UFC Moscow - best Russian prospects that UFC should sign

[executionermma]

So far only one fight has been reported (not confirmed) for this card (on 15th September) and it is the main event between Mark Hunt and Alexey Oleinik, and with the event being in a few months i really hope UFC signs some regional talent to debut there. There are many great Russian fighters out there fighting in smaller promotions worldwide, or even some free agents, so, who are the fighters you would like to see making their UFC debuts in this event?

Heavyweight - Denis Goltsov (21-5, 17 finishes)

- Denis Goltsov is definitely a top 5 heavyweight outside UFC. He has many tools and is dangerous pretty much everywhere, he's a multiple time Combat Sambo world champion and is very mobile for a 6'6 guy, fights around 240 lbs. Knees, good combinations, a powerful right hand, distance management, wrestling, a submission game, he has it all. Won 16 of his last 17 fights.

Light Heavyweight - Mikhail Mokhnatkin (10-2-2, 7 finishes)

- Mikhail has been one of the top light heavyweight prospects in the world for a while, recently he's been taking some fights at heavyweight but i guess he realized that's not his division and now he's back to 205, that is where he belongs and he's a beast in that division. He has a excellent ground game, being a sambo world champion he's comfortable there with anyone, very versatile submission game. His stand up is pretty good too, with good low kicks and a lightning fast jab.

Bantamweight - Alexander Keshtov (8-0, 5 finishes)

- Fighting out of the well known (for Russian MMA fans) K-Dojo Warrior Tribe gym, Keshtov is a well rounded fighter, current Ring of Combat champion and a very opportunist dude, he's not very keen on holding and maintaining position and tries to finish at any given chance, i'm actually surprised he's not in UFC by now because he has been fighting in US and seems totally UFC-ready.

Flyweight - Grigory Popov (12-1, 6 finishes)

- Popov is a flyweight with a Muay Thai background, discipline he managed to be very successful with a record of 25 wins and 3 loses, capturing many regional titles such as Russian National and Eurasian Championships (Russia is well known by their wrestling and boxing but they have some killers with MT backgrounds too). He's a dangerous strikers that uses very well all limbs, and has a decent ground game too, has 2 gogoplata finishes what is cool.


Let's keep it realistic if we can. Therefore, i avoided any ACB/FNG/M-1/WFCA champions, because most of them are under exclusive deals and wouldn't be able to sign with UFC right now, different from the fighters i mentioned.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Sign them all... but they would probably open the card on Fight Pass.

 

[executionermma]

Sign them all... but they would probably open the card on Fight Pass.

Sure. They have to start somewhere in UFC at the end of the day.. I don't see any problem with them being at the FP portion, that's where Zabit and Makhachev started

 

[70% Big Rigg]

They should have gotten nico to fight valentina in this moscow card

 

[executionermma]

They should have gotten nico to fight valentina in this moscow card

I don't think so man. Gotta think most Russian fans will prefer to see Oleinik getting a sweet main event spot over Valentina, who is not Russian (Oleinik was born in UKR but he has a Russian citizenship at least) and probably never fought in Russia. Also, not sure they would get behind a WMMA headliner either. Oleinik has quite a following in Russia, he has about 1 million views on his Youtube channel, where he speaks about being a fighter, grappling, his life etc.

 

[Workaholic]

To add to this, sort out the contract issues and bring in Minakov and bring back Krylov

I've always wanted to see Khalidov's crazy ass take a fight in a major promotion too but I don't think he ever will he's basically Mr.KSW at this point

 

[Moral Victory]

Thanks, good work on the info and gifs, i'll be looking out for these. They indeed seem to have potential, i'd like to see some more Russians signed with this event kicking off.

 

[executionermma]

To add to this, sort out the contract issues and bring in Minakov and bring back Krylov

I've always wanted to see Khalidov's crazy ass take a fight in a major promotion too but I don't think he ever will he's basically Mr.KSW at this point

No way Bellator will let UFC poach Minakov :/
Krylov is being well paid (100k) in FNG and just became champion.

Khalidov is getting old, probably out of his prime by now, also with USADA i really don't see him going to UFC, IMO he had a great career even without UFC, probably the best fighter ever to NOT compete in either UFC or Bellator.

