Prospect rankings update: June 2022
With each month that passes, the global MMA scene gets another step closer to the frequency and diversity of events that we were seeing before the pandemic hit. June was no exception, as prospects from across the world put in impressive performances for organizations ranging from rankings staples like ONE and LFA to lesser-known shows like Oktagon. Azerbaijan is a small country that’s probably far off of the radars of most MMA fans, but like most of the Caucus region it has a long tradition of gritty wrestling and this month saw both ranked Azerbaijani prospects pick up big wins back-to-back in the co-main and main events for Russian promotion AMC Global. This area of the world still doesn’t have many reputable local promotions, which typically forces its fighters to go elsewhere to build their reputations, but as Azerbaijanis, Georgians, Armenians, and Russian Caucasians (Dagestanis, Chechens, etc) continue to have global success it can only help to build local MMA interest and infrastructure, which should in turn lead to more talent entering the pool instead of going into Sambo or other combat sports.
May 30-June 5:
Heavyweights:
Marcus Buchecha: Remained #4 prospect
After dominant wins against good opponents in his first two MMA fights, Buchecha was scheduled for ONE Championship fights against both Oumar “Reug Reug” Kane (3-1) and Huge Cunha (6-1) in the last few months. Both of those potential opponents had previously featured in the rankings and shown dangerous finishing ability but both were removed after they showed limited cardio in their first professional losses. Unfortunately, those fights got cancelled and Buchecha was left facing Simon Carson (2-1), who is 45, only 6 feet tall and not particularly large, and had only faced opponents with losing records. The fight went about as you’d expect, with Buchecha throwing some surprisingly crisp kicks to open the fight then taking the fight to the ground with a well-executed double-leg that was hidden behind a flurry of punches. He landed in half guard and despite his opponent being a BJJ black belt, former multi-time BJJ world champion Buchecha proved just how many levels he is above your average black belt. He easily avoided a kimura attempt, used great soulder pressure to slowly work his way towards side control, and seemed to anticipate every escape attempt his opponent made well before they happened. After passing the half guard, he shifted to mount quickly and then absolutely unloaded with thunderous right hands while using his legs to pin Carson in place. He was clearly not going to escape, and the ref stepped in at the same time his corner threw in the towel. There was never a doubt in my mind that Buchecha was going to win this fight, but it was good to see him looking noticeably more comfortable in his striking and transitioning well between the different aspects of MMA. This is the first KO of his career, and judging by how much he seemed to enjoy it, that will likely not be his last victim. Hopefully the next opponent will be tougher, as Carson was brave to step in on short notice for such a tough fight but never really had a chance, which means he doesn’t move anywhere in the rankings. However, its hard to remember the last time a 3-0 fighter in any weight class looked as dangerous as Buchecha and he seems to be improving rapidly, which should be a scary thought for the rest of the division.
Adam Pałasz: Remained #14 prospect
Palasz is a prospect that I’ve been waiting to see for quite a while, as he had last fought for ACA in November 2020. With very few foreign fighters currently travelling to Russia, the Polish Palasz needed to find a new home, and he joined Oktagon this week in a card that was stacked with talent. Unfortunately, his matchup was the totally unproven Donald Ćosic, who was 3-0 with three finishes but had faced opponents with 1-2, 2-1, and 0-0 records. Palasz recorded a first round knockout, but Oktagon is a difficult show to find footage for online so that’s all the information I currently have. The two opponents that he fought in his 1-1 ACA stint were much more experienced and proven fighters, so beating the unknown Cosic doesn’t affect his rating much at all. Hopefully he impressed the matchmakes with this quick finish and will be given a higher-profile matchup for his next fight, as this was just the third prelim on a 13-fight card. I could easily see Palasz signing with KSW as that would return him to a major promotion and to his native Poland and they need an injection of talent in a pretty old heavyweight division. Oktagon has been growing well as a promotion however, and is probably now the #4 show in Europe behind KSW Cage Warriors, and Ares FC, so I could see him sticking around to try to challenge for a title and maybe get a shot in an even bigger promotion. He’s shown lethal finishing ability, with 6 of his 7 wins now coming by knockout and the 7th a rear naked choke, but he needs to continue proving himself against more proven opposition.
