The 20 greatest wrestling matches between future MMA stars: Complete ranking

Set us as your preferred source

It’s over. I have completed my rankings of the 20 greatest wrestling matches between future MMA stars. This project took on a life of its own, ballooning beyond its planned size to the point of overwhelming the author. In the beginning, I intended to catalog this ranking in a maximum of four posts, but through a monumental lack of restraint, the series, in its entirety, tops out at over 15,000 words. If you are one of the few who trudged through its entirety, I thank you.

Just like with any sort of research-heavy endeavor, compiling this ranking encountered some difficulties, and resulted in some errors. While there are certain resources which do a very admirable job of archiving old wrestling results, many of these sources have fallen into ill repair, and despite best efforts, a large portion of written results from less important events are forever lost. In the process of piecing together the complete picture from a number of different sources, I sometimes mess up. For example, Mark Kerr and Kurt Angle did not compete against one another in the 1996 Olympic Trials final wrestle off, rather, they faced off for the World Team spot in the 1995 World Team Trials final wrestle off. To the casual reader this may seem like a trivial matter, but it does discredit to the wrestler who actually came in second to Angle in the 1996 trials.

Another complication in creating these rankings came from the discovery of previously unknown matches between future MMA stars. Before Pat Cummins arrived in the UFC, I had no interest in looking up his prior results for the purposes of this ranking. When I did delve deeply into his wrestling past, I found that he once wrestled Daniel Cormier at the US Open in freestyle. Also, just last week, a reader alerted me to a bizarre 2004 US Open match between Ben Askren and Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller, which Askren won in a spectacular blow out.

Even in light of new matches surfacing, I am happy with the twenty matches in the ranking, and their position. Through a much longer and drawn out journey than I anticipated, I actually did accomplish what I set off to do, finding the top twenty matches according to the criteria laid out in my introductory letter the first entry of this series.

I appreciate all the great feedback I have received throughout writing this, and with great pride, I present the complete rankings of the 20 greatest wrestling matches between MMA stars:

20. Brock Lesnar vs. Mike Russow-1997 National Junior College Championships, Fifth place match

19. Ben Askren vs Chris Weidman-2001 FILA Cadet Freestyle National Championships Consolation Semifinals

18. Bubba Jenkins vs. Darrion Caldwell-2008 NCAA Division I National Championship Semifinals

17. Dan Severn vs Steve Williams-1981 NCAA Division I National Championships Consolation Finals

16. Chael Sonnen vs. Mark Munoz-2001 Oklahoma State University vs. University of Oregon Dual Meet

15. Kevin Jackson vs Vladimir Matyushenko- 1991 Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix

14. Ben Askren vs Johny Hendricks- 2002 Wrestling USA Dream Team Classic

13. Rulon Gardner vs. Alexander Karelin-2000 Olympics Greco-Roman Super Heavyweight Gold Medal Match

12. Chris Weidman vs. Phil Davis- 2006 Hofstra University vs. Penn State University Dual Meet

11. Johny Hendricks vs. Charlie Brenneman-2004 NCAA Championships, Round of 12

10. Daniel Cormier vs. Steve Mocco- 2007 Dave Schultz Memorial International

9. Tyron Woodley vs. Johny Hendricks- 2005 Big 12 Conference Finals