Juan Espino needs to be taken seriously.

[RiotWyatt]

I get it. He's old. He's slow. He's been fighting for over 10 years. He's riddled with injuries. He's one dimensional.

But this is HW. Espino is a decorated grappler. He won TUF against much younger, hungrier competitors in dominating fashion. He's now making short work of other competitors in the UFC. All this, because he actually has a ground game. Juan Espino is a contender.

 

[Raffen]

He looks like a conquistador

 

[sampuncher]

Im excited to see but he joins the Leonardo Santos club for me. I just wish they were 5 years younger.

 

[EndlessCritic]

History tells us that older guys can still do well in the heavier weight classes. Espino still has a few good years left in him, and he has looked fantastic on TUF and his 2 UFC fights.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Yeah, he can still do well, because not many HW's can match his grappling. I think his wrestling is better than Oleinik's too, which gives him more of a chance of getting it there.

Shame that being KO'd quickly by Minakov back in the day before anyone knew who he was seemed to put him off MMA for a while, if he'd known how good Minakov really was, I imagine he would have stuck it out and be a lot further along now.

 

[FlyingDeathKick]

He's old, he's slow, he's been fighting for over 10 years and... I've never heard of him.

 

[TheMessiah]

Its weird seeing a spanish guy in MMA

 

[Tro]

Yeah. I could see him being a problem for many of the heavyweights.

 

[The_Renaissance]

He's good yeah, I rate him, but like others have said......too old. I'd have him fight someone like Chase Sherman next.

 

[Seso]

I get it. He's old. He's slow. He's been fighting for over 10 years. He's riddled with injuries. He's one dimensional.

But this is HW. Espino is a decorated grappler. He won TUF against much younger, hungrier competitors in dominating fashion. He's now making short work of other competitors in the UFC. All this, because he actually has a ground game. Juan Espino is a contender.

He should fight more often like Khamzat because the time is ticking against him.
With his wrestling he could easily finish a few guys in the 1st round

 

[DarkneT]

Poor mans alexi

 

[SSJBroly]

He looks like a conquistador

I wish we had more Spanish Chads interested on the UFC to clean up from a surge of cocky you know whats.

 

[TR1]

Poor mans alexi

He has better athleticism and wrestling than Alexei.

Olenik fights like a poor-man's version of himself these days.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

He's good yeah, I rate him, but like others have said......too old. I'd have him fight someone like Chase Sherman next.

He'd ragdoll Sherman, at this point he needs someone in or around the rankings. I think Oleinik would be interesting.

 

[pankrat]

Its weird seeing a spanish guy in MMA

The best MMA fighter ever from Spain is still Dani Tabera, even if the guy could not have more shit going against him in his career, starting by having the worst manager ever.

> Faced Jan Blachowick, Glover Teixeira and Ricco Rodrigez in a span of 3 months....being himself a WW¡! Only got finished by Jan.
> Got robbed vs the much bigger Gilbert Yvel, Roman Zentsov and Mamed Khalidov in Russia/Poland
> Beat LHW standouts in the European circuit Attila Veigh, Mikhail Zayats and Vyacheslav Vasilevski among others.

...all this being a small sized WW by modern standards, coming from a country with no MMA culture whatsoever, let alone public or social support of any kind.

A very respectful individal too. Huge respect for Daniel Tabera.

Hope Espino makes a solid run btw

 

[DarkneT]

He has better athleticism and wrestling than Alexei.

Olenik fights like a poor-man's version of himself these days.

You are fake news

 

[The Chosen]

I wish we had more Spanish Chads interested on the UFC to clean up from a surge of cocky you know whats.

cocky Anglos?

 

[The_Renaissance]

He'd ragdoll Sherman, at this point he needs someone in or around the rankings. I think Oleinik would be interesting.

Actually, yeah great shout!

 

[Black Paladin]

He looks like a conquistador

Sergio Peris-Mencheta from Snowfall, but with real rasslin' skills.

 

[kevinramsdell]

I get it. He's old. He's slow. He's been fighting for over 10 years. He's riddled with injuries. He's one dimensional.

But this is HW. Espino is a decorated grappler. He won TUF against much younger, hungrier competitors in dominating fashion. He's now making short work of other competitors in the UFC. All this, because he actually has a ground game. Juan Espino is a contender.

I mean he fought 6 times in 2017 before going to TUF and winning that. So idk if I'd say "riddled with injuries" but older guys can defintley have success at HW.