Limelight My big stupid hype trains thread.

Yes! Virgil is very promising, he's a smart, polite guy, has a good entourage, and his fight against Jacky Jeanne was impressive (most a Muay Thai guy, still good enough).
His coach even brought him to Sweden at Allstar Training center, but sadly Gus and Khamzat weren't there for most of the week, because he's a big fan of both.

Virgil told this story that when he an Khamzat were doing drills, "Borz" randomly slammed the hell out of him right on his neck out of nowhere, PRIDE Rampage style, because "he wasn't listening" (Virgil is pretty good in English, but he didn't understand everything the coaches there told him and often had to ask them to repeat, etc)
and when he got up Virgil punched Chimaev, and now he's no longer a fan...

Long story short, he's definitely someone to keep an eye on on the French MMA scene.
Probably the best to stay away from Khamzat and his crew. Just a bunch of undisciplined hooligans
 
Featherweight

  1. Losene Keita (25/Senegal/10-0) (Division change)
  2. Gabriel Santos (26/Brazil/10-0)
  3. Salahdine Parnasse (25/France/17-1)
  4. Evgeniy Ignatiev (27/Russia/20-2-2) (up 6 places)
  5. Islam Omarov (25/Russia/12-0)
  6. Alikhan Suleymanov (19/Russia/15-3)
  7. Paul Hughes (Northern Ireland/9-1)
  8. Bibert Tumenov (25/Russia/12-2)
  9. Jose Delano (26/Brazil/12-2)
  10. Tae Kyun Kim (South Korea/9-1)
  11. Wellington Prado (23/Brazil/13-2)
  12. Marcio Barbosa (24/Brazil/13-2)
  13. Ilkhom Nazimov (27/Uzbekistan/9-2)
  14. Bruno Fontes (27/Brazil/6-0)
  15. Andrey Goncharov (25/Russia/16-4)
  16. Diego Lopes (27/Brazil/21-5)
  17. Mukhamed Eminov (Russia/18-1)
  18. Dawid Smielkowski (27/Poland/10-0)
  19. Hyder Amil (32/USA/7-0)
  20. Jordan Vucenic (26/England/9-2)
  21. Patryk Kaczmarczyk (24/Poland/9-2)
  22. Hae Jin Park (30/South Korea/10-2)
  23. Luke Riley (23/England/5-0)
  24. Georgy Shakhururamazanov (Russia/12-1)
  25. Canaan Kawaihae (25/USA/7-2)

Bantamweight

  1. Rustam Kerimov (30/Russia/17-0)
  2. Renat Khavalov (24/Russia/7-0)
  3. Felipe Lima (24/Brazil/11-1)
  4. Austin Bashi (21/USA/8-0)
  5. Khuseyn Shaykhaev (25/Russia/12-0)
  6. Jean Matsumoto (Brazil/12-0)
  7. Muin Gafurov (26/Tajikistan/18-4)
  8. Vinicius De Oliveira (27/Brazil/17-3)
  9. Mehdi Baidulaev (25/Russia/14-2)
  10. Dzhamaludin Aliev (24/Russia/8-0) (New entry)
  11. Fernando Laurenco (28/Brazil/16-3)
  12. Herbeth Sousa (28/Brazil/15-2)
  13. Otar Tanzilov (24/Georgia/9-0)
  14. Nicholas Hwende (Zimbabwe/5-0)
  15. Rodrigo Vera (27/Peru/15-1-1) (New entry)
  16. Khalim Nazruloev (24/Takjikistan/6-0) (New entry)
  17. Kai Asakura (29/Japan/19-4)
  18. Jakub Wiklacz (26/Poland/14-3-1)
  19. Levi Mowles (27/USA/16-4)
  20. Kevin Cordero (23/Spain/14-3)
  21. Mitch McKee (25/USA/4-0)
  22. Sebastian Przybysz (29/Poland/10-3)
  23. Bernardo Sopai (22/Albania/9-2)
  24. Yanis Ghemmouri (27/France/11-1)
  25. Caolan Loughran (23/Ireland/7-0)

