest my case.

**Shar** · Posted On: 8/02/2009 8:55pm

Yujiro Hanma is THE "Grappler".

**BoonDog** · Posted On: 8/02/2009 9:42pm

Personally, I think there was only one Grappler

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len_Denton

**Sley** · Posted On: 8/02/2009 10:01pm

Michelangelo

He used Grappling to make that

**enrious** · Posted On: 8/02/2009 10:21pm

I go with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antaeus

**Yojimbo1717** · Posted On: 8/02/2009 10:49pm

Xande Ribiero is generally considered the best - he's won more championships than anyone else out there in straight grappling. Somewhere online there's a spreadsheet of all the top grapplers and their victories in the top competitions. It's Xande then Roger Gracie.

One most also keep in mind that there's generally a criteria - best takedowns/throws, best submissions, best position, most wins in grappling tournaments with the fewest rules (ADCC).

Another thing to consider is how well they've done with current competition - let's face facts, the best back in 1993 compared to the best of now...well, generally the differences are pretty big.

Xande.

Marcelo p4p. He's probably the only example of a person where the pound for pound rule actually makes sense - he's significantly smaller than almost anyone he fights and he still wins - usually via submission.