Welterweights:
Eldar Eldarov: Moved from #1 welterweight prospect to unranked (age)
Eldarov is a sambo master, a longtime training partner and close friend of Khabib Nurmagomedov, and one of the lead coaches at Bahrain’s state-sponsored MMA team KHK, where he’s helped develop other talented fighters such as #5 LHW prospect Murtaza Ali. He’s also on an impressive 7-fight win streak, with the last 5 all coming for Brave. Those include a win against current UFC fighter Mounir Lazzez (7-0 at the time) to claim the Super Lightweight title for Brave (165 pounds) in 2019, then a title defense against Leonardo Mafra (15-5) in January 2021 where Eldarov absolutely dominated from top position in round 1 and did enough damage that the fight was stopped between rounds. He’s been the #1 welterweight prospect since these rankings were created but unfortunately has been inactive since that fight against Mafra, as he’s reportedly shown more interest in his role as a coach than his own fighting career. Eldarov turned 31 this week, and since he is just past the fight limit with his 13-2 record, he is unfortunately no longer eligible to be ranked. Maybe he’s waiting on a UFC offer or something similar to re-spark his career, and I certainly hope that this is not the last we’ve seen of him as at his best Eldarov is a strong and mean wrestler who bullies his opponents until they break under his pressure.
Mateusz Figlak: Improved from unranked to #15 prospect
The departure of Eldarov opens up a spot for Figlak, who along with his brother Michal has been tearing up Cage Warriors and creating buzz as one of the best sibling pairs currently fighting. Mateusz is 27 and went 5-0 as an amateur, then in a time-honored tradition of the UK regional scene demolished two absolute cans in his first professional fights (0-7 and 7-30 records). His Cage Warriors debut took away a lot of the buzz surrounding him, as he was choked out in the first round by another fighter with a 2-0 pro record. However, that fighter was none other than Ian Garry, who went on to win the Cage Warriors title and his first two UFC fights to stay perfect at 9-0. Since that one loss, Figlak has strung together 5 straight wins, with his most impressive performance coming back in 2020 when he choked out talented grappler Madars Fleminas (7-1) in less than 90 seconds. His next two wins were also first-round finishes but against less talented opponents, and his most recent fight was a dominant decision against battle-tested gatekeeper Kent Kauppinen (13-6). That fight was in December 2021, which means that Figlak has yet to fight this year. There hasn’t been any mention of him being injured so my best guess is that he’s waiting for a title shot to try to attract the UFC’s attention, but former ranked prospect Justin Burlinson (7-1) is currently scheduled to take on ex-UFC fighter Rhys McKee (11-4-1) for the vacant welterweight belt later this month. Figlak might be next in line to face the winner of that fight, but he could strengthen his case by picking up another win in the meantime. He’s a well-rounded fighter who is not scared to engage in any element of MMA, though he’s probably most dangerous when he can get top position on the ground and use his strength to trap his opponent while looking for chokes or raining down heavy punches. His striking is technically sound and he can pack some power when he throws hard, but he’s not creative or dynamic in the way that truly elite striking prospects often are. His wrestling is strong everywhere, whether that’s shooting for takedowns in the middle of the cage, battling for position against the fence, or maintaining control once he gets his opponent to the mat. Overall, there’s a lot to like about Figlak, but I still have questions stemming from the loss to Garry about whether he is one of those fighters who is very good at a lot of things but not elite enough at any one thing to succeed at the highest levels of MMA.
Lightweights:
Losene Keita: Improved from unranked to #7 prospect
It’s not often that a prospect goes from out of the rankings into the top 10 in one fight, but Keita is one of the fastest-rising and highest-celing prospects that I’ve come across in a while. He started his MMA career as an amateur in 2017 and went 3-0 between that year and 2018, then made his pro debut in 2019 and won 3 decisions in just 3 months. Keita followed up that success with 3 knockouts on the regional scene between 2020 and 2021, with the last one catching both my attention, as I added him to my watchlist, and the attention of Oktagon, who signed him to a multi-fight deal. Those first 6 wins were all against weak competition, but Oktagon offered an immediate step-up in the form of Karol Ryšavý (9-3), who Keita knocked out in the first round in December 2021. That was my first opportunity to watch a full one of his fights, and his explosive athleticism and fluid movement immediately jumped off the screen along with impressive patience for a 24-year-old prospect. His first fight of 2022 was against Ronald Paradeiser (13-7), whose record isn’t the best but has been a strong gatekeeper for Oktagon and has derailed the hype trains of past prospects. However, Keita rose to the challenge and won a clear decision over his older and more experienced opponent, which set him up for a title shot this week. His opponent was Ivan Buchinger (39-7), who in my book is one of the most overlooked fighters in the world despite his incredible record, likely because he’s spent his long career bouncing between high-level European promotions. He’s accumulated tons of strong wins in that time but hasn’t managed to break through to the level of the elite, though he held the Oktagon titles at both featherweight and lightweight going into this fight. I actually predicted Buchinger to win despite Keita’s undefeated record and good previous performances but I was proven very wrong almost immediately. Keita was clearly on another level athletically compared to his opponent and was hurting him every time he connected, and after a couple of minutes he landed a left hook that stunned Buchinger and followed up with accurate and powerful hooks from both hands to pile on the damage and leave “Buki” crumpled against the fence. This win brings Keita to 9-0, gives him his first title win, and makes him the first fighter from Guinea to ever appear in these rankings. What’s scary is that since he’s still 24 and has only been fighting professionally for 3 years, he probably still has a lot more room to develop as a fighter. I’d love to see him on the Contender Series later this year, as he’s exactly the kind of prospect the show is designed to test.