Flyweight

  1. Azat Maksum (27/Kazakhstan/16-0)
  2. Igor Da Silva (19/Brazil/7-0)
  3. Azamat Kerefov (Russia/16-0)
  4. Jaret Betancourt (24/USA/4-0)
  5. Makoto Takahashi (22/Japan/15-1-1)
  6. Joshua Van (21/Myanmar/7-1)
  7. Asu Almabaev (28/Kazakhstan/17-2)
  8. Kurban Gadzhiev (Russia/18-3)
  9. Murad Magomedov (Russia/12-0)
  10. Davi Costa (Brazil/14-3)
  11. Tony Laramie (23/Canada/6-2)
  12. Imran Bukuev (26/Russia/14-2)
  13. Alibi Idiris (27/Kazakhstan/7-0)
  14. Jung Hyun Lee (20/South Korea/8-0)
  15. Dias Erengaipov (27/Kazakhstan/13-3)
  16. Andres Luna Martinetti (27/Ecuador/12-1)
  17. Abdula Aliev (26/Russia/11-1)
  18. Joao Elias (27/Brazil/17-4-1)
  19. Eduardo Henrique (27/Brazil/10-2)
  20. Oleksii Kryvets (25/Ukraine/6-0)
  21. Christian Natividad (USA/5-0)
  22. Mitch Raposo (24/USA/7-1)
  23. Aren Akopyan (29/Russia/13-3-1)
  24. Luis Gurule (29/USA/4-0)
  25. An Ho (22/Vietnam/3-0) (New entry)

Women's Bantamweight plus

  1. Melissa Dixon (31/England/5-0)
  2. Darya Zheleznyakova (26/Russia/7-1)
  3. Lucia Szabova (24/Slovakia/6-0)
  4. Jasmine Favero (22/Italy/2-0)
  5. Evelyn Martins (20/Brazil/3-0)
  6. Firuza Sharipova (28/Kazakhstan/2-0)
  7. Jacqueline Cavalcanti (25/Portugal/4-1)
  8. Taneisha Tennant (33/USA/5-2)
  9. Lisa Verzosa (27/USA/6-2)
  10. Hope Chase (24/USA/3-1)
  11. Olga Rubin (33/Israel/8-3)
  12. Melissa Croden (30/Canada/4-1)
  13. Luana Santos (22/Brazil/4-1)
  14. Karolina Sobek (23/Poland/4-0)
  15. Alexia Thainara (25/Brazil/7-1)
  16. Serena DeJesus (30/USA/5-3)
  17. Auttumn Norton (28/USA/2-2)
  18. Meruert Ibraeva (22/Kazakhstan/3-1)

Women's Flyweight

  1. Jamey Lyn Horth (32/Canada/5-0)
  2. Stephanie Geltmacher (32/USA/5-1)
  3. Ivana Petrovic (27/Norway/5-0)
  4. Ketlen Souza (27/Brazil/13-3)
  5. Melissa Amaya (27/USA/5-0)
  6. Qihui Yan (26/China/22-4)
  7. Alexandra Tekenah (France/3-1)
  8. Claire Guthrie (27/USA/5-1)
  9. Paula Cristina (27/Brazil/6-1)
  10. Kristina Williams (33/USA/6-4)
  11. Thaiany Lopes (21/Brazil/4-0)
  12. Assia Miri (19/France/1-1)
  13. Nayara Maia (32/Brazil/7-1-1)
  14. Karoline Martins (25/Brazil/9-5)
  15. Veronika Borisova (21/Russia/4-0)
  16. Liana Pirosin (29/Brazil/8-5)
  17. Kaytlin Neil (30/USA/6-4)
  18. Lucrezia Ria (30/Italy/8-4)
  19. Daiana Torquato (32/Brazil/11-6)
Strawweight minus

