Unsigned Heavyweights - Thread Four

[Nathanli]

Josh Parisian (5-2) is fighting Zach Thumb (4-3) at LFA 38 on April 27th in Minneapolis. This seems like a pretty winnable fight for Parisian and a good debut for him. Thumb could surprise but he's 38 and has fought once since 2011. This is a good debut for Josh at this level.

This is the main event of that card. These are some of the best unsigned Heavyweights out there right now. I thought Hughes would've been signed already, but I think the winner of this could be next in line for sure.

 

[FatMoiMoi]

@Paul L why don't you have Ivan Shryktov on your list or honourable mentions? Is his record deceiving?

 

[executionermma]

Winner of Greene vs. Hughes should definitely get a UFC contract
Excited to this weekend, many promising prospects like Smoldarev, Aliakbari, Moore (LHW tho), Spivac..
And ofc, the GOAT, Tony, is fighting again.

@Paul L why don't you have Ivan Shryktov on your list or honourable mentions? Is his record deceiving?

He dropped to LHW in his last fights

 

[executionermma]

Some interesting WFCA announcements:

Evgeniy Goncharov (10-2) takes SF, Bellator and WSOF vet Brandon Cash (10-4). Goncharov is on a 6 fight win streak since his last lost at 2015, while Cash is coming of a loss, 2 years ago to another russian with the first name of his next opponent: Evgeny Erokhin (there's a I that makes the difference though).

Now a much more interesting fight in my opinion, is chechen prospect Alikhan Vahaev (6-2) vs. dagestani Kazbek Saidaliev (7-2).

I'm very high on Alikhan, he's only 24 years old, 6'6 and is improving very fast, here is his last fight, where he destroyed croatian journeyman Ivo Cuk (who fights this weekend against a top ukrainian prospect).



Alikhan has solid hands, good power and a impressive management of distance, landed some good knees in that fight.

Once, he was just a green skinny light heavyweight, but recently he has been putting some muscle/mass and in some years should be a force.
Now that Khusein Adamov (4-1) lost, i consider Vahaev the top chechen prospect at heavyweight. Saidaliev should be a good test, he's a dangerous guy but i favor Vahaev's potential in that one. Looking forward to.

PS: I'm not sure if anyone here minds talking about WFCA, it's a good show/event but i'd understand the ones not willing to "promote" it, due to Kadyrov's shenanigans.

PS²: Who i should contact to update fighters profiles on sherdog? Vahaev's profile has the wrong division, no photo, no age etc

 

[DarrenMcNamara__]

The Italian Cerilli put away Karl Moore in Cage Warriors last night fairly neatly. Has to have eyes on him.

 

[Rizin]

23-year-old Spivac easily defended his WWFC belt against Cuk yesterday and improves to 8-0. Hope he switches to an organization with better competition soon.

 

[The_Renaissance]

23-year-old Spivac easily defended his WWFC belt against Cuk yesterday and improves to 8-0. Hope he switches to an organization with better competition soon.

Yeah, those promotions in Ukraine/Romania/Moldova region are a bit iffy. That said, I said that when Krylov came over and he was the real deal, as was Cutelaba to an extent. Spivac could be in the UFC with a couple more wins if he beats better guys.

Aliakbari with a very big win, TKO'd Smoldarev in round 1. That's a seriously good win for his record. On the same card, Omielanczuk made quick work of Bobby Brents with a 1st round submission.

 

[Evangelion]

Any word on if any of these guys will be on the Contender series? Rumor is the Ufc targeted a lot more European/South Americans and a lot higher quality of fighters

Oscar Cota 10-1 Mexican HW. Is he any good?

 

[The_Renaissance]

Any word on if any of these guys will be on the Contender series? Rumor is the Ufc targeted a lot more European/South Americans and a lot higher quality of fighters

Oscar Cota 10-1 Mexican HW. Is he any good?

I thought they got a good standard last time, so that's exciting news/rumours!

If I had to guess, I'd say Mohammed Usman will be a lock for DWTNCS season 2; Juan Adams would have been IMO but alas, rumours are he's doing WWE which is a nightmare piece of news.

 

[Koniradi98]

 

[Thesnake101]

I thought they got a good standard last time, so that's exciting news/rumours!

If I had to guess, I'd say Mohammed Usman will be a lock for DWTNCS season 2; Juan Adams would have been IMO but alas, rumours are he's doing WWE which is a nightmare piece of news.

Yeah, I think Usman is a lock for TNC if he gets past Mayes.

The winner of Sipe/Lewis 3 might also be a guy they put in there. Maybe even against Usman.

 

[MMA SCOUT]

I thought they got a good standard last time, so that's exciting news/rumours!

If I had to guess, I'd say Mohammed Usman will be a lock for DWTNCS season 2; Juan Adams would have been IMO but alas, rumours are he's doing WWE which is a nightmare piece of news.

Adams will be on CS, he’s only going w WWE if they want to run it concurrently w his MMA career... Usman backed out on Sipe w a supposed broken hand to then take the Mayes fight. Mayes is getting ready w Adams and Blaydes in Denver rn, I expect him to be on point, his last fight on CS he was only training in KY...

 

[The_Renaissance]

Yeah, I think Usman is a lock for TNC if he gets past Mayes.

