Which failed Bellator prospect did you have high hopes for?

[TheBrownRanger]

Aaron Pico's recent loss in the UFC had me thinking about the other Bellator prospects the other day. I remembered during the Scott Coker days of 2015-2019, there was a huge influx of signings Bellator would put on the lower cards and use mismatches from those fights to create prospects. They signed a lot of prospects right out of college wrestling, BAMMA, Cage Warriors and other leagues to crush cans before going on to actual competition in Bellator. A few examples would be:

Tywan Claxton - Had a flying knee KO against a 1-0 Jonathan Bonilla Bowman. You literally couldn't watch a Bellator event without seeing this KO in the highlights. Got beat by Emmanuel Sanchez in the FW GP and did nothing of note afterwards. He's currently 7-3 so MAYBE he has a shot at being in a major MMA promotion again someday.

Chris Honeycutt - College wrestler who was hyped as a world beater in 2016. Got KO'd by Paul Bradley and didn't do much after that.

Mike Kimbel - Had one of the fastest KOs in Bellator history in six seconds against another 1-0 dude. Some posters here on Sherdog were hyping this guy up as the next big thing in Bellator. Went 3-3 and got cut by Bellator.

Romero Cotton - Another college signing. Got by in Bellator beating up tomato cans and crumbled once he ran into actual competition like Dalton Rosta and Grant Neal. Didn't get picked up by PFL.

Joey Davis - Same exact story as Cotton and Honeycutt. After beating subpar competition, he lost a decision to a 6-2 guy and did nothing afterwards.

Ed Ruth - Kind of the same story as the other college prospects but does have wins over former Bellator champion Jason Jackson and Kiichi Kunimoto. Had a pretty good fight against Neiman Gracie during the WW GP. Lost to Yaroslav Amosov. Hasn't fought since getting heel hooked by some 5-1 guy in 2020.

Jarod Trice - 3x All-American wrestler. Only undefeated fighter on this list. Won a bunch of decision against lower-level guys and that was kind of it. He last fought for some promotion called AFL and won by decison. Is 4-0 and faded into obscurity.

James Gallagher - Basically everyone knows the story behind this one. Looked great against, you guessed it, shitty competiton before getting KO'd by Ricky Bandejas. Was able to be a good gatekeeper type in bellator afterwards but had some very uninspiring performances. Didn't do that good in his PFL debut and was released.

Baby Slice - Was only able to compete against low level competition in Bellator. Like many others, he didn't get to break through the prospect barrier. Signed with BKFC but hasn't done anything tith the promotion.

I'm sure there's a lot more but this is what I can think of.

 

[Ara tech]

I never expected anything out of Bellator since they were making tons of bad move.

Logan storley, the 4 times NCAA wrestler, I expected him to get a belt, I followed him since the beginning. Lost twice to Amosov, lost to Musaev, and now to Tad Jean. He is an elite wrestler, and is in the top 15 welterweight worldwide.

I think that he is a bit too small for welterweight, and a big too big for lightweight, I don't know. A strong wrestling background is not enough to carry you at the top, but I think that he proved that folkstyle wrestling has value, and is an effective legit sport.

Always was a big fan of Logan. Can't say that I'm disappointed. I love the rides, and cross wrist control from turtle and he is a takedown machine.

Sadly he did not get the belt.

 

[RemyR]

Thought Ed Ruth would be the next big thing

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Crazy how every single one of their hyped wrestling projects fizzled.

 

[TheBrownRanger]

I never expected anything out of Bellator since they were making tons of bad move.

Logan storley, the 4 times NCAA wrestler, I expected him to get a belt, I followed him since the beginning. Lost twice to Amosov, lost to Musaev, and now to Tad Jean. He is an elite wrestler, and is in the top 15 welterweight worldwide.

I think that he is a bit too small for welterweight, and a big too big for lightweight, I don't know. A strong wrestling background is not enough to carry you at the top, but I think that he proved that folkstyle wrestling has value, and is an effective legit sport.

Always was a big fan of Logan. Can't say that I'm disappointed. I love the rides, and cross wrist control from turtle and he is a takedown machine.

Sadly he did not get the belt.

Storely had the Interim Bellator title and is able to hang at PFL WW. Definitely something of a success story.

Crazy how every single one of their hyped wrestling projects fizzled.

I thought at least a couple more of those prospects would be able to breakthrough to gatekeeper or title contention status. But at the same time, no amount of tomato cans was going to prepare them for the elite Bellator guys. The divisions in the Coker era were very top-heavy. The Bellator gatekeepers didn't give a shit about NCAA championships.

 

[David R]

A. J. McKee and Ray Cooper III.

Also Tyrell Fortune brief hopes for.

 

[TheBrownRanger]

A. J. McKee and Ray Cooper III.

Also Tyrell Fortune brief hopes for.

Cooper never fought in Bellator to my knowledge. But I just looked him up. Recently lost on Tuff-N-Uff to an 11-5 guy. Man, that's quite a fall.