Aaron McKenzie: Fell from #15 prospect to unranked
While McKenzie recorded a great win against Lucas Clay (8-1) in his most recent fight for LFA, it was an incredibly close contest that established him as a strong experienced fighter but not a truly elite talent. While that was enough to secure a spot in the rankings for a couple months, the subsequent emergence of prospects like Keita who have much higher potential have forced McKenzie off of the list. He’s already over the age limit and his next fight will bring him over the fight limit, so his only path to temporarily rejoining these rankings is if someone rated higher leaves.
Featherweights:
Fabricio de Andrade: Improved from #5 to #4 prospect
De Andrade has been a staple of these rankings since their inception, and he’s featured frequently in these updates due to a busy fighting schedule that has seen him record 3 first-round knockouts in the last 6 months. This week’s victory came against Won Il Kwon (11-3), who is a talented boxer with a knack for body-punch TKOs and was on a 3-win streak against good competition, making him de Andrade’s toughest test to date. Unfortunately for the Korean, Fabricio is also a master of the liver shot. His last two wins had been set up by perfectly timed knees to the liver, and he came out aggressive this week with a variety of kicks and punches that marked up Kwon’s face and had him on the retreat from the outset. The finish came just 1 minute into the fight, as de Andrade unleased a kick directly to the liver, digging his toes between the ribs for maximum effect and causing Kwon to crumple to the mat in a ball while screaming in agony. That brings the 24-year-old Brazilian to 5-0 with ONE and extends his total win streak to 7 after a sub-par 1-2 start to his career. He called out current 145 pound champion John Lineker after this win, and given the destruction that he’s wreaked on the rest of the division I don’t think there’s anyone else more worthy of a title shot than him. It is worth noting that he’s been matched up against other fighters who prefer to strike, which lets his technical and powerful Muay Thai style shine, so he only moves up 1 spot in the rankings because the fighters above him have all shown strong grappling skills to go with their striking. However, Lineker is another striker, so a potential showdown between the two Brazilians would be almost guaranteed to be an exciting firefight. Since this was de Andrade’s 10th fight, he’s crossed that eligibility limit, but since he’s still just 24 he will remain on these rankings for the foreseeable future.
José Delano: Improved from #15 to #10 prospect
After entering the bottom of the rankings just a week ago following the departure of previously-ranked prospects, Delano got his second chance at the LFA title this week against tough wrestler Michael Stack (7-1). Delano confirmed much of my previous assessment of his potential, in both positive and negative ways. Importantly, the fight itself was almost all positive, as the 25-year-old Brazilian was light on his feet and used great lateral movement to avoid the repeated takedowns and big overhand punches that Stack was throwing while showing his fast hands and countering with quick and accurate punches. He was significantly outstriking his opponent at range, and while he got pushed against the fence at least once per round, he did well to quickly dig underhooks and minimize damage while working to circle out back into the center. The few times he did hit the ground, Delano either popped right back to his feet or in the third round he threatened a very deep guillotine from what had looked like Stack’s best position of the fight. At one point Delano got top position himself after nicely sidestepping a takedown and showed great control from the half-guard, keeping his opponent trapped for several minutes while peppering in some solid short elbows to stay busy. All in all it was a complete, well rounded performance from Delano that saw two judges give him the fight 50-45 while the third saw it 49-46. While the results in the cage were impressive, the major downside came before the fight as he missed weight by a whopping 5 pounds, putting him halfway to lightweight. He had missed weight by a smaller margin in his last title fight, which he also won over 25 minutes, and with how good his cardio looked you have to question how hard he tried to actually make 145 pounds. Two straight weight misses in title fights is not a good look even though he has come away with wins, and its hard to see the UFC calling unless they decide to offer him a Contender Series spot at lightweight. However, while Delano is muscular he looked about the same size as Stack in this fight and would definitely be undersized at 155 pounds, so the best thing for his career would probably be to work with a nutritionist to get to a better weight in the weeks leading up to fights so that he’s not trying to drain as much in the last few days before the weigh-ins. Delano moves up several spots in the rankings because his ability to avoid and nullify takedowns from a credentialed wrestler in Stack makes me confident that he could do the same to some of the talented grapplers he passed in spots #10-14.