The winner of Sipe/Lewis 3 might also be a guy they put in there. Maybe even against Usman.

Don't rate Mayes at all. Usman won't have much trouble with him. Mayes seems to have the talent, basic skills but not the fight IQ or cardio. Always seems a brainfart away from defeat....I mean, bloody Allen Crowder had him on DWCS. That's rough.

 

[Thesnake101]

Don't rate Mayes at all. Usman won't have much trouble with him. Mayes seems to have the talent, basic skills but not the fight IQ or cardio. Always seems a brainfart away from defeat....I mean, bloody Allen Crowder had him on DWCS. That's rough.

I was shocked at how little power his shots seemed to have. Fully expecting Usman to double leg him and GnP him for the win.

 

[MMALOPEZ]

Fight Nights Global signs K-1 vet Ben Edwards, who wants 'bloodbath' with Fabio Maldonado

 

[carelessandheem]

lopez finished his 3 fights in march with a finish in AFC tonight

Mitchell Sipe 3-0 vs. Chris Lewis 2-1
Van Palacio 4-3 vs. JR Lugo 8-3
Fernando Caçador 0-1 vs. Antônio Marcos Souza 0-0
Eradzh Kholov 2-2 vs. Ismail Sagov 0-1
Vladimir Seliverstov 2-1 vs. Aleksandr Dankov 2-2
Juan Bezuidenhout vs. Matunga Djikasa dual debut
Oleg Emilianov 5-2 vs. Malik Tambe 0-0
Marcus Sursa 17-10 vs. Carlton Little 6-5
Cody Collin 0-0 vs. Anthony Coleman 0-3
Shota Betlemidze 7-1 vs. Abdollah Heidari Zadeh 0-0 (rumored)
Björn Schmiedeberg 12-7-1 vs. Zelimkhan Umiev 10-1
Adam Keresh 2-0 vs. David Ben Harush 0-0

 

[original doom]

Some interesting WFCA announcements:

Evgeniy Goncharov (10-2) takes SF, Bellator and WSOF vet Brandon Cash (10-4). Goncharov is on a 6 fight win streak since his last lost at 2015, while Cash is coming of a loss, 2 years ago to another russian with the first name of his next opponent: Evgeny Erokhin (there's a I that makes the difference though).

Now a much more interesting fight in my opinion, is chechen prospect Alikhan Vahaev (6-2) vs. dagestani Kazbek Saidaliev (7-2).

I'm very high on Alikhan, he's only 24 years old, 6'6 and is improving very fast, here is his last fight, where he destroyed croatian journeyman Ivo Cuk (who fights this weekend against a top ukrainian prospect).



Alikhan has solid hands, good power and a impressive management of distance, landed some good knees in that fight.

Once, he was just a green skinny light heavyweight, but recently he has been putting some muscle/mass and in some years should be a force.
Now that Khusein Adamov (4-1) lost, i consider Vahaev the top chechen prospect at heavyweight. Saidaliev should be a good test, he's a dangerous guy but i favor Vahaev's potential in that one. Looking forward to.

PS: I'm not sure if anyone here minds talking about WFCA, it's a good show/event but i'd understand the ones not willing to "promote" it, due to Kadyrov's shenanigans.

PS²: Who i should contact to update fighters profiles on sherdog? Vahaev's profile has the wrong division, no photo, no age etc

im not seeing anything in alikhan that suggests future contenser potential tbh.

 

[executionermma]

im not seeing anything in alikhan that suggests future contenser potential tbh.

He's tall/long, young and improving fast.. not saying he will be UFC champion one day but he could be a interesting contender, i don't know many heavyweights at 24 or under who shows potential be UFC-level (if that means anything) one day, Spivac is one of the few

Andrey Kovalev maybe, but he's unproven at this point

 

[original doom]

He's tall/long, young and improving fast.. not saying he will be UFC champion one day but he could be a interesting contender, i don't know many heavyweights at 24 or under who shows potential be UFC-level (if that means anything) one day, Spivac is one of the few

Andrey Kovalev maybe, but he's unproven at this point

perhaps i need to sus more of his fights. cuk could have kod him in the first aswell, if he threw that right instead of holding back. i havent seen any of andrey kovalevs fights, odd that ive never come across his name before.

 

[executionermma]

perhaps i need to sus more of his fights. cuk could have kod him in the first aswell, if he threw that right instead of holding back. i havent seen any of andrey kovalevs fights, odd that ive never come across his name before.

How so? The fight lasted 40s and Alikhan barely stayed at Cuk range, Cuk couldn't close the distance because of Vahaev much longer reach and when he tried, got a knee to the face..
In my opinion that fight was a masterpiece performance by Vahaev, he shut down any danger Cuk could offer with his management of distance. Spivak had much more trouble putting Cuk away, and took some shots in the process as well. Again, i'm not sure he's going be a world contender, but to his age and to HW standards he looks good imo.

Andrey Kovalev is a ukrainian prospect who came out of WMMAA and fights at regional lv, so far he hasn't beat any good fighter but is undefeated and looks somewhat promising, but we need to see more of him ofc, his best 2 wins are against jobbers. He has a solid jab and apparently, heavy hands until he gets tired. A lot of work to do in the grappling department.