AJ McKee is probably the most successful Coker-era prospect IMO. Had the FW and FW GP titles and is still relevant in PFL. I could see him fighting for a PFL title soon.

Tyrell Fortune's hype train crashed HARD after the Tim Johnson KO and it just never came back. He's 16-3 and has lost to Bilostenniy and Vassell, which aren't bad losses in their own right. He is coming off two wins in the regionals (one over Tony Lopez, who I can't even believe is still fighting). He can still turn it around IMO.

 

[Thesnake101]

He's 16-3 and has lost to Bilostenniy and Vassell, which aren't bad losses in their own right.

He also got KO'd in one of his wins (first Sergey fight) and in the NC against Daniel James. At 35 I think that's the book for him, even if HW is the weight where age matters the least. What's crazy to think about is that he's 13-2 in Bellator yet never fought for the belt or anything, his run to 8-0 was padded beyond belief.

 

[Rallarsvingare]

I expected Hector Lombard to be the next Fedor when he went to the UFC. A judo background and great knockout artist with a crazy 20+ winstreak, most in the first round.

 

[TheBrownRanger]

I expected Hector Lombard to be the next Fedor when he went to the UFC. A judo background and great knockout artist with a crazy 20+ winstreak, most in the first round.

Hector Lombard proved himself in MMA though. Won a Bellator and BKFC title. A failed prospect doesn’t beat guys like Jake Shields, Rousimar Palhares, or Alexander Shlemenko.

Was he Fedor? No. But hardly anybody is in Fedor’s caliber in terms of career.

 

[Koala]

Lima, AJ McKee, Barnaoui, Adam Borics (I still believe he's god), a Scot I forgot the name (LW I think)

 

[TheBrownRanger]

Lima, AJ McKee, Barnaoui, Adam Borics (I still believe he's god), a Scot I forgot the name (LW I think)

Lima and McKee won Bellator titles lol.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I thought Joey Davis would be a world title contender by now. Instead he went away for ages, supposedly battled addiction issues, lost to a guy who couldn't get through the TUF house and then went away for ages again.

 

[minowasmullet]

I remember Ruth being highly spoken of

 

[Thesnake101]

I thought Joey Davis would be a world title contender by now. Instead he went away for ages, supposedly battled addiction issues, lost to a guy who couldn't get through the TUF house and then went away for ages again.

There was really no bouncing back from losing that fight imo, better he just steps away and gets a normal gig. He got lucky he wasn't facing some aggressive power puncher that night or he'd have taken some serious damage.

 

[EndlessCritic]

Khasbulaev.

KO via visa.

 

[ryanrandy]

I thought Ed Ruth had a chance at being great

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Of the ones I can think of

Joey Davis - I mentioned earlier, biggest let down for me.

Ed Ruth - Tbh I wasn't ever really particularly high on him, still think he quit a bit earlier.

James Gallagher - Actually better than I thought he was going to be right now imo, thought he looked pretty good in his last fight and wouldn't mind him getting signed to the UFC.

Lucas Brennan - Always thought this guy sucked and that proved to be true.

Tyrell Fortune - I think could have done better than he has done just with the wrestling but hasn't ever seemed to have learned to apply it to MMA well.

Logan Storley - I would say he's actually done better than I expected him to, I thought he was a very one dimensional wrestler to start with but he's had a solid career really.

Aviv Gozali - I thought he was a good grappler with a bit of potential but that

Norbert Novenyi - Still think he'll be great. Loss to Rosta should have been a draw so should be undefeated.

Dalton Rosta - Turned the corner and developed his game and become a good fighter imo.

Roman Faraldo - Looked good until people realised he couldn't wrestle.

Jaylon Bates - Where has this guy gone?

 

[Rallarsvingare]

Hector Lombard proved himself in MMA though. Won a Bellator and BKFC title. A failed prospect doesn’t beat guys like Jake Shields, Rousimar Palhares, or Alexander Shlemenko.

Was he Fedor? No. But hardly anybody is in Fedor’s caliber in terms of career.

I guess it depends on the definition. Those 3, 2 of those are in UFC, he won 1 more UFC fight against Marquardt, but then he went on like a 8 losing streak.

 

[HuskySamoan]

Thought Ed Ruth would be the next big thing

Seems like as the sport evolved, crossing over to MMA at 24-25 with an elite wrestling background is just a terrible idea. Even Rinya Nakamura whos far more accomplished than Ruth and transitioned at the same age isn't going anywhere. At the higher weights its more forgiving because the sport is insanely shallow at 185 and up. It isnt Russians having superior wrestling styles either, both Rinya and Bo beat Russians who were elites in freestyle...Its just simply too late, it takes years to get comfortable in sparring, to flesh out fundamentals, to blend a game together and build a fighter....and even if theyre athletic as fuck with a background in a combat sport it still takes years...gotta build the experience, log the dozens to hundreds of hours in sparring, develop fundamentals, re-optimize conditioning. You just are not left with enough time, nevermind setbacks be it injuries, losses, business issues etc.

Turns out these guys that have diversified experience and cross over to MMA earlier, end up just being far more effective.