Hello, I'm an MMA fan/analyst and I wrote a notepad to myself entitled 'Returning Potential.' Anyways, you guys should rate these guys' potential to return(1-10) to Zuffa or even Bellator... Volkmann was sayin' somewhere that if he gets cut from the UFC, he'll find something else to do... When asked why Jacob was like "How many people actually make it back to the big leagues? Just a couple.." or something very similar. He's not getting cut anytime soon though But it made me think about who I thought of had returning potential and I would like to get your take on some of my thoughts... 1. Soa Palelei-HW(18-3; Currently looks great on his 8 fight win streak) 2. Waylon Lowe-LW(13-4; Riding a legit 3 fight track record tearor-train!) 3. Thales Leites-MW (20-4; Has fought the cream of the crop; On a 3 fight win streak; avenged his last loss, was supposed to return back to the octagon, but apparently UFC didn't get around to it... probably cause of the performance vs Spider, but who wants to trade with him? ) 4.Josh Burkman-MW (24-9; On a three fight win streak including a win over Gerald Harris, And other wins over Jamie Yager and Jordan Smith) 5.Cameron Dollar-FW(11-4; 2 fight win streak; Former Tuf Competitor, fought some good names and recently successfully cut weight and has looked good.) Ps- Could either Abel or Jeremiah Cullum...(Or perhaps even Jimmie Rivera?) win a future season of TUF if they tried out for it? ps-2...- Real men don't hate, they debate.:wink:
Soa Palelei i could see returning, since the ufc always needs heavyweights. Josh Burkman i think has had his chances. Cameron Dollar perhaps after a few more fights.
Don't want to bring Arlovski into it? I'd love to know what Dana thinks he needs to achieve to get back in. As to the guys you've mentioned, Soa Palelei could make it back, but he was cut after only one fight - maybe he said something bad about Dana's mum? I am not too sure about the rest. Leites has probably had his bridge burnt for participating in the worst UFC title fight ever, Dollar needs a few more wins and Lowe probably shouldn't have been cut in the first place, he may be back too. All of them need more W's, that's a fact.
Any of them could, but it really depends how smart they plan out their careers/pick the right fights. I was really surprised to see Burkman beat Gerald Harris, never rated the guy but maybe he's improving. Soa's the only one on that list I'd be interested in watching though tbh.
Palelei for sure. It would be really inetresting to see Manhoef in the UFC if he wins another fight I don't think he will become a top fighter but his fights are never boring and he showed improvements and some kind of gameplan in his last fights, at least put him on the prelim of some small card. And to be honest I would even like to see Crocop back if he doesn't retire (he should but if he is going to keep on fighting anyway....) against someone like de Fries he loses against top fighters but it would be fun to see him back against fighters like de Fries
That's not a long read and I could see the UFC bringing Leites back now that they're running shows more frequently in Brazil. I could see the UFC calling him in for a fight as a late replacement for someone who gets injured on a card and then giving him another chance and keeping him around.
UFC 79 was one of my favourite cards, but that Soa Palelei vs Eddie Sanchez fight was one of the worst I remember seeing. But if he has improved even 1% from how he fought then, I see no reason why he can't get another shot, even if he's just a 'building block' for an up and coming fighter.