June 6-12:
Light Heavyweights:
Kenneth Bergh: Fell from #4 prospect to unranked
As I discussed last month, it’s been a rough stretch recently for the light heavyweight division, and June has only made it worse as one of the top undefeated 205ers suffered his first professional defeat in a major upset. Bergh has long been a prospect ranked primarily on his athleticism and potential, as he is huge, muscular, and a deadly finisher but has faced consistently weak competition throughout his career. The exception is a good win by second-round guillotine choke against Norman Paraisy (15-4-2) for Cage Warriors back in 2017, which moved him to 6-0 and earned him a spot on the Contender Series two years later. Unfortunately, that fight also encapsulates the paradox of Bergh as a prospect. He’s finished all 9 of his pro wins, with 6 chokes and 3 KOs with ground and pound, which would give the impression that he has an excellent ground game. However, he was choked out in 30 seconds on The Ultimate Fighter in 2016 against Eric Spicely, who is a good submission artist but hardly a world-class talent. In addition, that Contender Series fight against former ranked prospect Antonio Trócoli also saw Bergh submitted in the first round for what would have been his first official loss, but the result was overturned when Trocoli tested positive for PEDs. I was definitely concerned about his submission defense going into this week but I had Bergh ranked very highly as a prospect due to his strength and finishing ability combined with the lack of competition from other prospects. Unfortunately, he got exposed once again, this time by an opponent significantly worse than either Spicely or Trocoli. Bergh was booked against Brazilian can-crusher and BJJ specialist Ederson Cristian Macedo (10-6) to fight for the title for top Swedish promotion Superior Challenge, and since this was the third time the fight had been scheduled it was clear that this was a matchup that he and his team were confident in him winning. In reality, Bergh once again got out-positioned on the ground by an opponent with legitimate grappling skills and gave up his back while trying to use his explosive power to escape. This allowed Macedo to get into a dominant position and finish the fight in the first round by rear-naked choked, officially ending Bergh’s perfect professional record and sending him crashing down into the depths of my prospect rankings. Getting outmatched by someone who had previously only beaten fighters early in their careers or who had losing records is a really bad sign for Kenneth’s chances of success at high levels of MMA, and I suspect that we may have seen the last of him as a serious prospect. There’s always a chance that this was just an unlucky loss, but taking into account his previous submissions in TUF and DWCS and the fact that he’s 32 makes me wonder if he’ll ever be able to improve his choke defense enough to be a top-level fighter.
Elmar Gasanov: Improved from unranked to #15 prospect
Last month saw Diyar Nurgozhay (7-0, now #14 LHW prospect) get added to the rankings despite a lack of experience against good competition, and this month another undefeated but relatively unproven fighter joins the ranks in Gasanov. The 23-year-old Russian is stocky and muscular and has compiled a 6-0 pro record to go along with a 3-0 amateur record, with almost all of those wins coming by decision. Gasanov is 6’1 so is often slightly shorter than his opposition but works around that by throwing powerful punches to bring himself into range then clinching and using his strength to wrestle his opponents into defeat. The competition he’s beaten is definitely several levels above that of Nurgozhay, as his last 3 fights have all been decision wins against Alexander Podmarev (8-3), Dmitriy Tebekin (12-6), and Anton Volkov (6-1), with the first two coming for regional promotion MMA Series while the most recent clash with Volkov was for a stronger promotion in RCC. Podmarev has gone on a 6-fight winning streak since losing to Gasanov and Volkov had some strong wins coming into the fight, so they are both still prospects on my watchlists. While that is good for Gasanov’s prospect status, the reality is that both of those fights were split decisions that were very competitive and didn’t do a ton to clearly distinguish one fighter as better than the other. Gasanov was in control early in both of those fights, but unfortunately he doesn’t seem to have the cardio to sustain pressure-wrestling with his muscle mass for a full 15 minutes. He gets visibly less sharp with each round and leaves opportunities for his opponents to mount comebacks, and while he hasn’t been punished by it yet, an elite-level fighter could probably take advantage and finish him in the later rounds. His striking also needs some work still, as he’s got power but can loop his shots and rarely throws more than 1 or 2 strikes at a time. With those negatives in mind, it is important to note that he’s undefeated, early in his career, and only 23, which gives him tons of time to build up his overall skillset and potentially push his way up the rankings. He hasn’t fought since November 2021, so hopefully he’ll get another opportunity soon as RCC and other Russian promotions start to have more frequent shows
In a side note of the Light Heavyweight division, current #12 prospect Sharaputdin Magomedov was caught on video assaulting another man in Russia, with the only justification being that the devoutly religious Magomedov was angered by the man and his girlfriend kissing in public. The initial fight was stupid enough, but a second clip showing someone alleged to be Magomedov waiting outside the mall, sucker-punching the man, then stomping on his unconscious head is sickening to watch. Who knows how this will get resolved in the Russian “justice” system, but Magomedov was already going to struggle to get approved to fight internationally because he is blind in one eye and if it’s proven to be him in this video, he may never be able to fight outside of his home country. He’ll stay in the rankings for now, as he’s hardly the first MMA fighter to have major character concerns outside the cage and is an undeniably talented striker. In fact, he’s not even the only prospect in the top 15 LHWs with personal demons, as #2 prospect Timo Feucht was at one point scheduled to fight against Bergh for the UFC until it got revealed that he had close ties to Neo-Nazi organizations in his native Germany.
