5 most dominant wrestlers in the UFC right now

#2. Curtis Blaydes – UFC heavyweight contender

Curtis Blaydes' takedowns appear nearly impossible to stop

The UFC’s heavyweight division has always been home to some great wrestlers, from legendary former champions like Randy Couture, Dan Severn and Mark Coleman, to more modern titleholders such as Cain Velasquez and Brock Lesnar.

While he doesn’t hold the heavyweight title right now, the fighter holding the torch for wrestling in the heavyweight division is Curtis Blaydes. In fact, ‘Razor’ should widely be seen as not just one of the most dominant wrestlers on the current roster, but one of the most dominant of all time too.

Since his octagon debut in April 2016, Blaydes has landed a total of 62 takedowns, giving him the record number in the heavyweight division and putting him at 9th in the UFC’s history. His takedown average per fight stands at a remarkable 6.27%.

More importantly, ‘Razor’ has only failed to take down four opponents during his tenure with the promotion: Francis Ngannou, Derrick Lewis, Daniel Omielanczuk and Junior dos Santos.

When you consider that the former two are responsible for his three losses, and he beat the latter two up on the feet, you get a sense of just how good his wrestling is.

Essentially, at 6’4” and 265lbs, Blaydes is a monster of a man who has as much athleticism and power as any other fighter in the heavyweight division right now. If he decides to take an opponent down with his blast double, they’re usually going down.

Will he ever claim gold in the octagon? That remains to be seen, but it’s hard to dispute his status as one of the UFC’s most dominant wrestlers right now.

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#1. Kamaru Usman – UFC welterweight champion

Kamaru Usman is the most dominant wrestler currently fighting in the octagon

Right now, it’s hard to dispute the idea that the most dominant wrestler in the UFC is reigning welterweight kingpin Kamaru Usman. While he hasn’t landed as many takedowns as some of the other fighters on this list, nobody else uses their wrestling to such devastating effect in the octagon.

Unlike some of the other wrestlers to enter the octagon, Usman never wrestled collegiately at the Division I level. He won the NCAA Division II National Championship in 2010, and was a three-time NCAA Division II All-American.

Despite this, he was immediately pegged as a prospect to watch when he emerged into the UFC in 2015 via the 21st season of The Ultimate Fighter. He certainly hasn’t failed to live up to that promise since.

‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ has put together an insane record of 15-0 in the octagon, basically cleaning out the welterweight division and marking himself out as the most dominant 170lber since the great Georges St-Pierre.

For the most part, it’s been his wrestling that has allowed him to become so unstoppable. Usman has basically taken down every opponent he’s faced – landing a personal best of 12 takedowns in his 2018 win over Rafael dos Anjos – and those that he didn’t take down, he beat on the feet instead.

Most notable, though, is Usman’s defensive wrestling. Despite facing high-level wrestlers like Tyron Woodley and Colby Covington, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ has never been taken down once. The stat gives him the best takedown defense in UFC history.

There would easily be an argument for Usman being the most dominant wrestler in the history of the promotion meaning he’s definitely the best they have to offer right now.