Unsigned Heavyweights - Thread Three

[Paul L]

I'm digging both of those matches.
Also, Luc Ngeleka (4-1) vs Miika Mehmet (3-4) at Superior Challenge 13 April 9th.

Luc is looking interesting, but I'm not really sold due to level of competition he's faced. Tanois is probably the best guy he's beat, and you often see some really crazy looking guys on the European scene who end up faltering at the mid to higher levels of competition.

Valdrin Istrefi (7-1) vs. Stefan Traunmuller (13-5) this weekend

Good fight, I'll take Istrefi since his training partner is Danho, and Danho is probably the best heavy in that region.

Any news on Orlando Sanchez in MMA? I know after winning ADCC he said the UFC is his next goal. There were rumours he would be on Rizin too but that obviously didn't happen. He always seems to be training at Kings on social media but no word on any fights for him. He just turned 34, so he's not got much time to make a run.

No news, his twitter shows him saying he wants to be in a big organization. Well... yelling that he does, since he posts in all caps.

I'm really divided on him, he won ADCC at HW, but in his MMA fights he didn't look that good. I still lean towards him fighting at LHW or even MW if he's going to be successful in a non grappling environment.

Yosef Ali Mohammad is still the Superior Challenge HW champ afaik, so I I guess the winner there could potentially face him later. A matchup I would is Yosef vs Oli Thompson, give him a chance to win back the momentum he lost.

Ngeleka vs Yosef is actually a really good fight. Probably a good build me up fight for Yosef that still poses some danger. Yosef's last loss was so flukey against a guy he was lighting up. Not to mention the IGF ring is really small for heavyweights, it doesn't give them much room to move around.

Maybe this will be interesting news for some guys. Goltsov won Russian Combat Sambo Championship, Sidelnikov took 2nd place.

Wow, that is impressive. Goltsov's improvements are amazing, every month it seems he steps his game up another level.

 

[under_t]

http://www.mmaviking.com/nick-barno-versus-yosef-ali-mohammad-booked-for-trophy-mma-8/

Yosef Ali Mohammad vs Nick Barno at Trophy MMA 8

 

[Paul L]

http://www.mmaviking.com/nick-barno-versus-yosef-ali-mohammad-booked-for-trophy-mma-8/

Yosef Ali Mohammad vs Nick Barno at Trophy MMA 8

Wow, just speaking of Yosef...

Obviously I'm a big fan of his, so I'll say his athleticism will be way too much for Barno, but I also said that about his last fight and he got caught. Excited to see how this one pans out.

 

[Paul L]

M-1 Spoiler:

Spoiler

Volkov dropped two rounds and came back in the third to win by triangle choke. Smoldarev is super powerful and has great striking, but his submission defense has failed him twice now. I feel like he needs to be at a different camp, since his potential is massive, but the execution seems lacking.

 

[Paul L]

The fight between Darko Stošić and Emil Zahariev was cancelled due to Zahariev being arrested the night before the bout.

 

[Paul L]

Curtis Blaydes double hammerfist KO's Luiz Cortez to bring his undefeated streak to 5 pro wins and 10 amateur wins. Curtis' gas tank barely looked drained coming into round 3, even after almost a year off, he looked like he could go 5 rounds. I've said it before, but Curtis is truly a unique talent. He may not have the international wrestling credentials like Makhov, or be a striking prodigy like Pavlovich, but he's a guy who has the exact athletic gifts needed to be great at every facet of MMA, and the mindset to reach that potential. The UFC needs to sign him now and follow the same formula they used to develop Cain, and they will create a terrifying champion.

 

[original doom]

Yep sign him now.

5 wins surely is enough to warrant a call from the UFC. Who would you have him fight first ??

Pavlovich and East have both been signed ..Why did it take so long to sign East ?

 

[Paul L]

I haven't heard anything about Pavlovich signing yet, just rumors. And I imagine East's past may have been a factor, they may have wanted to be sure he was no longer the person he was as a teenager.

I'd probably put Curtis against Chris De La Rocha or Cyril Asker. Both guys who are tough to finish who will give him some cage time. Outside of that it depends on who wins certain matches, like Hamilton vs Abdurakhimov.

I personally think he could hang with even the tougher guys in the division, but no sense in rushing him too quickly, Cain had a good path to the title actually.

 

[sdy]

Goltsov signed by ACB. May be he doesn't feel himself ready for the ufc yet. Possible opponents there: Vinicius Lima, Michal Andryszak, Emeev or title shot vs Rasulov.

 

[corygraves]

So Blaydes looked good in the fight? 3 rounds against the opponent with the 3-3 record or something along those lines? Records can be misleading but thats all I knew of his opponent. Didn't have a chance to see it. Blaydes seems promising though for sure.