Welterweights:
Nariman Abbasov: Moved from #7 welterweight prospect to #2 lightweight prospect
We last saw Abbasov in the very first edition of this column in September 2019, when he moved up to welterweight to challenge Dagestani legend Shamil Zavurov (40-6-1) for the belt. He ended up pulling off the upset and spoiling Zavurov’s retirement fight with a huge right hand knockout that crumpled his opponent and made Abbasov the new double-champ for good Russian promotion AMC Global. This week, Abbasov and his 27-3 resume squared off with Marif Piraev (30-4-1) in a battle of two of the best professional records you will find outside of major promotions. He has earned a reputation as an aggressive fighter throughout his career and showed exactly why this week, and he started off the fights guns blazing and probably landed at least 20 strikes in the first minute, with most of those being powerful right hands. Nariman carries a little more fat than you’d typically see at 155 pounds but it doesn’t seem to affect him negatively in the slightest, as he has enormous power and great stamina too considering the volume and power with which he strikes. It became clear that Piraev is too tough to immediately fold regardless of the damage he is receiving, as he was throwing back and landing good counters of his own but just couldn’t match what Abbasov was hitting him with. Nariman won the first round with heavy strikes on the feet and while pushing his opponent against the cage, and on the ground he landed more big rights after a well-executed takedown that showed he has skills in every area of MMA. That round was somewhat competitive, but round 2 became one-sided and easily could have been stopped at several points, especially when I counted Abbasov connect with more than 25 consecutive punches against the fence while Piraev just tried to evade and didn’t throw anything in return. The control that Abbasov is able to generate with a single left-handed collar tie clinch is very impressive, as he was grabbing the back of his opponent’s head throughout the fight and feeding him a steady diet of hard right uppercuts directly to the chin. The use of the clinch was more evident in the second round as Piraev was mostly drained of the strength needed to break free, and when he started to shell up and protect his head, Abbasov started ripping nasty shots to his stationary body that sank directly into the ribs and kidneys. Piraev may have been too tough for his own good in the end, as he got dropped very briefly at one point but was immediately back to his feet only to continue receiving a battering until the round expired. His corner stepped in between rounds and stopped the fight, giving Abbasov the 3rd defense of his AMC title and running his win streak to a ludicrous 13-straight.
Piraev was someone that graded out as a good but not elite prospect in my rankings, so I expected a win from Abbasov but was impressed by just how emphatic and dominant this performance was. He gets a good boost in his grade as a result, which coupled to a return to the lightweight division, which is very deep but not as insanely stacked as welterweight, moves Abbasov way up into the #2 spot in the rankings. #1 prospect Mateusz Rębecki is scheduled to fight on the Contender Series later this year, so we could easily see Abbasov as the top lightweight prospect before the end of 2022. It’s also very possible that Abbasov gets his own chance in a top promotion, and I think he’s probably too good for DWCS and deserves to be signed directly to the UFC with what he’s put on film. Despite his lengthy resume he’s still only 28 years old, so he is in his prime and would be a great addition to any show’s lightweight division, which I think is his best weight class at the top level. He’s one of the two Azerbaijani fighters mentioned in the into who scored wins this week, and while I don’t think his country has previously been represented in the UFC, each impressive win brings Abbasov closer to being the first fighter to break that barrier.
