Who has the best TDD in the UFC??

[ThatGuyJae]

With Aaron bringing up the top 5 wrestlers in the UFC this made me think of takedown defense. Who would you guys rank as the top 5 guys in the UFC at stuffing the shot, who uses defensive wrestling the best??

[JimDon]

GSP and Machida have the #1 and #2 TDD respectively in UFC history, i believe you can check it out on fightmetric or a similiar site.

[LeeM]

...aren't you forgetting someone? One Mr. Chuck Liddell. GSP was taken down more recently than Liddell was. I'd say:

Liddell
GSP
Machida
Penn (when he is at his own weight class he his TDD is incredible)

[ThatGuyJae]

I also think Thiago Alves should be pretty high up on the list, maybe not top 5 though. He stopped both Hueghes and Kos from taking him down.

[southpaw447]

St. Pierre without question has the best in the UFC

[Thaispider]

I also think Thiago Alves should be pretty high up on the list, maybe not top 5 though. He stopped both Hueghes and Kos from taking him down.

I agree alves has developed some very good TDD.

[ToeZup]

I think you guys have nailed it with these guys.
Liddell, GSP, Machida, Penn, Alves

[JT42]

I think you guys have nailed it with these guys.
Liddell, GSP, Machida, Penn, Alves

Thats a good list. Fitch had good TDD until he met a man named GSP

[Rated]

...aren't you forgetting someone? One Mr. Chuck Liddell. GSP was taken down more recently than Liddell was. I'd say:

Liddell
GSP
Machida
Penn (when he is at his own weight class he his TDD is incredible)
I'm a bit confused. You said St. Pierre has been taken down more recently than Liddell, but no one has even tried taking Chuck down since his fight against Ortiz (I don't recall Evans making an attempt).

Overall, I believe Chuck has been taken down more times than St. Pierre (although Chuck does have a knack for getting right back up). I can recall 4 (maybe 5) instances where St. Pierre has been taken down: once against Miller (quickly got back up), once against BJ (quickly got back up), once against Koscheck, once against Fitch (reversed it pretty quickly), and possibly once against Hughes. I'm can't remember his pre-UFC fights but I don't think he was ever taken down in those.

[LeeM]

I guess that's true, the fact remains Liddell's TDD is still insane.

Also jasonC84 Hughes got Alves done in the first round of their fight ;).

[bbjd7]

Liddell hasn't defended a takedown in over 2 years his takedown defense is a bit overrated. So is Lyoto he shut down Tito's takedowns but that doesn't make him top 5 IMO.

#1 GSP
#2 Gray Maynard
#3 BJ
#4 Sherk
#5 Alves

[AmRiT]

St. Pierre probably has the best TDD, Liddell, Machida and Penn are other fighters that come to mind when thinking about TDD...

I think Scrambling skills are also very important too, maybe there should be a thread for that too :p

[Aaron]

yeh gray has to get some love....he didn't get taken down my Miller once...and was calm and cool during the attempts too.....he even landed some nice shots while bouncing around

[southpaw447]

Liddell hasn't defended a takedown in over 2 years his takedown defense is a bit overrated. So is Lyoto he shut down Tito's takedowns but that doesn't make him top 5 IMO.

#1 GSP
#2 Gray Maynard
#3 BJ
#4 Sherk
#5 Alves

I don't even think Liddell's takedown defense is that great TBH, it's his ability to scramble

[bbjd7]

Gray also shut down Frankie who is also a damn good wrestler.

Some of the moves Gray pulled off against Jim were amazing.

[Embry]

I think that Alves, GSP, and Liddell are up there in the TDD category. They all have good TDD defense. Love watching all 3 fight :D

[JimDon]

Liddell hasn't defended a takedown in over 2 years his takedown defense is a bit overrated. So is Lyoto he shut down Tito's takedowns but that doesn't make him top 5 IMO.

#1 GSP
#2 Gray Maynard
#3 BJ
#4 Sherk
#5 Alves

Actually, i was talking fact, not opinion.

