It highly depends on what you want to do with your model. If its for a still-image then nowadays you start with a sculpting software like mudbox or zbrush and create your model. Your mesh is actually not a weired mesh of misshapen and unsymetrical polygons, at least I haven´t seen that. And even if it is, like I said, it depends on what you want to do.
So, you can start UV Mapping in Zbrush (or Mudbox??) and use the mesh then only for rendering in Maya for instance.
But if you want to have a clean topology for animation or just becaus you are a perfectionist, then you need to retopology the mesh / model whether using maya or software like topogun or 3dcoat.
You need to watch your workflow since you may not use former created textures anymore since by re-doing your mesh you will need to UV Map the new mesh again...

The "oldschool"-way to model by draging the vertices is for sure still in use but since packages like mudbox or zbrush exist, it became way faster come to good results. Sometimes I still start the oldschool way in order to have a good topo for sculpting!