Favorite fighters to watch on the ground?

My five all time favoritess: 1.Shinya Aoki 2. Rumina Sato 3.BJ Penn 4. Ivan Salaverry 5. Masakazu Imanari

There you have it guys, who do you most enjoy watching work the sub game?

bj penn is probably number one, i love the way he uses his flexibility. also jason macdonalds shown some pretty good ground work with his fights against leben and herman

i also like serra on the ground he has some sick transitions

Aoki and Penn

Aoki, Sakuraba (mongolian chops cmmmon), Genki Sudo, Rumina Sato, Penn

Good picks so far all.
Northrend- Gotta love Sakuraba, his no-gi grappling in MMA is on a whole other level. And Genki is Genki, guy is so crazy unorthodox and fun to watch.

Also, I don't care what anyone says, Saku would have RULED the 183 division had pride not put him in fights outside his weightclass.

Big Nog.

Big Nogueira - the way that guy comes out of nowhere with the most amazing submissions, despite being a big guy just amazes me time and time again.

Fedor is fun to watch too, for the sheer ferocity of his punches. He can hit so hard from the gaurd its frightening. I watched Fedor vs Heath Herring @ Championship Chaos II the other night, Fedor spent most of round one in Herring's guard, but was hitting him like a cannon going off - he did so much damage to Heath's face the doctors stopped the fight after just one round.

Genki Sudo hands down...

I love to watch Fedor for the GnP...

Sakuraba for how inovative his is...

And many might not agree, but I think Nick Diaz is one of the most exciting ground fighters around as long as he has good competition... See his fights with Diego and Karo...

Aoki & Penn should really fight

Frickin Royce Gracie anyone???
I also like Rich Franklin. Whenever he goes to the ground its either a Armbar or GNP stoppage.

Aoki for me right now saku back in the day was the shit for me

Penn, Serra, and Diaz.


I realize Diaz isn't half as accomplished as Penn and Serra, but I just love how Diaz works his guard. Always active off of his back, and is willing to take some shots to get the sub.

penn and royce

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Posted by rameydl8

penn and royce

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The man who beat them both on the ground. MATT HUGHES !!!

Someone I love to watch in a ground fight and who doesn't get much respect nowadays. Carlos Newton. Hes tapped out some great competition, and had very competative bouts against other world class grapplers. Hes one of the most athletic guys out there and can pull off some ridiculous reversals because of his physical conditioning. Just watch his fights with Sakuraba and Pele to see some great reversals and submissions.

Ohshi I cant believe I left Hidehiko Yoshida off my list!

That man is the most phenomenal Judoka I've seen, he uses his Gi like an extra pair of hands, trapping limbs with it, Wrapping it round peoples throats to choke them, using it to create unbreakble grips for his chokes and draping it into his opponents line of sight so they cant see what he is doing. Its Judo taken to a whole new level, and watching that guy in action, I'm hardly surprised that he got Gold in the Olympics and won Judo World Championships!

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Posted by Svartorm

Someone I love to watch in a ground fight and who doesn't get much respect nowadays. Carlos Newton. Hes tapped out some great competition, and had very competative bouts against other world class grapplers. Hes one of the most athletic guys out there and can pull off some ridiculous reversals because of his physical conditioning. Just watch his fights with Sakuraba and Pele to see some great reversals and submissions.

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Dont forget that nasty armbar Hughes had on him in their 2nd fight. Carlos got out of it in some crazy extreme way.

And Newton/ Sakuraba is a grapplers dream fight. Just awesome all over the mat in that fight.

leonard garcia because he smiles the whole time and gives the fans a warm fuzzy feeling......actually aoki, penn, saku, and the just about anyone with great BJJ is on my list, with hughes getting honorable mention(as a former wrestler its hard not to like him)

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Posted by hughesfan1

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Posted by rameydl8

penn and royce

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The man who beat them both on the ground. MATT HUGHES !!!

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...hughes is another of my favorites

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Posted by hughesfan1

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Posted by rameydl8

penn and royce

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The man who beat them both on the ground. MATT HUGHES !!!

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but also i like to watch BJ on the ground and sean sherk

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Posted by Mastodon2

Ohshi I cant believe I left Hidehiko Yoshida off my list!