(This chart shows the) number of takedowns landed divided by the number attempted. This is a simple ratio of an opponents' takedown success rate. For comparison, we will again first look at the current UFC champions' numbers:

Georges St. Pierre: 15%
BJ Penn: 36%
Rashad Evans: 38%
Anderson Silva: 41%
Frank Mir: 80%*

The first four champions are above-average in their takedown defense, with GSP standing head-and-shoulders above the rest.

So where does Machida come in? Opponents have landed just 8 of 41 career takedown attempts against Machida, a success rate of just 19.5%. That is not much worse than St. Pierre, whose takedown defense is perhaps the best in MMA history. And it's actually better than Fedor's number, which stands at 22%.

If you're interested, Machida also has the second lowest career SApM (Strikes Absorbed per Minute) in all of MMA... Ever.

[LeeM]

I wonder how much better BJ's would be solely at LW.

[vikingpride]

Gray also shut down Frankie who is also a damn good wrestler.

Some of the moves Gray pulled off against Jim were amazing.

Yeah Gray looked damn good against Miller. Miller was constantly trying for that single and forced gray to fight a total of like 5 minutes of the fight on one leg. Yet Gray was still able to land alot of damage with dirty boxing. I think Gray's game plan of keeping the fighting standing surprised the hell out of Jim. I know it surprised the hell out of me.

[TitaniumJaw]

Demien Maia.

Nobody wants to be on the ground with that guy.

[Wise]

Demien Maia.

Nobody wants to be on the ground with that guy.

Im not sure fear counts as take down defense.:p

GSP all the way.

[Brad.Taschuk]

I know I'm always all over Tyson Griffin's nuts, but while he may not have the best TDD (which is still pretty good), his ability to get back up is insane.

GSP has the best TDD by far, because even when guys get a body lock, or deep in on a leg he still doesn't get taken down.

Machida is the best at straight up avoiding situations where he could even be taken down.

[bleSs]

Other than just getting KO d haa Chuck has to than its a close second GSP

[Drogo]

Actually, i was talking fact, not opinion.

(This chart shows the) number of takedowns landed divided by the number attempted. This is a simple ratio of an opponents' takedown success rate. For comparison, we will again first look at the current UFC champions' numbers:

Georges St. Pierre: 15%
BJ Penn: 36%
Rashad Evans: 38%
Anderson Silva: 41%
Frank Mir: 80%*

The first four champions are above-average in their takedown defense, with GSP standing head-and-shoulders above the rest.

So where does Machida come in? Opponents have landed just 8 of 41 career takedown attempts against Machida, a success rate of just 19.5%. That is not much worse than St. Pierre, whose takedown defense is perhaps the best in MMA history. And it's actually better than Fedor's number, which stands at 22%.

If you're interested, Machida also has the second lowest career SApM (Strikes Absorbed per Minute) in all of MMA... Ever.


Ok, I'll bite. :) Who is the lowest?

Also, very interesting stats, where did you find these?

[Brad.Taschuk]

FightMetric probably.

[JimDon]

Ok, I'll bite. :) Who is the lowest?

Also, very interesting stats, where did you find these?

The fighter with the least strikes absorbed per minute is the last emperor himself.

Fedor Emelianenko: 0.59 SApM
Lyoto Machida: 0.64 SApM

And all these stats are available at fightmetric.com

[kc1983]

I think everyone did a good job listing the obvious. I'm gonna throw Kendall Grove into the mix - his long frame makes it very difficult for fighters to take him to the ground. He's demonstrated some damn good TDD in all of his fights.

[PirateNinja415]

The fighter with the least strikes absorbed per minute is the last emperor himself.

Fedor Emelianenko: 0.59 SApM
Lyoto Machida: 0.64 SApM

And all these stats are available at fightmetric.com

those are some pretty sweet stats for lyoto, especially since he's just behind fedor

[Ebc_Kyle]

GSP probably has the best takedowns and takedown defense.