 

[Workaholic]

No way Bellator will let UFC poach Minakov :/
Krylov is being well paid (100k) in FNG and just became champion.

Khalidov is getting old, probably out of his prime by now, also with USADA i really don't see him going to UFC, IMO he had a great career even without UFC, probably the best fighter ever to NOT compete in either UFC or Bellator.

He's never going back so they could probably buy out his deal but given he wouldn't exactly sell they would never do it. Sad situation

And yeah I heard Krylov talk about the pay difference for himself but I miss the dude in the UFC, LHW is badly lacking a guy like him right now

Khalidov will absolutely never do it but damn he's just so fun I'd love for him to get that spotlight

 

[WaylonMercy5150]

Ivan Shtyrokov HW 13-0

Akhmed Shervaniev FW 10-0

Shamil Abdulaev MW 10-0

 

[executionermma]

He's never going back so they could probably buy out his deal but given he wouldn't exactly sell they would never do it. Sad situation

And yeah I heard Krylov talk about the pay difference for himself but I miss the dude in the UFC, LHW is badly lacking a guy like him right now

Khalidov will absolutely never do it but damn he's just so fun I'd love for him to get that spotlight

He's willing to go back. It's a matter of numbers i guess, i think Bellator will pay him once the HW tournament ends.

And yeah Krylov would be fun at LHW but i think the division has seen worse days, there are some good prospects coming up like Reyes (3-0 UFC), Johnson (3-0), Ledet (3-0), Antigulov (2-0), Rakic (1-0), Ankalaev (0-1 but he will be back).

I totally understand your point of view about Khalidov, 1 year ago i had the same opinion and expectation, but i changed my mind, Khalidov will go out as one of the most technical and fun fighters to never compete in the 2 big north american orgs and to me that's a hell of a accomplishments, yeah the most casual ones will never hear about him but in Poland he's a star and in Russia he's well known too, he's well paid in KSW so gotta be happy for the man.

 

[BjPenn2017]

I know he might be signed to ACB, but Ali Bagov would be a good one. Think he could do good, he's on a nice streak right now and pretty sure his last loss was to ACB LW champ. Also only 27 years of age.

 

[executionermma]

Ivan Shtyrokov HW 13-0

 

[tdluxon]

That first guy looks like a beast

 

[executionermma]

I know he might be signed to ACB, but Ali Bagov would be a good one. Think he could do good, he's on a nice streak right now and pretty sure his last loss was to ACB LW champ. Also only 27 years of age.

Yeah he's fighting the ACB champion soon, for the third time. Bagov is 0-2 against Aziz.

 

[executionermma]

That first guy looks like a beast

Wins over former UFC vets Paul Buentello (head kick gif), Mike Kyle, James McSweeney, Konstantin Erokhin, Chase Gormley (knee gif) and some other legit heavyweights like Brett Rogers, Zoumara Cisse (the guy that beat Ngannou), Peter Graham, Roy Boughton, Szymon Bajor and Salimgerey Rasulov.

If i could pick only one fighter in MMA right now to sign to UFC would be him. Really fun to watch and very skilled.

 

[WaylonMercy5150]

 

[executionermma]

wonder why Hulk didn't took it

 

[WaylonMercy5150]

wonder why Hulk didn't took it

 

[Spekty]

Goltsov has signed with PFL so it's hard to imagine him signing with UFC in the near future. Mokhnatkin's contract will expire soon and there are rumours in russian media that he might make a transition to UFC. In my opinion he has a potential to be a top 15 level fighter considering the fact that current state of LHW division is lackluster. He is well rounded,techinical and agile,the only problem is that he is extremely boring,he doesn't let his opponents do anything to him and rarely does anything to them in return. Overall he is as exciting as someone like John Fitch.

It's highly unlikely that UFC will sign any prospects or top fighters from Russia,they rarely do it anyway. The vast majority of top russian fighters fight in russian promotions and everyone who follows the sport outside of UFC would most likely agree. For instance Oleinik who headlines this card is not even top 5 among russian heavyweights. At this point UFC doesn't need to sign anyone else,they have enough people on their roster to fill a fight night card with 10 match ups (there's no need to make extra efforts and try to find new talent specifically for this tounament).