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#4. Georges St-Pierre vs. Thiago Alves – UFC 100
Despite never competing in amateur wrestling prior to his MMA career, there’s probably an argument to suggest that Georges St-Pierre is the greatest wrestler in UFC history.
The former UFC welterweight kingpin, who held his title for five years and made a record nine defenses, developed an incredible wrestling game based around his explosive takedowns. In the octagon, he used it to dominate decorated amateur wrestlers like Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch and Matt Hughes.
The best example of his wrestling game allowing him to dominate a striker, however, came in his UFC welterweight title defense against Thiago Alves at UFC 100.
Coming into the fight, Alves looked like GSP’s toughest test to date. The hulking Brazilian had won seven fights in a row to earn his title shot. He'd shellacked both Hughes and Koscheck, showing off excellent takedown defense in the process.
But when it came to his fight with GSP, ‘The Pitbull’ simply couldn’t stay vertical. Despite throwing his best strikes at St-Pierre, he still found himself grounded on an incredible ten times across the fight’s five rounds, and was largely unable to get back to his feet.
Even a serious groin injury suffered in the later rounds couldn’t prevent St-Pierre from using his wrestling to thoroughly dominate Alves. The fight was just more proof of GSP’s insane development in wrestling.
#3. Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal – UFC 251
UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman made his name in the UFC with his powerful wrestling game. An NCAA Division II national champion in freestyle wrestling, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ has never met an opponent inside the octagon that he couldn’t take down.
Usman’s wrestling has been so dominant during his UFC career that you could probably name any one of his fights as an example of a wrestler whitewashing a striker in the octagon. But naturally, one fight stands out over the others.
That fight was Usman’s victory over Jorge Masvidal in the main event of UFC 251 last summer. Sure, the two men have rematched since, with Usman winning by brutal knockout, but the first fight was more of a demonstration of Usman’s wrestling dominance.
Not only did he bully ‘Gamebred’ in the clinch and against the fence, showing off his incredible upper-body strength, but he also took him down on five occasions. Given that Masvidal’s takedown defense stands at 75%, it’s hard to understate how impressive it was to see Usman dominate him.
Naturally, the second fight between the two was more memorable due to the highlight-reel knockout it produced. However, in terms of an example of a wrestler dominating a striker inside the octagon, it doesn’t get much better than this.
