Which young Flyweight will have the best UFC career? (Part 4)

[mattandbenny]

Welcome to the 4th 'UFC prospect' thread - the other 3 are below. The polls for these are still open for another couple of weeks, so please go and vote if you haven't already.

Lightweight Thread: http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/w...est-ufc-career-part-3.3257125/#post-117251299
Featherweight Thread: http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/which-young-featherweight-will-have-the-best-ufc-career.3256619/
Bantamweight Thread: http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/which-young-bantamweight-will-have-the-best-career.3256099/

So Currently the standings are:

Lightweight
1) Jake Matthews - 45.3% of vote
2) Sage Northcutt - 37.5% of vote

Featherweight
1) Yair Rodriguez - 35.5% of vote
2) Doo Ho Choi - 28.2% of vote

Bantamweight
1) Cody Garbrandt - 38.1% of vote
2) Michael McDonald - 17.9% of vote


Now on to the Flyweights. Rules are 1) Max age of 26 and 2) Max 6 UFC fights (Bent the rules a touch to let Pettis in with 7 fights).

Horiguchi was left out as he can no longer be considered a 'prospect', having already had a title shot last year and being ranked a top 5 flyweight in the world.

Justin Scoggins - 24 Years Old - 11-2 MMA (4-2 UFC)
Ray Borg - 22 Years Old - 9-2 MMA (3-2 UFC)
Sergio Pettis - 22 Years Old - 14-2 MMA (5-2 UFC)
Louis Smolka - 24 Years Old - 10-1 MMA (4-1 UFC)
Matheus Nicolau - 23 Years Old - 11-1 MMA (1-0 UFC)
Yuta Sasaki - 26 Years Old - 19-3 MMA (2-2 UFC)

 

[Tormund]

Pettis or Scoggins, Smolka is overrated, doesn't have a ranked win and has pretty bad striking compared to Scoggins & Pettis.

 

[EJRMAN513]

Scoggins. So young and almost already the full package, just has to make little tweaks here and there. His only losses are a close fight with Dustin Ortiz(thought he should've got the nod) and John Moraga who he was winning against until he got too complacent sitting in the guillotine position. So much upside.

I feel Sergio Pettis Is the second best choice on here. His only big weakness is takedown defense but his striking is legit and his grappling, despite lacking TDD, has proven to be pretty slick as well.

 

[Bogeyman]

Disappointed at Seery's exclusion. He's only 36!

 

[Nightmaree]

Nguyen?

i thought Ray Borg was the next big thing

 

[Chain Saw]

Kyoji Horiguchi as soon as he gets his TDD right.

That boy is a savage.

 

[EJRMAN513]

Nguyen?

i thought Ray Borg was the next big thing

Nguyen has looked very promising in his first 2 fights but it's still only 2 fights I've seen so I'm still reserving judgement.

As far as Borg goes he's shown to be very athletic and explosive with his wrestling and his grappling is pretty good as well but I feel where he's lacking is in his technical striking. He didn't really have an answer to Scoggins ability to keep distance against him.

 

[Danespina]

The flyweights ranked 11-15 are fantastic and the fighters I want to see challenge for the title.

Scoggins, Smolka, Nguyen, Borg > Reis, Formiga, Makovsky, Ortiz.

 

[mattandbenny]

Nguyen?

i thought Ray Borg was the next big thing

Nguyen is 27 so didn't qualify for the poll. I love his style though, think he will be a regular in the top 10 in the future.

 

[Tom Taylor]

Kyoji Horiguchi will out-do all of these guys.

I would also add Ben Nguyen to the list, though. And Kairat Akhmetov, who holds the One Championship flyweight belt. 23-0 is no joke.

Edit: I see now that you mean young in the literal sense, not in the sense of fighters with relatively young careers. Guess Nguyen and Akhmetov don't qualify then.

 

[mattandbenny]

I would love to see Akhmetov in the UFC. One notmally pay good money and have quite long contracts, so would be very surprised to see him come to UFC.

 

[Danespina]

Flyweight Matchmaking

Louis Smolka
Ben Nguyen
-----------> Winner vs. Winner (for Title Shot)
Justin Scoggins
Ian McCall

Sergio Pettis
Yuta Sasaki
-----------> Winner vs. Winner
Ali Bagutinov
Geane Herrera

Great division. The only problem is that Reis, TUF Winner, and Benavidez III have taken all the title shots till mid-2017. I'm more interested in what comes after.

 

[Danespina]

Yuta Sasaki's flyweight debut just because. He's 5'10 which is tall for the division.

 

[specter1001]

Yuta Sasaki's flyweight debut just because. He's 5'10 which is tall for the division.

He has nothing if he doesn't get the take down or if he goes up against a better grappler though as seen in his last 2 losses.

 

[Danespina]

He has nothing if he doesn't get the take down or if he goes up against a better grappler though as seen in his last 2 losses.

Yeah. But being so big he may still force problems on a lot of fighters. Sort of like a flyweight Yushin Okami.

 

[Cptn1NSAN0]

I would've said Borg a while back but Scoggins just whipped that ass. So Scoggins.

 

[specter1001]

Yeah. But being so big he may still force problems on a lot of fighters. Sort of like a flyweight Yushin Okami.

Eh, I see him as more of a George roop type with the exception that his striking is worse but grappling is probably better. Guys with speed will be able to get inside and crack him no problem.

 

[Danespina]

Eh, I see him as more of a George roop type with the exception that his striking is worse but grappling is probably better. Guys with speed will be able to get inside and crack him no problem.

Probably right, but Gates, despite his record, is fast and has power. Sasaki suffogated him though.

 

[specter1001]

Probably right, but Gates, despite his record, is fast and has power. Sasaki suffogated him though.

I suppose the fact that he came into that fight on short notice counts for something also. Hope to see some improvements in the striking area from him his next time out.

 

[Lucifer Alpha]

I would've replaced Yuta Sasaki with Geane Herrera. He has more potential (even if he is about to go 1-2).