Ben Askren recently sat down with James Lynch and he was asked about who he thought was the best wrestler in the UFC. While this might seem like a tough question for most people, Askren didn’t even miss a beat. In the blink of an eye, he gave his response and it’s actually pretty tough to give any reason to disagree with him:
“Bo Nickal… Yeah, I mean he’s a three-time NCAA Champion, Hodge (Trophy) winner.”
Of course, Bo Nickal is not as well-known to your average MMA fan so he may slip a lot of their minds. Especially considering the fact that he only signed his UFC contract in the latter part of 2022 and has yet to actually make his UFC debut. Ben Askren still isn’t wrong though, Nickal is an incredible wrestler and definitely has the highest pedigree of anyone currently in the UFC roster. Askren did also mention Olympic champion Henry Cejudo, although he was unsure if he was still currently under contract with the UFC.
He was prompted further though, because Lynch noticed that the reigning UFC Lightweight world champion Islam Makhachev was a glaring omission from Askren’s list. Many MMA fans have lauded Makhachev for the phenomenal wrestling ability he’s displayed in MMA on route to capturing the UFC title, and the man himself actually believes he could outwrestle Jordan Burroughs if given the chance. Askren is not so confident though:
“It’s so hard with them because I mean obviously… Him and Khabib, they crush people with wrestling. But you know, you asked me from a wrestling perspective and without seeing them you know, even Chimaev who I think they all in the area they all grow up wrestling… But without seeing them at a relatively high level, it’s hard to say.”
It’s interesting that Askren chose to mention Chimaev actually, because Bo Nickal has already been vocal about his desire to face him at some point in his UFC career. Askren did go to explain his comments though and in fairness, he makes a fantastic point:
“Because there’s even been some guys who, I mean, like GSP – probably will be the most prime example who have almost no wrestling background but yet used takedowns really, really well. But you know, that doesn’t always translate into regular wrestling. It’s correlated probably but it’s not a direct translation.”
The full video interview with Ben Askren where he named his pick for the best wrestler in the UFC was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of James Lynch:
