My big stupid hype trains thread.

MansurAzhiev-1.jpg


Mansur Azhiev

Country - Russia/Poland
Weight Class - Featherweight
Age : 23
Promotion - Armia Fight Night
Record : 7-0

Much more impressed with Azhiev this time out as he absolutely dominated a Brazilian opponent who's been in there with the likes of Brendan Loughnane. Controlled every second of the fight and looked like he could do what he wanted at any point. It was nice to get more of a look at his striking which is really polished, with a good creative shot selection which he seems adept at picking well from to get things to connect. Looks to have decent power too.

I knew the grappling was there from the last time I saw him, but he has the wrestling and top control you'd expect from a top Dagi prospect.
 
This week we have...

ACA on Friday (ACA website)

HW - #2 Mukhamed Vakhaev (31/Russia/10-4-1) challenging Tony Johnson (15-5-1) to get his title back
HW - #21 Michal Martinek (31/Czech Republic/9-2) fights the infuriatingly inconsistent Denis Smoldarev (16-8)
LW - Khaseyn Shaykhaev (24/Russia/6-0) isn't imo as good as his brother but fights Maharbek Kaginov (13-3)
FLW - #22 Bidzina Gazasheshvili (23/Georgia/8-2) has a tough one against Josiel Silva (14-5)

CFFC on Friday (UFC Fight Pass)

FW - #33 DeAndre Anderson (24/USA/5-0) takes on always tough Damon Blackshear (10-4) for the belt
WW - Donovan Beard (32/USA/5-0) fights Raheam Forest (24/USA/3-0)
MW - #16 Lydell Poag (23/USA/1-0) fights the debuting Dillion Winemiller

Eternal on Saturday (UFC Fight Pass)

LW - #46 Jack Becker (28/Australia/9-2) defends his title against Brentin Mumford (11-7)

Fight Club Rush on Saturday (UFC Fight Pass)

HW - Former IMMAF champ Irman Smajic (?/Bosnia/3-0) fights Nermin Hasdarpasic (?/Sweden/2-0)
SW - #7 Josefine Knutsson (25/Sweden/2-0) fights TUF vet Lachnana Green (4-3-1)
 
Yahoo news is reporting: Lookin for a fight, signed Joseph Holmes 7-1 & Trey Ogden 15-4 from Fury FC 53 or at least made the offers according to article...
https://www.yahoo.com/now/dana-white-signs-two-fighters-040412879.html

Good for them, they both looked excellent. I'd make hype train posts but I think it's pretty irrelevant as they're obviously UFC fighters already.

Mo Miller was submitted by a late replacement journeyman.

Yeah, I think Mo got careless trying to impress Dana. I think if he fights the way he normally fights he beats Jose Johnson.
 
LW - Khaseyn Shaykhaev (24/Russia/6-0) isn't imo as good as his brother but fights Maharbek Kaginov (13-3)...

KHUSEIN SHAIKHAEV
"SHY" 11-0

Names so close is confusing.
 
LW - Khaseyn Shaykhaev (24/Russia/6-0) isn't imo as good as his brother but fights Maharbek Kaginov (13-3)...

KHUSEIN SHAIKHAEV
"SHY" 11-0

Names so close is confusing.

Interestingly where there's two brothers one called Khusein and one called Khasan (or close to), the Khusein is always the good one, this applies to the Askhabov brothers, the Khaliev brothers and the Shaykhaev brothers.

It's science.
 
Interestingly where there's two brothers one called Khusein and one called Khasan (or close to), the Khusein is always the good one, this applies to the Askhabov brothers, the Khaliev brothers and the Shaykhaev brothers.

It's science.

I only had three sisters but if I had brother I would be the bad one. Lol
 
This week we have...

ACA on Friday (ACA website)

HW - #2 Mukhamed Vakhaev (31/Russia/10-4-1) challenging Tony Johnson (15-5-1) to get his title back
HW - #21 Michal Martinek (31/Czech Republic/9-2) fights the infuriatingly inconsistent Denis Smoldarev (16-8)
LW - Khaseyn Shaykhaev (24/Russia/6-0) isn't imo as good as his brother but fights Maharbek Kaginov (13-3)
FLW - #22 Bidzina Gazasheshvili (23/Georgia/8-2) has a tough one against Josiel Silva (14-5)

CFFC on Friday (UFC Fight Pass)

FW - #33 DeAndre Anderson (24/USA/5-0) takes on always tough Damon Blackshear (10-4) for the belt
WW - Donovan Beard (32/USA/5-0) fights Raheam Forest (24/USA/3-0)
MW - #16 Lydell Poag (23/USA/1-0) fights the debuting Dillion Winemiller

Eternal on Saturday (UFC Fight Pass)

LW - #46 Jack Becker (28/Australia/9-2) defends his title against Brentin Mumford (11-7)

Fight Club Rush on Saturday (UFC Fight Pass)

HW - Former IMMAF champ Irman Smajic (?/Bosnia/3-0) fights Nermin Hasdarpasic (?/Sweden/2-0)
SW - #7 Josefine Knutsson (25/Sweden/2-0) fights TUF vet Lachnana Green (4-3-1)
There is also RCC and Open FC cards on Saturday (Open still has only announced main and co-main).

Also I wanted to ask you, do you think some countries are kind of, I don't know, banned from UFC? I am talking about likes of Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Belarus. 0 Azerbaijani citizens in the history of UFC while there were guys fighting on cards of Bellator, Rizin and I think Isaev from PFL can be counted (reason, in my opinion might be that UFC has a good relationship with Sunni Arabic countries and I suspect they are not a big fans of idea that a fighter from country where majority of population are Shia Muslims might be succesful in UFC); regarding Tajikistan, I think there were a couple of guys on DWTNCS cards but still 0 Tajikistani citizens ever fought in UFC (while there is multiple guys in Bellator, Radzhabov in PFL, I think few guys in ONE, I remember seeing in Wikipedia that, like a 3 years ago Tajikistani guy became champ/interim champ in Pancrase and a lot of guys are fighting in Russian promotions, including unbeaten and champ in EFC) (reason might be that, from what I read, mma is banned/illegal in Tajikistan); Belarus -- from what I've seen a lot of fighters, including unbeaten are fighting in ACA and Russian promotions, BRAVE and Belarussian promotions, but I think aside from Arlovski and Matuyshenko no one else was signed (?) (also, funny that seems like both of them later became American citizens), I suspect reason is that all that political stuff with Belarus (reputation of dictatorship and isn't they are under sanctions?).
 
I do not think any countries are banned from UFC but never was sure if UFC limited fighters from other countries or if just because Visas were harder for some countries. Many of us are hoping this deal Dana is talking about from Abu Dhabi turns out to be UFC Abu Dhabi so they can sign fighters with visa issues. Sign them to UFC Abu Dhabi.

Also Venator Fighting Championship is now on fight pass do you know if they lost The Golden Cage? Or if Fight-pass has two promotions from Italy?

And is Ares FC gone from Fight-pass? So no promotion from France..
 
There is also RCC and Open FC cards on Saturday (Open still has only announced main and co-main).

Also I wanted to ask you, do you think some countries are kind of, I don't know, banned from UFC? I am talking about likes of Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Belarus. 0 Azerbaijani citizens in the history of UFC while there were guys fighting on cards of Bellator, Rizin and I think Isaev from PFL can be counted (reason, in my opinion might be that UFC has a good relationship with Sunni Arabic countries and I suspect they are not a big fans of idea that a fighter from country where majority of population are Shia Muslims might be succesful in UFC); regarding Tajikistan, I think there were a couple of guys on DWTNCS cards but still 0 Tajikistani citizens ever fought in UFC (while there is multiple guys in Bellator, Radzhabov in PFL, I think few guys in ONE, I remember seeing in Wikipedia that, like a 3 years ago Tajikistani guy became champ/interim champ in Pancrase and a lot of guys are fighting in Russian promotions, including unbeaten and champ in EFC) (reason might be that, from what I read, mma is banned/illegal in Tajikistan); Belarus -- from what I've seen a lot of fighters, including unbeaten are fighting in ACA and Russian promotions, BRAVE and Belarussian promotions, but I think aside from Arlovski and Matuyshenko no one else was signed (?) (also, funny that seems like both of them later became American citizens), I suspect reason is that all that political stuff with Belarus (reputation of dictatorship and isn't they are under sanctions?).

