Saturday night marks the return of Demian Maia, a highly regarded jiu-jitsu practitioner who won his first five UFC contests via submission. Few have ever scored five submissions inside the Octagon, let alone in successive bouts.
Maia is undoubtedly one of the best grapplers that the sport has ever seen and possibly the best on the current UFC roster. However, there are lots of guys who members of the UFC elite wouldn’t dream of rolling on the mat with.
In preparation for his welterweight battle with Rick Story, here is a look at Maia and the 10 best grapplers currently in the UFC.
This list focuses on pure grappling ability more than grappling for MMA. In the event that two fighters were ranked too closely to separate them, the benefit of the doubt went to the fighter with better pure grappling credentials.