Glad to see Soa Palelei in the top 15

[Goodfella86]

He beats no one in the top ten. Literally, no one. Great for him to have a career resurgence, but he's beaten no one to write home about. Set him up with someone like Gonzaga. We'll see how he handles a legitimate step up in competition.

that's the perfect fight. he might be able to physically handle Gonzaga, but he won't mount him.

 

[The5thgod]

They need to give him a real test. Give him Hunt or Barnett.

 

[thekartesian]

I find it hard not to respect a fighter who's never won by decision though.

Double negatives are a no-no and make your sentences very confusing.

I find it hard not to not not like someone who never not not won by decision. Not.

 

[nfp]

you're delusional

hunt would put his lights out

soa has no cardio whatsoever and his striking is awful

against anyone with decent tdd, he has no chance

 

[Nagato]

I have mentioned him years ago as a potential well ranked HW.

However, without bias:

-He is reasonably big
-He is strong
-His GnP is solid (from mount at least)
-His cardio is not good
-He is vulnerable when achieving the takedown - has almost ended up in chokes, anaconda and kimuras etc
-He has faced only 2 people that would have serious credibility in my opinion - Cormier, now a LH who was a force at HW and Barry, who has never been any higher than a perennial contender. Sanchez, McCorkle, Bae, Sapp, Krylov and Potts are not and should never have been highly rated, although have had some good exposure or wins between them, just not top class. The latter 2 he fought in their UFC debut. Krylov has lost and dropped to LH. Potts has never had major international exposure.
-Soa did what he needed to and did so impressively in his last 2 outings.
-I would hope he can do extremely well and remember that what he has already achieved is awesome, especially for someone from the Pacific where, without offence, the available competition, training partners, trainers and high grade wrestling is not as stellar (for the most part) as with the USA for instance

Opponents I think he should fight next which would be a true advancement of his career while competing against a name, without too high a ranking, would be:

Mitrione-Struve
Arlovski-Schaub
Rothwell
Gonzaga


Guys like Geronimo Dos Santos if he debuts, Derrick Lewis also, Jarred Rosholt are all ok fights but won't drive his ranking way upward.

Barnett, Hunt, Big Foot, Stipe, Browne, Overeem would be huge step ups. Even Nelson, notably KO over guys like Struve and Kongo would be regarded as a heavy favourite (but still a good fight, maybe one after his next).

Nogueira may make sense as who knows if he will even continue fighting.

I think Mir would potentially Sub Soa, his strikes good enough to KO Nog, mixed up with JDS, Barnett, Cormier etc...would be tough.

Haven't seen Soa mix it up stand-up for a long time let alone against a solid guy. Not since he was bashing Bae in Pride.

Just some thoughts.....for what it's worth which isn't probably much.

 

[hto63]

I am not sold on him yet but always good to see the division get some much needed new blood.

 

[ironfist05]

hoenstly, it's more of a sigh of how weak the HW division is

 

[OldManGrip]

its funny little cormier ran through all those hulks like sao, bigfoot, barnett, mir . Hes only like 5'10 and chubby, but very talented and strong

 

[Italian Brock]

The only reason he's ranked top 15 hw is because there are only 15 hws in the UFC lol

 

[Mufasatheking]

you're delusional

hunt would put his lights out

soa has no cardio whatsoever and his striking is awful

against anyone with decent tdd, he has no chance

Now that would be a fight, a collision of samoans

 

[HandsomeDevil**]

you're delusional

hunt would put his lights out

soa has no cardio whatsoever and his striking is awful

against anyone with decent tdd, he has no chance

Hunt is his training partner, they'll most likely never fight! Either way, Soa is very exciting to watch, he has more knockouts than many if any other UFC fight right now.