It's certainly possible but they don't usually let Politics get in the way so I suspect not.
 
I do not think any countries are banned from UFC but never was sure if UFC limited fighters from other countries or if just because Visas were harder for some countries. Many of us are hoping this deal Dana is talking about from Abu Dhabi turns out to be UFC Abu Dhabi so they can sign fighters with visa issues. Sign them to UFC Abu Dhabi.

Also Venator Fighting Championship is now on fight pass do you know if they lost The Golden Cage? Or if Fight-pass has two promotions from Italy?

And is Ares FC gone from Fight-pass? So no promotion from France..
Ares decided to try and go their own way I know that.
 


Mo's signed for the UFC. I think this might be a little early and they'll have to take him slowly.
 
I'd probably start with Adashev assuming Kleydson mauls him, Mo would wrestlefuck him without too much issue imo.
Adashev is one of the weirdest signings the UFC had done. A 3-1 Bellator guy who just fought cans.

Brave finding success as the promotion that just lets every one of their fighters leave if the UFC comes knocking, just like Cage Warriors. Would Bellator have more success finding top prospects if they did the same model? But at the same time they would lose tons of top guys. Pros and cons
 
Adashev is one of the weirdest signings the UFC had done. A 3-1 Bellator guy who just fought cans.

Brave finding success as the promotion that just lets every one of their fighters leave if the UFC comes knocking, just like Cage Warriors. Would Bellator have more success finding top prospects if they did the same model? But at the same time they would lose tons of top guys. Pros and cons

I don't think Bellator should do it the same way as BRAVE, LFA or Cage Warriors do when they just let anyone leave as soon as they get a UFC offer, however I do think it would benefit them to be more accommodating if someone who's done a lot for them wants to leave, for example if Patricio decided that he wanted a run in the UFC then I think they should let him (not suggesting that he does), or even AJ after a couple more fights.

I don't think having a situation like they had with Minakov where he clearly wanted to move over but they clung onto him and he ended up aging out of his prime makes them attractive to prospects they're looking to sign. A lot of prospects are UFC or bust and they won't sign for Bellator in the meantime because they see it as a roadblock to getting where they want to go.

It's not just Bellator btw, I feel the same about ONE.
 
I don't think Bellator should do it the same way as BRAVE, LFA or Cage Warriors do when they just let anyone leave as soon as they get a UFC offer, however I do think it would benefit them to be more accommodating if someone who's done a lot for them wants to leave, for example if Patricio decided that he wanted a run in the UFC then I think they should let him (not suggesting that he does), or even AJ after a couple more fights.

I don't think having a situation like they had with Minakov where he clearly wanted to move over but they clung onto him and he ended up aging out of his prime makes them attractive to prospects they're looking to sign. A lot of prospects are UFC or bust and they won't sign for Bellator in the meantime because they see it as a roadblock to getting where they want to go.

It's not just Bellator btw, I feel the same about ONE.
It would help build Bellator's legitemacy as many people still think of Bellator as a UFC reject and retirement promotion. Patricio becoming UFC FW champ, or even being top 5 for a while, would bring tons of attention to the other guys in Bellator.

It's a balancing act, which I feel they have gotten better at recently with letting guys like Burlinson, Mandy Bohm, and Chris Duncan compete in DWCS or UFC.
 
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