  1. Josefine Knutsson (26/Sweden/4-0)
  2. Fatima Kline (22/USA/3-0)
  3. Maria Silva (27/Brazil/8-1)
  4. Valesca Machado (27/Brazil/12-3)
  5. Giovanna Canuto (19/Brazil/4-0)
  6. Seika Izawa (25/Japan/9-0)
  7. Ewelina Wozniak (29/Poland/7-1)
  8. Julia Polastri (24/Brazil/11-3)
  9. Sveltana Gotsyk (26/Ukraine/13-5)
  10. Hannah Rokala (25/USA/1-0)
  11. Jessica Delboni (29/Brazil/12-4)
  12. Rose Conceicao (25/Brazil/6-0)
  13. Tani Torres (Mexico/5-0)
  14. Yasmin Castanho (26/Brazil/5-1)
  15. Saray Orozco (31/Mexico/7-5)
  16. Sofia Bagishvili (23/Georgia/7-2)
  17. Karolina Wojcik (28/Poland/10-3)
  18. Fabiola Pidroni (29/Italy/5-0)
  19. Marnic Mann (29/USA/5-1)
  20. Brenda Gottig (31/Argentina/6-1)
  21. Anastasia Svetkivska (25/Ukraine/2-2)
  22. Talita Alencar (32/Brazil/3-0)
  23. Ediana Silva (21/Brazil/12-3)
  24. Loveth Young (33/USA/3-2-1)
  25. Rayanne Amanda (27/Brazil/12-6)

Next fights etc are listed on the Tap lists linked on the front page.

Bekzat better be getting closer, he beats a chunk of guys on your list I think. I'll try to find Khalims age.
 
Khalim is 24 years old and Almabaev just turned 29. Hope to see Asu signed, he was in the little UFC Shavkat feature and I think he will be in the corner with Shavkat for 285, maybe razzle dazzle them with a little English and schmooze a deal.
 
Bekzat better be getting closer, he beats a chunk of guys on your list I think. I'll try to find Khalims age.

He's on the cusp. He had a close one with Mastromarini imo but tbf Mastromarini really impressed me too.
 
He's on the cusp. He had a close one with Mastromarini imo but tbf Mastromarini really impressed me too.

I was a little disappointed in both guys unwillingness to engage, I think they both were pretty nervous for obvious reasons, huge opportunity and two hitters but they seemed off their games a bit. It looked to me like Bekzat was a level above Mastro the entire fight until that step in elbow in the 3rd and his wrestling looked phenomenal which I expected vs a Latin American prospect. Bekzat has strong wrestling but he should develop more of his grappling for once he gets ontop...he let Mastro back up twice if I recall, like literally just disengaged and let him up. He seemed lost when it came to passing or creating space for GnP. That elbow was nasty, having a split brow over the inside of the eye near the bridge of the nose is way worse than where it typically happens closer to the edge of the brow, all the blood really pools, I couldn't tell how badly he was hurt vs just how freaked out he was to get split open that badly. It was a good fight, even in Bekzat's loss when he was like 22 to Sultan Zholdoshbek he dropped Sultan and looked really good in the grappling exchanges early.

Nazruloev looks really solid, added him to my list of BW's to watch.
 
I was a little disappointed in both guys unwillingness to engage, I think they both were pretty nervous for obvious reasons, huge opportunity and two hitters but they seemed off their games a bit. It looked to me like Bekzat was a level above Mastro the entire fight until that step in elbow in the 3rd and his wrestling looked phenomenal which I expected vs a Latin American prospect. Bekzat has strong wrestling but he should develop more of his grappling for once he gets ontop...he let Mastro back up twice if I recall, like literally just disengaged and let him up. He seemed lost when it came to passing or creating space for GnP. That elbow was nasty, having a split brow over the inside of the eye near the bridge of the nose is way worse than where it typically happens closer to the edge of the brow, all the blood really pools, I couldn't tell how badly he was hurt vs just how freaked out he was to get split open that badly. It was a good fight, even in Bekzat's loss when he was like 22 to Sultan Zholdoshbek he dropped Sultan and looked really good in the grappling exchanges early.