How'd Justin Wren looked in his latest Bellator fight?

 

[Paul L]

Goltsov signed by ACB. May be he doesn't feel himself ready for the ufc yet. Possible opponents there: Vinicius Lima, Michal Andryszak, Emeev or title shot vs Rasulov.

Definitely immediate title shot against Rasulov. Rasulov is in his prime right now and Goltsov could use his name on his resume. That would be a great fight.

 

[Paul L]

So Blaydes looked good in the fight? 3 rounds against the opponent with the 3-3 record or something along those lines? Records can be misleading but thats all I knew of his opponent. Didn't have a chance to see it. Blaydes seems promising though for sure.

How'd Justin Wren looked in his latest Bellator fight?

Blaydes fight should have been stopped in the first, Cortez wasn't really doing anything besides turtling up, which with a compact guy with a good chin like Cortez, makes it tough to finish him.

Curtis basically just rocked him on the feet, had some crazy fast and brutal takedowns, then pounded on a turtled Cortez for the round. Which is why I was shocked Curtis looked so fresh in the third round, even top 10 guys would have been gassed after pounding on an opponent for 10 minutes, but he came out with some flying strikes and barely looked like he broke a sweat.

It was good cage time after a year off.

And as for Wren, he's an amazing and inspiring human being, but his fight, not so amazing unfortunately.

 

[mattandbenny]

Damn Smoldarev is one of my favourite non UFC heavyweights.

 

[Paul L]

Valdrin Istrefi defeats Stefan Traunmuller by unanimous decision. From the play by play, it looks like he beat Traunmuller to the punch on the feet by landing constant straight rights throughout the fight, which Traunmuller had no answer for.

Istrefi should rematch Bjoern Schmiedeberg, or fight up and coming German fighter Martin Merkt. A future fight with Yosef Ali Mohammad is a thought too, but that is an extremely bad stylistic matchup for Istrefi.

 

[Paul L]

Damn Smoldarev is one of my favourite non UFC heavyweights.

He'll get a rematch. I think Volkov will likely fight Delija next, and Smoldarev can fight Kenny Garner for the next shot after that.

M-1 needs some new heavies though. Yosef Ali Mohammad, Masoud Ranjbar, Sergey Spivak, Adam Wieczorek, Daniil Arepyev, and Darko Stosic are all guys they can sign to contracts that would be good to build up. Maybe even do a tournament.

 

[Feniamin]

He'll get a rematch. I think Volkov will likely fight Delija next, and Smoldarev can fight Kenny Garner for the next shot after that.

M-1 needs some new heavies though. Yosef Ali Mohammad, Masoud Ranjbar, Sergey Spivak, Adam Wieczorek, Daniil Arepyev, and Darko Stosic are all guys they can sign to contracts that would be good to build up. Maybe even do a tournament.

Actually Volkov said that his contract with M-1 is for 2 fights/6 months (and he said that contract can be extended for 1 more fight). I don't think that Delija would be able to fight him in June.
And about tournament, M-1 matchmaker during broadcast said that there will be no more tournaments in 2016. He said that in 2017 maybe they will organize HW tournament if they find enough fighters.

 

[Paul L]

Actually Volkov said that his contract with M-1 is for 2 fights/6 months (and he said that contract can be extended for 1 more fight). I don't think that Delija would be able to fight him in June.
And about tournament, M-1 matchmaker during broadcast said that there will be no more tournaments in 2016. He said that in 2017 maybe they will organize HW tournament if they find enough fighters.

Wonder who they are going to get for Volkov then, not much to choose from for a title shot.

 

[Feniamin]

Wonder who they are going to get for Volkov then, not much to choose from for a title shot.

Guy from prelims, Kurban Ibragimov? According to Tapology he is 4-1, I've seen on Russian social media Dagestani guys mentioned that his record before this fight was 4-1.

 

[Paul L]

Guy from prelims, Kurban Ibragimov? According to Tapology he is 4-1, I've seen on Russian social media Dagestani guys mentioned that his record before this fight was 4-1.

He's kind of light though, weighs in at 210-230, and he's got a bit of a belly there too. If we're going prelim guys, Zaur Gadzhibabayev would probably be my personal pick.

 

[Hypetrainhipsta]

Smoldarev needs to train full time at a great camp (a big american camp would probably be the best for him), the guy is still young and has sooo much potential.
Aka or Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA would be great fro him since the already have a few russian fighters (he's of russian ethnicity, right? His name doesn't sound Estonian an about 25% of the Estonian population are Russians, so that would make sense).