That man is the most phenomenal Judoka I've seen, he uses his Gi like an extra pair of hands, trapping limbs with it, Wrapping it round peoples throats to choke them, using it to create unbreakble grips for his chokes and draping it into his opponents line of sight so they cant see what he is doing. Its Judo taken to a whole new level, and watching that guy in action, I'm hardly surprised that he got Gold in the Olympics and won Judo World Championships!

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Check out Pawel Nastula man, without a doubt the greatest competition Judoka of the past three decades.

And Svartorm, big +1 on Newton, guy's a wizard on the ground.

BJ, Sakuraba, babalu and my favorite to watch on the ground AOKI

Any Gracie is like watching an anaconda strangling its prey.


Genki and Aoki are lots of fun due to the unorthodox styles.

Good call on Newton and Yoshida.

My favorite to watch on the ground though is Leben as he is getting completely outclassed.

How about a guy who is 18-1 in his last 19 fights with 12 of those wins by sub...
Jeff Monson

Him leaving Branden Hinkle motionless from a choke is a classic.

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Posted by Believe-in-judo81

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Posted by Mastodon2

Ohshi I cant believe I left Hidehiko Yoshida off my list!

That man is the most phenomenal Judoka I've seen, he uses his Gi like an extra pair of hands, trapping limbs with it, Wrapping it round peoples throats to choke them, using it to create unbreakble grips for his chokes and draping it into his opponents line of sight so they cant see what he is doing. Its Judo taken to a whole new level, and watching that guy in action, I'm hardly surprised that he got Gold in the Olympics and won Judo World Championships!

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Check out Pawel Nastula man, without a doubt the greatest competition Judoka of the past three decades.

And Svartorm, big +1 on Newton, guy's a wizard on the ground.

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I know of Nastula's alleged accomplishments in Judo, but I chose to omit him, mainly because he just doesnt seem to be able to pull it off in MMA like he did in the Judo arena, whereas Yoshida seems to be comfortable in both sports.

That said, many people think that Nastula is the one to beat Fedor, but Nastula was submitted by Barnett, so currently I'd put Barnett above Nastula on the "Who can beat Fedor?" list.

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Posted by Mastodon2

I know of Nastula's alleged accomplishments in Judo, but I chose to omit him, mainly because he just doesnt seem to be able to pull it off in MMA like he did in the Judo arena, whereas Yoshida seems to be comfortable in both sports.

That said, many people think that Nastula is the one to beat Fedor, but Nastula was submitted by Barnett, so currently I'd put Barnett above Nastula on the "Who can beat Fedor?" list.

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Alleged accomplishments nothing my man, I'll break it down for you.

1996 Olympic Gold Medal, 2 World Championships(One Second Place finish), Three consecutive European championships, and countless open titles and top five finishes in damn near every event he EVER competed in. Not to mention a over 400 Sport judo wins over his career, including his 300+ match streak where not only was he undefeated for over four years of almost weekly competition, but he didn't have a single point Scored on him.

As to his MMA career, it's simple really, he's a very old 38 and incredibly shopworn from his years of sport judo competition. Nastula got into MMA looking for another competition sport to replace judo, which he retired from after his abilty to perform at his past level was crippled by many chronic injuries. He came in with relatively little striking training (compared to a boxer or kickboxer etc.), after a 5 year plus lay-off from active competition and immediately fought Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Aleksander Emlianenko. Why? Because he's the kind of man who wants to test himself against the best opponents he can find. After that, he quickly disposed of the previously unbeaten Edson Drago and had Josh Barnett in serious trouble before losing to a wonderfully executed leglock.

Basically, the man was a total athletic freak who pushed himself too hard and totally wore down his body. Had he started training specifically for a MMA career while still in his physical prime there is no doubt in my mind that he would be a legendary figure in the sport with a record similar to, if not better than, Fedor himself. Hell, I'd go so far as to say those two would have had quite the close fight.

But alas, things didn't turn out that way a Pawel is what he is today, a living legend and sports hero amoung Judoka, but not quite as impressive in the world of mixed martial Arts.

1.) Fedor 2.) Aoki 3.) Penn 4.) Big Nog 5.) Saku

Tito Ortiz's GNP

nick diaz, matt serra, an royce gracie