Nazruloev looks really solid, added him to my list of BW's to watch.

Yeah tbf to Bekzat Mastro impressed me honestly. Seems to have a hard guard to pass, never really let Bekzat settle on him, athletic get ups and nice and aggressive on the feet. He's only 24 himself I think so he's for sure one to keep an eye on.
 
Yeah tbf to Bekzat Mastro impressed me honestly. Seems to have a hard guard to pass, never really let Bekzat settle on him, athletic get ups and nice and aggressive on the feet. He's only 24 himself I think so he's for sure one to keep an eye on.

Argentina is developing nicely as an MMA country and he's one of their better prospects for sure. Gutsy fight for both guys to take, Mastro can clean up his striking a lot though, reminded me of brazilian striking. Kinda like Vinicius vs Taleb, I'm not sold Taleb is really good, he may be, but Vinicious is this big gifted striker with shit defense and wild offense....It was going to catch up to him sooner or later, someone with the poise and pop to stay in the pocket and keep catching him.
 
Argentina is developing nicely as an MMA country and he's one of their better prospects for sure. Gutsy fight for both guys to take, Mastro can clean up his striking a lot though, reminded me of brazilian striking. Kinda like Vinicius vs Taleb, I'm not sold Taleb is really good, he may be, but Vinicious is this big gifted striker with shit defense and wild offense....It was going to catch up to him sooner or later, someone with the poise and pop to stay in the pocket and keep catching him.

I think Lokdog has good defence when he wants to but he's too much of a showboater and I think the run he was on he through he was invincible. He beats Taleb more often than not imo, just needs to be a bit more sensible.

I'm really hoping he gets a fight in before DWCS season.
 
I think Lokdog has good defence when he wants to but he's too much of a showboater and I think the run he was on he through he was invincible. He beats Taleb more often than not imo, just needs to be a bit more sensible.

I'm really hoping he gets a fight in before DWCS season.

I've seen a lack of defense and very aggressive loopy punches in a lot of his fights, maybe he was overconfident but that kind of comes with being an explosive, fast and powerful striker with a serious size advantage over a lot of your opponents. Maybe he will clean things up though but even Charles Oliveira, the guy who just lost to Javid from his camp, Rangel Da Sa, I just see this style of striking widespread in Brazilians, even guys like Andrade and Pereira who are incredible offensively and great kickboxers are super hittable in MMA. I've noticed it from Mastro and Prado too, kinda worried Ribovics is going to flop vs Loik for similar reasons. They gotta partner up with some boxing gyms or something.
 
Anthony Cassar spotted with a DWCS shirt on episode 4 of embedded
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I doubt that means anything, he was probably with Bo last year when he was on it.
This was from the embedded video from this week though. It would be weird if he just randomly wears a shirt with the DWCS logo on it while being filmed by the UFC.

I do think he will be on DWCS and the UFC eventually, but probably not this year. He just started his MMA career 2 months ago.
 
hwende1.jpg


Nicholas Hwende


Country - Zimbabwe
Weight Class - Bantamweight
Age : 27
Promotion - EFC Africa
Team - TKO Boxing Club
Record : 6-0

EFC champ Hwende has kinda snuck up on me. I do think it's difficult to predict how these EFC Africa guys will do once they get to tougher competition, but he's been really impressive in his last few fights. Beating Zulu with basically one working eye in his last fight and then doing the EFC tradition of running through Roevan De Beer in this fight.

Seems athletic, has good power, aggressive grappling and ground and pound, seems to have good passing. Looks ready for the next level to me.
 
@Hellowhosthat you have your eyes on Dzhamaludin Aliev at all? His fight vs Asylbek Rustambek is easily contender series level fight this weekend.
 
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