GrappleWire, the boutique grappling news site operated by three freelance video editors out of a co-working space in Tempe, has declared Julian Barringer the Most Dangerous Man In Grappling Right Now — the outlet’s fourth such declaration this month, and the fourth different man to receive the title since April 1.
Barringer, a 29-year-old former D2 wrestler who competes at 88 kilograms, was named Most Dangerous on Tuesday via a 2,400-word profile titled “Why Julian Barringer Is The Most Dangerous Man In Grappling Right Now And Why It’s Not Even Close.” The piece, written by senior contributor Devin Harkenrider, cites Barringer’s 71% takedown completion rate and his habit of “holding a cold stare during the referee’s rules meeting” as evidence that no one on earth can hang with him.
Barringer is the fourth consecutive Most Dangerous Man In Grappling. He follows Tanner Holbrook (a 23-year-old pressure passer whose danger-ranking profile highlighted his refusal to shake hands at weigh-ins), Brennan Slocum (a 37-year-old leg locker who does danger-ranking interviews while cleaning his teeth with a folded Home Depot receipt), and a man named Garrett Nye who, according to GrappleWire’s third piece of the month, “is the most dangerous man in grappling because he bit someone in a scramble at a small-town no-gi open last September.”
Harkenrider, reached by phone Wednesday while sitting in a Starbucks drive-thru, defended the publishing cadence.
“People confuse ‘Most Dangerous Man In Grappling’ with a ranking,” he said. “It’s not a ranking. It’s a vibe. We ride the vibe until the vibe changes. Sometimes the vibe changes on Monday. Sometimes it changes four times in ten days. That’s the sport.”
The declaration has drawn pushback from practitioners, who note that three of the four Most Dangerous Men In Grappling have never won a professional match against each other, and the fourth — the biter — has not competed in any sanctioned event since the bite in question.
“I got named Most Dangerous Man In Grappling on April 4,” said Holbrook, the 23-year-old pressure passer, in a statement released through his management team. “Then I lost by decision at a regional tournament on April 12 to a man named Gerald who runs an HVAC business. I am not currently the Most Dangerous Man In Grappling. I’m actually, mathematically, the third most dangerous man at my gym.”
Slocum, the leg locker, declined to comment but posted a black-and-white photo of himself staring at a heel hook chart with the caption “The wolves don’t explain themselves.”
In response to GrappleWire’s fourth consecutive declaration, a group of unaffiliated grapplers has launched a counter-poll called THE LEAST DANGEROUS MAN IN GRAPPLING, a single-elimination bracket of eight seeds culled from what organizers describe as “the 2026 Podcast Circuit Class.”
The top seed is Adam Verrick, 34, a brown belt with 412,000 Instagram followers, zero competition submissions across his last 11 tournaments, and a weekly grappling podcast that has interviewed every Most Dangerous Man In Grappling of the month — including the biter. Verrick’s podcast intro describes him as “a lifelong killer on the mats.” Organizers had to verify this claim and could not.
The second seed is Brendan Leatherwood, 36, who sells a $497 instructional called “The Modern Closed Guard System” despite never completing a submission at a blue belt level or higher. Leatherwood is represented by the same manager as Holbrook.
Seeds three through eight include: a podcast co-host who has three times publicly called himself “a pressure-style technician” while turtling defensively against lower belts at open mat; a former Division III assistant wrestling coach who now hosts a mental performance podcast and lists “grappling IQ consultant” on his LinkedIn; an Instagram heel-hook educator whose only documented heel hook is a demonstration on a cooperative partner in his garage; a podcast guest famous for a nine-minute monologue about “grip fighting” delivered during a match in which he did not establish a grip; a YouTube analyst who has reviewed 1,800 hours of professional grappling and has never finished an arm drag in live rolling; and a 42-year-old promoter who wears a lavalier mic at open mat and has not rolled in 19 months.
Final voting closes Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Organizers say all eight seeds have been contacted for comment; six have agreed to be interviewed, two for one hour each, on their own podcasts.
Verrick, reached for comment on his top seeding, said he welcomed the challenge.
“Look, these guys don’t understand what it takes to not submit someone at this level,” he said. “Anyone can show up and, like, get a tap. That’s easy. Staying competitive for ten years without ever winning a match — that’s a skill. That’s a whole different kind of dangerous. And honestly, spiritually, I think that makes me the most dangerous man in grappling.”
Verrick’s statement has been cited by GrappleWire’s Harkenrider as grounds for a potential fifth declaration.
“We’re looking at him hard,” Harkenrider said. “Verrick’s whole thing — the podcast, the intro, the 412K followers, the lavalier at open mat, the willingness to claim ‘most dangerous’ unprompted — that’s a vibe. We ride the vibe.”
A fifth Most Dangerous Man In Grappling piece is tentatively scheduled to run Monday. It will be the outlet’s fifth such declaration in eighteen days.
Asked how the publication plans to handle any overlap between the Most Dangerous and Least Dangerous brackets, Harkenrider paused.
“Honestly?” he said. “That’s where the real story is. I think we’re going to find out they’re the same guys.”