Let's talk "names" outside of the UFC

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Lionheart7167

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Who are some current prospects, old vets, or just interesting characters that are fighting outside of the UFC that you would have some interest in seeing in the big show and why??? Keep in mind, my list is based on athletics AND entertainment. I fully understand Baroni would not provide any real competition, but I'd still like to see him in there


Prospects:
Marlon Moraes
Tyrone Spong
Ishii
Tybura
Fernandes
Askren
Aoki

Old Vets:
Sylvia
Baroni
Rodriguez
Riddle (not old but hey...)

Interesting characters:
Lashley
Pudz
Huggy Bear
 
Beast Boy if he got down to 230-240 would storm the HW division.

Genetic freak.
 
Askren is at the top of my list.
Why not give it a shot?
His last few fights have been entertaining and he seems to be so good that he could mess up quite a few top fighters.
 
With his current TKO win over former RFA flyweight champ Matt Manzanares on NYE, Yuki Motoya deserves a shot on the big stage. He's on a 5 fight win streak and one of those 5 wins was avenging his last lost to Tatsumitsu Wada.
 
Some more interesting names that you can add to the list are Joseph Duffy and Tyler Manawaroa. Havent really accomplished anything but could easily be built into stars.
 
Kron Gracie entering the MMA arena. What do you think about that too huh?! ;)
 
Just some off the top of my head and from looking through a few recent events
Prospects:
- Yuki Motoya
- Yoon Jun Lee
- Alexandre Pantoja
- Marlon Moraes
- Adriano Moraes
- Marcin Tybura
- Mizuki Inoue
- Dae Hwan Kim - hopefully drops to flyweight
- Kevin Belingon - could probably make flyweight as well
- Timofey Nastyukhin - maybe not as proven as the others on this list but he looked great in his last fight with a KOTY contender to top it off
- Herbert Burns
- Marat Gafurov
- Koji Ando
- Nam Jin Jo
- Soo Chul Kim
- Ryohei Kurosawa
- Roberto Satoshi
- Marcos Souza
- Ramazan Esenbaev
- Anatoly Tokov

Some vets that could be getting a call up/call back to the UFC:
- Ben Askren - hopefully something gets done once his ONE contract expires
- Bibiano Fernandes - doesn't look like he will likely ever fight in the UFC at this point
- Shinya Aoki - same as Bibi
- Luis Santos - highlight reel machine and has a good streak going
- Kwon A Sol - 3 fight win streak, just won the ROAD title
- Ayaka Hamasaki - still signed to Invicta but has yet to fight there as an Atomweight. Could possibly fight for the title in her next fight.
- Ivan Buchinger - 7 fight win streak since losing to McGregor, was the Cage Warriors champ before vacating the belt
- Sergei Kharitonov - not as good as he used to be but HW is a shallow division and he's on a 4 fight win streak all by finishes.
- Vyacheslav Vasilevsky - 9 fight win streak including a win to avenge his last loss, M-1 champ
Fighters more for entertainment:
- Chris Barnett - he also fits in the prospect list but until he gets his weight under control I will leave him in this one.
- Dejdamrong Sor Amnuarysirichoke - elite Muay Thai crossover to MMA, undefeated and has had very entertaining fights so far. Old though and his level of opponents has been very low.
- Rob Lisita - win or lose it's always a brutal fight
- Seo Doo Won - if he wasn't already up there in years and fought more often then he probably could have a shot at getting signed to the UFC. 5-1 since dropping to FW from WW and avenged that loss.
- Kwang Hee Lee - both his fights this year were FOTY contenders for me, always comes to brawl
- Dong Sik Yoon - having a nice little end of career resurgence
- Daisuke Nakamura - very entertaining grappler
- Mizuto Hirota - just won the other day by soccer kick and the fight before he brutalized Imanari
- Yoshiro Maeda - in a rough stretch but his fights have all been entertaining
- Hideo Tokoro - looked like he was going to make a run as a Flyweight but a controversial decision and losing by KO after dominating a fight probably ended that. He did sign to Bellator though.
 
Lionheart7167 said:
Who are some current prospects, old vets, or just interesting characters that are fighting outside of the UFC that you would have some interest in seeing in the big show and why??? Keep in mind, my list is based on athletics AND entertainment. I fully understand Baroni would not provide any real competition, but I'd still like to see him in there


Prospects:
Marlon Moraes
Tyrone Spong
Ishii
Tybura
Fernandes
Askren
Aoki

Old Vets:
Sylvia
Baroni
Rodriguez
Riddle (not old but hey...)

Interesting characters:
Lashley
Pudz
Huggy Bear
Click to expand...

Prospects/Journeyman are young or inexperienced fighters who show potential to be future breakthrough stars. Prospects are a step above novice fighters and a step below contenders and gatekeepers. Only one of the fighters you listed is actually a prospect. It would be like calling Cain, Pettis, Aldo, Nog, and Dan Henderson prospects.

Aoki is an 11 year veteran with a record of 37-6-1 (44 fights under his belt). He is current ONE FC champion and former DREAM champion. He has 2 more fights than aged veteran Hendo. Aoki falls in the legend/champion/veteran category (farthest from prospect a fighter can get without being a retired hall of famer).

