Limelight One of the best 170lbs(77kg) prospects outside of the UFC, Jakshylyk Myrzabekov 14-2, real record 15-1

[HuskySamoan]

Problem with talents in ACA is that they tend to stay there. We don't get a lot of longtime ex-ACA fighters crossing over to the UFC. Pay's too good over there, and the competition is lesser. I don't know about you but I'd take easier fights for bigger paychecks if I had the choice, in addition to not having to fly across the world to do it.

Yeah, thats not entirely it. All these guys start out wanting to be in the UFC but they either cant get their visas or the UFC doesnt want them.

Alexandr Shabliy? Wanted to be in the UFC, they kept turning him down.

Eduard Vartanyan ACA LW tourny champ tried, they turned him down.

Azamat Kerefov ACA flyweight champ tried, they turned him down.

ACA WW champ Albert Tumenov...didnt the UFC let him go or something silly?

Renat Khavalov, Shamil Musaev, Samandar Murodov, Amru Magomedov, Khotam Boynazarov, Daniyar Toychubek, Khalim Nazruloev etc etc. Are avoiding the ACA path intentionally to try and sign with the UFC or tried and in Musaev, Khavalov and Amrus case they didnt pick them up so they went to PFL. UFC does not want central Asian, Russian and Caucasian fighters, their roster space for them is very very intentionally small. They would rather sign 7-2 30year olds from Canada with no talent.

 

[STAY GOLD]

Eduard Vartanyan ACA LW tourny champ tried, they turned him down.

This is probably the most baffling one. Vartanyan said he negotiated with the UFC after he won the ACA LW GP. He won $1M there and the UFC told him the best offer they could give him was a spot on the Contender Series. That's completely unreasonable and they made it clear with that they were not interested in him which is baffling as he's one of the best LW in the world and proof that their scouting needs to be worked on.

 

[Sycho Sid]

Yeah, thats not entirely it. All these guys start out wanting to be in the UFC but they either cant get their visas or the UFC doesnt want them.

Alexandr Shabliy? Wanted to be in the UFC, they kept turning him down.

Eduard Vartanyan ACA LW tourny champ tried, they turned him down.

Azamat Kerefov ACA flyweight champ tried, they turned him down.

ACA WW champ Albert Tumenov...didnt the UFC let him go or something silly?

Renat Khavalov, Shamil Musaev, Samandar Murodov, Amru Magomedov, Khotam Boynazarov, Daniyar Toychubek, Khalim Nazruloev etc etc. Are avoiding the ACA path intentionally to try and sign with the UFC or tried and in Musaev, Khavalov and Amrus case they didnt pick them up so they want to PFL. UFC does not want central Asian and Caucasian fighters, their roster space for them is very very intentionally small. They would rather sign 7-2 30year olds from Canada with no talent.

Not commenting on anyone else, but Tumenov was in the UFC. Did fine against lower level comp, then had a close SD over Larkin, then got tapped twice in a row, to Gunnar Nelson and Leon Edwards, and then decided not to sign a new deal.

That was almost a decade ago.

 

[HuskySamoan]

This is probably the most baffling one. Vartanyan said he negotiated with the UFC after he won the ACA LW GP. He won $1M there and the UFC told him the best offer they could give him was a spot on the Contender Series. That's completely unreasonable and they made it clear with that they were not interested in him which is baffling as he's one of the best LW in the world and proof that their scouting needs to be worked on.

Its not baffling. They offered Vadim Nemkov peanuts and told him Russian fighters aren't a priority, they cant put live shows there and their views dont generate revenue, no value in the market and they already have their quota for Russian fighters (around 20-25 out of 700+ roster) so he can take it or leave it.

I met Vartanyan and Jora when they were out in LA. He flew into the US and went to Vegas in person to discuss signing with the UFC and expected to take a loss but the contender series offer was just insulting.

You realize they didnt want to sign guys like Timur Khizriev or Shamil Musaev either, right? Bellator and the PFL were not their first picks. Do you know who Salamat Isbulaev is?or Amru Magomedov? Or Renat Khavalov? We are talking the best Russian prospects in the sport, UFC passed them over very recently. Samandar Murodov still doesnt have a contract, Khalim Nazruloev, shit Razhabali Shaydullaev was someone I was telling you cornballs they UFC needed to sign 3 years ago. They do not want these guys.

