Vitaly Minakov

[Lionheart7167]

Anyone remember him?

Minakov is one of the great "what-if's" in the history of heavyweight MMA

Ended his career 22-2 with almost all of those victories coming by way of knockout or sub.

Smashed a who's who of solid talent at that time (Volkov, Kongo, Dos Santos, Bigfoot, Copeland, Johnson).

Looked unbeatable for a moment in time, then at the peak of his career, has some disputes with Bellator, comes back and loses a lackluster decision to Kongo, who he had beat before, smashes Tim Johnson, then has a weird finger injury in his last fight, and never fought again.

I remember a lot of hardcore's thought he would be the next Fedor, poised to be the new king.

In retrospect, none of the guys he beat turned out to be world beaters, and yes, he fought for Bellator.

Still....

Crazy no one remembers him anymore.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Of course, I think he lost interest after the Kongo fight. He still looked like a killer against Johnson but he was losing the Sowma fight before the injury anyway.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

It's a shame for us how it all turned out for him, but I still wish him well. Was a killer

 

[Trabaho]

I randomly looked at his record like yesterday. Yeah he broke his fingers in a way maybe permanent injury. Also out 2 years in his prime. Could been much more.

 

[Thesnake101]

He was pretty much checked out after he went into politics and only fought for paychecks.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

He was completely out of shape in the last part of his career
I think he peaked early and was a top tier hw at some point but he went into politics and never looked good again.

Big what if. He had an amazing offensive arsenal

 

[don't ask]

Yeah, he was beastly when he first hit the HW division. Glad to see people still talking about him.

 

[Feniamin]

He officially announced retirement in November. In one of interviews after that he said that he thinks that his athletic career ended in 2015 after surgery. That his body after surgery wasn’t able to withstand same training.

 

[Trabaho]

He officially announced retirement in November. In one of interviews after that he said that he thinks that his athletic career ended in 2015 after surgery. That his body after surgery wasn’t able to withstand same training.

Back surgery ? What type of surgery was that. He was 20-0. Tall big in his prime. That's how it goes sometimes.

 

[TheBrownRanger]

In hindsight, it would have been better for his career had he stuck around in Bellator and fought out of his contract. I think he would have beat Tony Johnson, Ryan Bader, Bobby Lashley, and whoever else was contenders at HW while he was gone in EFN. However, I can't really say that for sure. Minakov going to war against DJ Linderman was the "WTF" for me.

Minakov looked awful against Kongo (2nd fight) and Sowma. I honestly forgot he fought at all in the Coker era.

 

[Feniamin]

Back surgery ? What type of surgery was that. He was 20-0. Tall big in his prime. That's how it goes sometimes.

Seems like it was shoulder surgery.

 

[Croaker]

In hindsight, it would have been better for his career had he stuck around in Bellator and fought out of his contract. I think he would have beat Tony Johnson, Ryan Bader, Bobby Lashley, and whoever else was contenders at HW while he was gone in EFN. However, I can't really say that for sure. Minakov going to war against DJ Linderman was the "WTF" for me.

Minakov looked awful against Kongo (2nd fight) and Sowma. I honestly forgot he fought at all in the Coker era.

Didn't he have visa issues?

 

[fendertach]

Got dominated by a 43 year old Cheick Kongo. He was never my friend.