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The UFC's recent heavyweight binge feels almost a bit unreal. This is a promotion that has struggled for years to bring in fresh talent to everything above middleweight and has largely restocked its fighters there with its Strikeforce acquisition. Beyond that, pickings have been slim. But now, whatever the reason, we're seeing a flood of 206+ lb talent. The latest of these is French Heavyweight Cyril Asker. His signing was first reported by EFC Africa, where Asker was their Heavyweight champ. While it hasn't been made official yet, he is expected to debut on the Croatia card, against a yet to be named opponent. Following him (and also on the Croatia card), will be Bosnian-born Danish lightweight Damir Hadzovic. His debut has already been made official by the UFC and he'll be facing Mairbek Taisumov. So...
Who is Cyril Asker?
"Silverback" (sorry Seth) is a 30-year-old French fighter who has cut his teeth lately in South Africa. He trains out of Bushido Academie working under James Schiavo and Samy Schiavo, the latter a longtime vet of Cage Rage. It looks like a big camp with a lot of developing talent, but from which Asker will be the first to make the UFC jump. He also trains at Checkmat BJJ in Avignon. He's the current EFCA heavyweight champ, having earned the belt in his last fight. He'll be coming to the UFC with a 7-1 pro record and wins over UFC vet Ruan Potts and regional standouts Andrew van Zyl and Juha Saarinen. His only loss is to strong light heavyweight prospect Karl Moore. Asker started his combat sports career in boxing, before moving to MMA. He also has a purple belt in BJJ.
What you should expect:
Cyril Asker reminds me a bit of a heavyweight Chris Beal. In that, watching him, it's obvious that he's working from a boxing background. He's somewhat light on his feet, his punches (when he throws them) are reasonably technical, and he supplements his boxing with a generally well rounded game. But, much like Beal, I wonder if the UFC result won't be less than the sum of its parts. First and foremost, Asker is neither an entirely comfortable aggressor, nor counter-puncher. He's at his best as a striker, when his opponent gives him indefinite time at range to work with. When faced with an opponent who will throw hands at him, he usually has to resort to wrestling, since he can't set himself to throw strikes under pressure. When he does get that time and space he throws a nice 1-2 and has some good power, but it's just not as reliable a skill as it looks like it should be.
As far as wrestling, he's got a decent grasp of the basics when it comes to a power double and wrestling top control fundamentals. Part of that may be that on the South Africa scene even a limited wrestling game makes him a dominant force. He does well to find advantageous grappling positions and to create striking offense from them, but he doesn't look like a grappling wizard. Decently fundamental, but not excellent, and potentially undersized for the division.
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2016/2/9...-vs-taisumov-heavyweight-cyril-asker-mma-news
Who is Cyril Asker?
"Silverback" (sorry Seth) is a 30-year-old French fighter who has cut his teeth lately in South Africa. He trains out of Bushido Academie working under James Schiavo and Samy Schiavo, the latter a longtime vet of Cage Rage. It looks like a big camp with a lot of developing talent, but from which Asker will be the first to make the UFC jump. He also trains at Checkmat BJJ in Avignon. He's the current EFCA heavyweight champ, having earned the belt in his last fight. He'll be coming to the UFC with a 7-1 pro record and wins over UFC vet Ruan Potts and regional standouts Andrew van Zyl and Juha Saarinen. His only loss is to strong light heavyweight prospect Karl Moore. Asker started his combat sports career in boxing, before moving to MMA. He also has a purple belt in BJJ.
What you should expect:
Cyril Asker reminds me a bit of a heavyweight Chris Beal. In that, watching him, it's obvious that he's working from a boxing background. He's somewhat light on his feet, his punches (when he throws them) are reasonably technical, and he supplements his boxing with a generally well rounded game. But, much like Beal, I wonder if the UFC result won't be less than the sum of its parts. First and foremost, Asker is neither an entirely comfortable aggressor, nor counter-puncher. He's at his best as a striker, when his opponent gives him indefinite time at range to work with. When faced with an opponent who will throw hands at him, he usually has to resort to wrestling, since he can't set himself to throw strikes under pressure. When he does get that time and space he throws a nice 1-2 and has some good power, but it's just not as reliable a skill as it looks like it should be.
As far as wrestling, he's got a decent grasp of the basics when it comes to a power double and wrestling top control fundamentals. Part of that may be that on the South Africa scene even a limited wrestling game makes him a dominant force. He does well to find advantageous grappling positions and to create striking offense from them, but he doesn't look like a grappling wizard. Decently fundamental, but not excellent, and potentially undersized for the division.
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2016/2/9...-vs-taisumov-heavyweight-cyril-asker-mma-news