Tahir Abdullaev: Improved from #11 to #9 prospect
Abdullaev is a well-rounded 25-year-old prospect who came into this week with all 12 of his professional wins by finish, with the most impressive one by far a 45-second knockout of Daniel Skibiński (18-5), who I had thought was UFC-ready, for UAE Warriors last year. He’s the second of the Azerbaijani prospects referenced in the introduction and he made his debut this week for AMC Global in an all-out war that he won by a clear decision against Maxim Butorin (22-4-1). As Butorin’s record indicates, he’s a very solid prospect himself, but I did have him ranked quite a few tiers below Abdullaev coming into this one because he’s struggled some in the past when stepping up against the very best competition. That proved to be true again this week, as Tahir’s stocky and muscular build combined with his aggressive fighting style perfectly demonstrated why he is nicknamed “Tank”. Abdullaev came out throwing powerful hooks from the start of the fight, and while he was never able to catch Butorin perfectly flush he was still doing plenty of damage with shots that were partially deflected or glancing off the guard. He also did a good job sporadically mixing in heavy shots to the body, which undoubtedly drained his opponent’s gas tank as the fight went on. Abdullaev’s striking can get wild at times but it is undeniably dangerous, and the ground game is where his technical proficiency and raw strength really shine through. He got multiple takedowns by catching his opponent’s kicks and dumping him onto the mat, where he wasn’t overly concerned about securing top position and instead crouched above his opponent’s guard and swung bombs at his chin. His more conventional double-leg takedowns were also effective, and when Abdullaev decided to get into top control the pressure he was putting on was obvious, as the skilled Butorin was reduced to scrambling and trying to cover up to minimize the damage he was eating from heavy hooks and elbows. Abdullaev showed dangerous striking posture from the ground, sitting back on his knees to maximize the leverage and torque on his strikes and not being overly concerned if his opponent was able to regain guard because he could still inflict lots of punishment from there. Both fighters looked tired in the third round after putting on an intense pace and exchanging lots of heavy blows, and while this allowed Butorin to complete some of his first takedowns of the fight, Abdullaev showed an impressive mix of strength and technique to lock up limbs and then bridge in order to sweep himself off of his back and into top control, where he continued to deliver strikes.
Undoubtedly Abdullaev’s control-light strategy was also influenced by a truly horrible new rule that AMC Global has implemented that forces the referees to stand the fighters up after a certain amount of time on the ground, regardless of the activity or position they fight themselves in. From the minute I read about the idea I could tell that it was going to lead to some unfair-seeming situations, especially in a part of the world with so many elite wrestlers, and that proved to be true in this fight, as at one point Abdullaev had Butorin on one knee pressed against the fence and was absolutely walloping him with huge punches until the ref stepped in and broke them up, allowing Butorin to escape from a position where he otherwise might have been finished. The rule also interfered with a submission, as at one point Tahir pulled guard for a guillotine only to see the ref stand them up 3 seconds later as he was starting to lock in his grip. I understand that they’re trying to combat lay-and-pray decision artists, but it would be much better to instruct refs to require a higher level of activity and/or attempts to improve position rather than relying on an arbitrary time limit. As it currently is, the rule distorts the intention of MMA as a sport and broke up some exciting and potentially fight-ending exchanges on the ground. In the end, Abdullaev came out on top with a pretty clear decision win and improves his win streak to 6 against strong competition. His only loss was back when he was 21 against Roman Bogatov (5-0), who has since gone on to fight for the UFC and Brave and is clearly a very talented opponent. Abdullaev only moves up 2 spots in the rankings this week, with one of those spots due to Abbasov’s weight-class change, but that is primarily due to how ridiculously talented welterweight is as a global division. I feel that any one of the top 10 prospects could step right into the UFC prelims and give tough challenges to many of the fighters there, so the critiques that separate them are typically small. In Tahir’s case, I have some concern that his willingness to brawl might see him knocked out by an elite kickboxer who can times his hooks and takedowns, and I also have to slightly ding him for his energy management after he seemed to use too much of his gas tank in the first two rounds. That’s likely due to the fact that he’d always been able to finish his opponents in his past fights, but Butorin is a tough guy to stop and Abdullaev will need to be slightly more measured as he continues to take on elite opposition. I would ordinarily say that his next fight should be a title shot for AMC, but given that his countryman Abbasov is the current welterweight champion I have to wonder if Abdullaev will try to return to UAE Warriors or go to another Russian promotion in search of a belt. That assumes, of course, that he doesn’t get the call from a major promotion before then, which I think is very possible given his age, record, and finishing ability.
