Mattandbenny's 10 Best Amateur Middleweights In MMA 2019

[mattandbenny]

Welcome to the 3rd part of my 2019 amateur scouting report - The Middleweights.

Previous parts can be found in the links below:
Heavyweights: https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/...vyweights-in-mma-2019.3892117/#post-148121703
Lightheavyweights: https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/...vyweights-in-mma-2019.3893357/#post-148200369

A quick recap of the rules i go by. Fighters are only eligible to be included if they pass ALL 3 rules.
1) All fighters must have fought at least once in the year 2018 - Inactive fighters are not included
2) Fighters must have at least 3 amateur fights
3) An age limit of 26 years old is in effect – fighters aged 27 & older will not be included

Pleae see below for the Middleweight amateur prospect list!






1) Ian Garry (6-1)
Age: 20 years old
Finish Ratio: 100% (5 KO, 1 Sub)
Opponent W/L: 15-8
Key Wins: John Smooth (3-0)
Fighting out of: Ireland
Style: Boxing

2) Lajuan Davis (6-0)
Age: 21 years old
Finish Ratio: 67% (3 KO, 1 Sub, 2 Dec)
Opponent W/L: 11-9
Key Wins: Bailey Cooper (5-0)
Fighting out of: Georgia, USA
Style: Boxing

3) Dzhamal Medzhidov (6-0)
Age: 24 years old
Finish Ratio: 50% (3 KO, 3 Dec)
Opponent W/L: 38-10
Key Wins: Andreas Berg (9-0), Dario Bellandi (12-1), Radu Zarioiu (4-1)
Fighting out of: Moscow, Russia
Style: Wrestling

4) Zach Scroggins (5-0)
Age: 22 years old
Finish Ratio: 80% (2 KO, 2 Sub, 1 Dec)
Opponent W/L: 11-5
Key Wins: Isaac Lyons (4-2)
Fighting out of: Kansas, USA
Style: All Round

5) Will Currie (5-0)
Age: 20 years old
Finish Ratio: 60% (3 Sub, 2 Dec)
Opponent W/L: 2-14
Key Wins: N/A
Fighting out of: Surrey, England
Style: All Round

6) Gaston Gaitan (7-0)
Age: 20 years old
Finish Ratio: 57% (1 KO, 3 Sub, 3 Dec)
Opponent W/L: 1-1
Key Wins: N/A
Fighting out of: Argentina
Style: All Round

7) Trace Engelkes (3-0)
Age: 25 years old
Finish Ratio: 67% (2 KO, 1 Dec)
Opponent W/L: 3-3
Key Wins: N/A
Fighting out of: Illinois, USA
Style: Wrestling

8) Troy Cain (5-0)
Age: 23 years old
Finish Ratio: 60% (1 KO, 2 Sub, 2 Dec)
Opponent W/L: 11-5
Key Wins: David Simpson (5-2)
Fighting out of: North Carolina, USA
Style: All Round

9) Rakim Talley (9-1)
Age: 25 years old
Finish Ratio: 89% (5 KO, 3 Sub, 1 Dec)
Opponent W/L: 23-13
Key Wins: Steven Birdsong (7-1)
Fighting out of: Tennessee, USA
Style: Wrestling

10) Zion Tomlinson (5-0)
Age: 19 years old
Finish Ratio: 100% (4 KO, 1 Sub)
Opponent W/L: 12-4
Key Wins: Christian Bradberry (7-2), Jacob Wood (3-0)
Fighting out of:Virginia USA
Style: Muay Thai

 

[Zion Tomlinson]

This list is garbage

 

[europe1]

Seems weird to put Ian on top when he has a loss.

I mean, Dzhamal Medzhidov won gold at the Amatures by beating people like Berg and Bellandi. How do you not get Nr 1 with that resume?

 

[E Undead]

I've always been a fan of your prospects lists. You've been doing this for years, I really appreciate the input.

However, does it make sense to rank amateurs? I mean, as far as I know there are very different rule sets for amateur fights around the world and most of these guys aren't doing MMA for more than three years. It's kinda weird to try to rank them, but that's just my opinion.

However, keep up the good work and give us some updates as soon as those guys make their pro debut

 

[mattandbenny]

Cheers for all comments, both good and bad!

This is purely my personal opinion - I'm sure i will be wrong on many guys but i also have a decent track record for my scouting too so i don't think i will be too far off.

Seems weird to put Ian on top when he has a loss.

I mean, Dzhamal Medzhidov won gold at the Amatures by beating people like Berg and Bellandi. How do you not get Nr 1 with that resume?

My rankings are based off more than just records etc - this is definately taken into account but probably the biggest thing i go off is watching videos of their fights. Medzhidov beat Bellandi comfortably but Bellandi is not as good as his record suggests. Beating Andreas Berg however was an excellent victory as Berg really is solid - it was a very very close fight but in the end he out-grinded the grinder. So i am really high on Medzhidov but I am just really high on Ian Garry a bit more - he is 20 years old (4 years younger than Medzhidov), being brought through by Cage Warriors who won't rush his development, and i could them bringing him through sort of like they did with Jack Shore, who is now in the UFC. If you watch videos of Garry's fights you will see his boxing is excellent and he has a hint of the Irish McGregor-esque cockyness in him. He actually turned pro the month after i posted this (dropping to welterweight) and won a dominant decision with 30-25 scorecards over a tough opponent who was 8-1 as an amateur and 1-1 as a pro. But as i say i may be wrong and Garry may go on to become a fun journeyman with a 9-7 sort of record etc - that's the fun thing about predicting how amateurs will get on as pro's.

I've always been a fan of your prospects lists. You've been doing this for years, I really appreciate the input.

However, does it make sense to rank amateurs? I mean, as far as I know there are very different rule sets for amateur fights around the world and most of these guys aren't doing MMA for more than three years. It's kinda weird to try to rank them, but that's just my opinion.

However, keep up the good work and give us some updates as soon as those guys make their pro debut

Ranking amateurs is definitely harder than ranking pro's. It's not so bad with Americans as there's a pretty deep amateur scene there and lots of videos and info out there on fighters. But Brazil for example has pretty much zero amateur scene, Russia & Japan both have a small amateur scene but finding videos of fights or finding information on the fighters is near enough impossible. There's quite a few websites / people with ranking lists of professional prospects (like i have done myself many times) but none for the amateur scene, so i thought i'd test myself and put something different out there. I'm sure one or two of these guys will never even turn pro, let alone be successful. In rankings i have made in the past some guys i have been really high on have disappeared off the face of the earth and never fought again for some reason (in 2014 Adam D'Angelo was an athletic well-rounded 20 year old heavyweight with a 7-1 amateur record i was keeping an eye on. He never fought since. Same with Tommy Beal, a lightweight with a 10-1 record who was 22 in 2015 never to be heard from again!).