Askren is undefeated and current ONE FC champ and former Bellator champ. He falls in the champion category and he is one of the best WWs in the world.

Tybura is M-1 champ and just tore through some top HWs outside UFC over the past two years. He's a champion, not a prospect or a contender. Same with Moraes.

Bibi was a champ in DREAM and now a champ in ONE FC. He is also a 10 year veteran. He falls in the champion/veteran category and he is one of the best BWs in the world.

Ishii is former IGF champ and is a top 15 fighter outside UFC. He's a 5 year veteran with 17 fights. He falls in the contender category (not prospect).

Really, Spong is the only MMA prospect you have listed. Spong fits the prospect definition because he is 2-0 in MMA and shows a lot of potential based on his kickboxing background. He only has 2 years in the sport as well which also fits the definition. He is inexperienced in MMA, he is undefeated at 2-0, and he shows promise to be a future breakthrough star, making him a prospect. I wouldn't classify Spong as a novice based on his excellent kickboxing and Muay Thai background.
 
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CDF47 said:
Ishii is former IGF champ and is a top 15 fighter outside UFC. He's a 5 year veteran with 17 fights. He falls in the contender category (not prospect).
Click to expand...

If you are seriously trying to say that Ishii is a top 15 fighter, you've officially jumped the shark.

EDIT: I completely misread this. Sorry.
 
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C'mon TS you can't ommit Mamed like that!
 
CDF47 said:
Prospects/Journeyman are young or inexperienced fighters who show potential to be future breakthrough stars. Prospects are a step above novice fighters and a step below contenders and gatekeepers. Only one of the fighters you listed is actually a prospect. It would be like calling Cain, Pettis, Aldo, Nog, and Dan Henderson prospects.

Aoki is an 11 year veteran with a record of 37-6-1 (44 fights under his belt). He is current ONE FC champion and former DREAM champion. He has 2 more fights than aged veteran Hendo. Aoki falls in the legend/champion/veteran category (farthest from prospect a fighter can get without being a retired hall of famer).

Askren is undefeated and current ONE FC champ and former Bellator champ. He falls in the champion category and he is one of the best WWs in the world.

Tybura is M-1 champ and just tore through some top HWs outside UFC over the past two years. He's a champion, not a prospect or a contender. Same with Moraes.

Bibi was a champ in DREAM and now a champ in ONE FC. He is also a 10 year veteran. He falls in the champion/veteran category and he is one of the best BWs in the world.

Ishii is former IGF champ and is a top 15 fighter outside UFC. He's a 5 year veteran with 17 fights. He falls in the contender category (not prospect).

Really, Spong is the only MMA prospect you have listed. Spong fits the prospect definition because he is 2-0 in MMA and shows a lot of potential based on his kickboxing background. He only has 2 years in the sport as well which also fits the definition. He is inexperienced in MMA, he is undefeated at 2-0, and he shows promise to be a future breakthrough star, making him a prospect. I wouldn't classify Spong as a novice based on his excellent kickboxing and Muay Thai background.
Click to expand...

Askren has never beaten a top level WW, Aoki would get destroyed in a wrestling heavy North American market (see the Alvarez/Melendez fights), Tybura is entirely unproven against top shelf HW's (same for Ishi), and Moraes/Bibi have not faced anywhere near UFC level competition thus far in their careers.

Every fighter he listed in that category is a prospect except for Aoki who is a proven commodity and does not rank in the legend category. I can go run through fight finder and pull up dozens of fighters with similar records that are most certainly not legends because they fought sub-par competition when compared to real legends.

Don't go correcting someone else's post when you yourself are wrong, or basing your entire post on your bias towards certain figthers. Any fighter who hasn't yet made it to the biggest shows and beaten the toughest competition is a prospect, 40 fights in or 4 fights in.


Edit: PS - Calling these guys prospects is nothing like calling future UFC Hall of Famers and current champions prospects. They compete on the highest level, something his listed fighters don't do.
 
foard32 said:
Askren has never beaten a top level WW, Aoki would get destroyed in a wrestling heavy North American market (see the Alvarez/Melendez fights), Tybura is entirely unproven against top shelf HW's (same for Ishi), and Moraes/Bibi have not faced anywhere near UFC level competition thus far in their careers.

Every fighter he listed in that category is a prospect except for Aoki who is a proven commodity and does not rank in the legend category. I can go run through fight finder and pull up dozens of fighters with similar records that are most certainly not legends because they fought sub-par competition when compared to real legends.

Don't go correcting someone else's post when you yourself are wrong, or basing your entire post on your bias towards certain figthers. Any fighter who hasn't yet made it to the biggest shows and beaten the toughest competition is a prospect, 40 fights in or 4 fights in.


Edit: PS - Calling these guys prospects is nothing like calling future UFC Hall of Famers and current champions prospects. They compete on the highest level, something his listed fighters don't do.
Click to expand...

No, original response by me was correct. These same dumb ass arguments were made about WEC and SF and then those fighters came in and a number of them kicked ass in UFC. Your arguments are just more BS Zuffa propaganda which has been getting spread through this site for the past 14 years.
 
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Pretty stupid op and list. Another "reeks of UFC shill" thread, tbh.

You have baroni and not either friere? Sad, and really just pathetic. Lima could beat lawler, don't think he should be on there? UFC shill or clueless.
 
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