Roman Faraldo: Improved from unranked to #15 prospect
Faraldo is the definition of a high-ceiling but low-floor prospect. He went 6-0 as an amateur with multiple knockouts, and he’s now 7-0 professionally with all of those wins coming by KO, five in round 1 and two in round 2. The last 4 of those wins have come for Bellator, but the main factor holding Faraldo back from a higher ranking is the matchmaking and his level of competition, as he’s repeatedly been fed easy wins. The opponents he’s faced in Bellator have had records of 6-3, 2-1, 11-7, and 5-3, and all of them were brought in on 1-fight deals which indicates that they were signed to give him some more wins on his record. His flying knee knockouts and devastating punch combos are still impressive but the quality of his opponents definitely makes it harder to project his skillset against strong fighters. In fact, the toughest challenge of his career was undoubtedly his professional debut against current #6 prospect Dilano Taylor, who was just 1-0 at the time. Faraldo won with a second round knockout, but while it may seem strange for Taylor to be ranked so much higher despite having suffered his only loss to Faraldo, that fight was at the start of both men’s careers and does not reflect their current skillset. Taylor is younger and has gone on a win streak against much better competition, especially his PFL debut earlier this year against the excellent João Zeferino. This does not detract from the enticing skills that Faraldo has put on tape, as he is tall, muscular, and loves to strike from any distance. He is a threat to finish with any shot he throws, and he has such a deep toolbox that it must be difficult to decide what to focus on defending. However, I will need to see him fight better competition, as even a low-ranked prospect towards the bottom of my lists would be a major step up from what Bellator has given him so far. I especially want to see his wrestling and jiu-jitsu tested, as he has yet to face any grapplers who are sufficiently skilled at avoiding strikes to give him a serious challenge. Faraldo could easily be the next big thing at welterweight if the rest of his game is anywhere close to as good as his striking has looked, but he could also become the next in a very long list of excellent strikers who never made it at the top level because their grappling wasn’t up to the necessary standard.
Lightweights:
Aleksandr Grozin: Fell from #15 prospect to unranked
Grozin (18-4-1) is an excellent young prospect out of Russia who joined the rankings last month after another big win for RCC. Unluckily for him, Keita’s incredible win last week and this week’s return to lightweight by Abbasov mean that there is no longer space for him. There is too much talent in the lightweight rankings for a major promotion to not snap up one or more of them soon, which makes me confident that Grozin will return to the list once the competition for spots is just a tiny bit less fierce. It’s also entirely possible that Grozin himself gets signed by a major promotion, most likely ACA, as he’s in good form, has a great record, and is still clearly improving as a martial artist.
Bantamweights:
Herbeth Sousa: Fell from #6 prospect to unranked
The MMA world had been waiting more than two years for Sousa’s return, as his last win came in February 2020 with an impressive decision against the well-rounded Alexander Keshtov (9-0) to win the CFFC bantamweight title. He also made waves in 2019 by choking out both Glyan Alves (13-3) and Taigro Costa (15-4) in the first round on his way to winning a belt for top Brazilian promotion Future FC. Unfortunately for Sousa, his return this week was far from triumphant, as he made his LFA debut against Muin Gafurov (17-4) and got knocked out in the second round of the main event. Gafurov has high-level wrestling and a lot of power in his hands and is very credentialed with a 3-3 record for ONE Championship and wins for both ACB and UAE Warriors on his record. However, he was coming into this fight off of a huge upset loss in the 2021 Contender Series to a prospect that I ranked much lower than either Gafurov or Sousa, so I thought that the Brazilian’s deadly ground game would be enough to get him a submission and likely punch his ticket to the UFC. Instead, Gafurov came out firing big overhand rights from the opening seconds of the fight, and when Sousa smartly changed levels, he got punished with hard elbows to the side of his head while switching between single and double-leg takedown attempts. When he did manage to get Gafurov to the ground, Muin’s wrestling came into play as he consistently locked up a high-crotch grip that allowed him to unbalance Sousa, keep his own weight high, and force scrambles that prevented Herbeth from ever getting time to go to work from a controlling position. The end of the first round showed a sign of things to come, as Gafurov connected cleanly with an overhand bomb to knock Sousa down then quickly worked to take his back and alternate RNC attempts with surprisingly hard strikes from close range. The second round started similarly to the first, with both fighters exchanging positions on the ground and proving their highly developed grappling skills, and once it got back to the feet Gafurov detonated another right hand against Sousa’s skull. Herbeth collapsed face-first but was somehow still with it enough to roll to his back and attempt a guard, but three quick and powerful punches straight to the chin turned out the lights and sealed the win for the Tajikistani fighter. Sousa’s grappling was effectively negated by Gafurov’s wrestling and there was a clear gap in striking power and comfort on the feet, so this loss drops him substantially in the rankings and takes him well outside of the top 15 prospects. Gafurov’s impressive performance improved his stock enough that he would become ranked #10 if he were eligible, but he’s had 7 fights for major organizations and is therefore relegated to an honorable mention. Sousa will need several strong wins to recover from this if he wants to make another push towards the UFC or Bellator, and since he’s still in his prime at age 28 I definitely hope we’ll see him again whenever he’s fully recovered.