 

[STAY GOLD]

You realize they didnt want to sign guys like Timur Khizriev or Shamil Musaev either, right? Bellator and the PFL were not their first picks. Do you know who Salamat Isbulaev is?or Amru Magomedov? Or Renat Khavalov? We are talking the best Russian prospects in the sport, UFC passed them over very recently. Samandar Murodov still doesnt have a contract, Khalim Nazruloev, shit Razhabali Shaydullaev was someone I was telling you cornballs they UFC needed to sign 3 years ago. They do not want these guys.

Never heard of them. Do they fight UFC?

 

[HuskySamoan]

Never heard of them. Do they fight UFC?

They didnt get picked, we had to save room for "checks notes"

Lawrence Lui vs Sulangranbo and Ricky Turcios vs Cameron Smotherman.

 

[JayPettryMMA]

Yeah, thats not entirely it. All these guys start out wanting to be in the UFC but they either cant get their visas or the UFC doesnt want them.

Alexandr Shabliy? Wanted to be in the UFC, they kept turning him down.

Eduard Vartanyan ACA LW tourny champ tried, they turned him down.

Azamat Kerefov ACA flyweight champ tried, they turned him down.

ACA WW champ Albert Tumenov...didnt the UFC let him go or something silly?

Renat Khavalov, Shamil Musaev, Samandar Murodov, Amru Magomedov, Khotam Boynazarov, Daniyar Toychubek, Khalim Nazruloev etc etc. Are avoiding the ACA path intentionally to try and sign with the UFC or tried and in Musaev, Khavalov and Amrus case they didnt pick them up so they went to PFL. UFC does not want central Asian, Russian and Caucasian fighters, their roster space for them is very very intentionally small. They would rather sign 7-2 30year olds from Canada with no talent.

I stand by what I said almost five months ago. It's all about money. The UFC didn't turn these fighters down, they lowballed them because to be frank, none of those fighters move any needle outside of a very narrow audience that the UFC is clearly not catering itself towards.

ACA talents do tend to stay in ACA. How many high-profile crossovers have left its confines to come to the UFC in the past couple years? Maybe you can count them on one hand? Daniel James is probably the "biggest" name to bounce in and out of there, and that's largely because the US sanctioned that league and he had to bounce to Bellator/PFL/Rizin. It's why Herb Dean doesn't ref over there anymore either.

In the case of Tumenov, it is exactly as I said. He left to chase bigger checks elsewhere, and ACB was the place. I don't blame him one bit. He himself said about a new UFC contract that "the terms of the offer were not acceptable." And there's no mistake that after a 5-3 record in the UFC, he has gone on to put up a record of 9-1 in the confines of Absolute Championship ABC Soup. To go from Lorenz Larkin and Leon Edwards to Ciro Rodrigues and Nah-Shon Burrell is quite a change in competition.

And yes, after releasing Rinat Fakhretdinov, Radzhabov and a few others recently, the UFC made it clear that they're moving on from Russian/CIS talent because it sounds like they aren't planning on going back to Russia any year soon. UFC Bishkek, or Almaty? Good luck.

 

[JayPettryMMA]

This is probably the most baffling one. Vartanyan said he negotiated with the UFC after he won the ACA LW GP. He won $1M there and the UFC told him the best offer they could give him was a spot on the Contender Series. That's completely unreasonable and they made it clear with that they were not interested in him which is baffling as he's one of the best LW in the world and proof that their scouting needs to be worked on.

Who's his manager? I bet if he was an Ali guy, it'd be a different story. 12/12 and a couple expired reebok coupons.

 

[STAY GOLD]

They didnt get picked, we had to save room for "checks notes"

Lawrence Lui vs Sulangranbo and Ricky Turcios vs Cameron Smotherman.

Yeah. Was being sarcastic. I'm familiar with the fighters you mentioned. I know why they're not signing anymore Russians or have signing them as a priority, but it's laughable they pass on them and cut fighters like Rinat, but give fighters like Jose Medina a fourth fight in the UFC after he got steamrolled on DWCS and has gotten steamrolled in his 3 previous UFC fights.

 

[JayPettryMMA]

but give fighters like Jose Medina a fourth fight in the UFC after he got steamrolled on DWCS and has gotten steamrolled in his 3 previous UFC fights.

I feel like the UFC is keeping around some fighters to get beaten up badly in showcases for up-and-comers. It's why I think they initially signed guys like Bujlo and Freeman (whoops), for Gable in eight months.

And I don't like it.