Kevin Cordero: Improved from unranked to #15 prospect
Like #14 prospect Khaseyn Shaykhaev, Cordero is a young, talented grappler coming off of a close decision loss to a talented veteran. In Cordero’s case, it was a split decision against Frans Mlambo (12-5) in the finals of Combate’s bantamweight tournament in December 2021. That was Cordero’s third fight of the night at the young age of 21 and Mlambo has proven himself with numerous wins against other prospects. The loss was enough to bump him out of the rankings at the time, but the departure of Sousa this week and other prospects in the past few months have created enough space for Cordero, now 22 years old, to rejoin the rankings in the bottom spot. He’s demonstrated fantastic BJJ skills since he was a teenager and is a threat for a submission from either top or bottom position on the ground, and he scored the most impressive knockout of his career in that same tournament by flattening Leodegario Muniz (7-1) with a hook with just seconds left in their 1-round fight. That punch showed that Cordero has been working on his boxing and given his age he should have lots more room to continue growing and adding more power as he builds muscle. That makes his ranking primarily based on his potential ceiling, as he’s certainly less proven than some fighters I have below him but has a better chance of becoming an elite talent. He was scheduled to return to the Spanish regional scene in April 2022 with a relatively easy matchup to help him bounce-back from the loss, but unfortunately that fight was cancelled for unknown reasons, and nothing has been heard about Cordero since. Hopefully he will resurface sometime in the next few months to show the world how much he has progressed since we last saw him.
Flyweights:
Azat Maksum: Remained #4 prospect
We last saw Maksum in December of 2021, where he made a triumphant return to top Kazakhstani promotion Octagon by submitting Azamat Karabekov (8-3) in less than a minute. That win came after two straight highlight-reel knockouts for Brave that really put him on the map in the international MMA community, but he mysteriously has not received any interest from international promotions. His opponent this week was a young Brazilian import, Alan Gabriel (12-6), who has lots of finishes on his record but has mostly crushed cans and entered this week on a two-fight losing streak. I’m sure it’s hard to find opponents willing to take on Maksum, but it’s somewhat disappointing they couldn’t find any legitimate prospects to test him given how much flyweight talent there is in Central Asia. The fight was less one-sided than I’d expected, as Maksum showed fast hands early but seemed to be at a power disadvantage and switched to wrestling after getting clipped by a big hook from Gabriel. He was able to get takedowns with relative ease, but Gabriel’s strong jiu-jitsu background prevented him from advancing position or mounting much offense because he was constantly defending against armbar, and triangle attempts from the Brazilian. However, Azat was undeterred and got takedowns in each round then stayed tight to his opponent while peppering him with short shots that scored points despite not being anywhere near fight-ending. Maksum ended up with a clear decision win, which moves his record to a stellar 15-0, but he doesn’t improve at all in the rankings or his overall grade as a prospect because Gabriel was never expected to be near his level as a fighter. If I ran the UFC, Maksum would have been on the roster several fights ago, but as it stands, he hasn’t even been offered a spot on this year’s Contender Series, which is baffling to me. He’s shown high-level skills in every aspect of MMA, is in his prime at age 27, and has both an unbeaten record and high-quality wins on that record, so maybe this win will be the one that finally earns him a chance on a bigger stage.
June 13-19
Light Heavyweights:
Josh Silveira: Remained #1 prospect
Anyone who’s been following this series knows that I am a massive fan of Josh Silveira and after being forced to pull out of his PFL debut with an injury, this week he showed exactly why the organization was lucky to sign him before the UFC stepped in. Silveira took on Marthin Hamlet, who is a huge and muscular wrestler who was one of the breakout successes of the 2021 PFL season and actually briefly featured in these rankings. The difference in their striking skill levels was evident immediately, as Silveira started poking away with leg kicks and teeps to the body right away while Hamlet threw big punches but was unable to find his target against a much quicker opponent. That forced Hamlet to switch to his wrestling early in the first round, and while he did have success holding Silveira against the fence for a period he was unable to inflict significant damage and Josh did a good job fighting for underhooks and eventually breaking free. Once he was in space Silveira unleashed a technically perfect high kick that stunned his opponent and immediately waded forward with an onslaught of punches to keep accumulating damage. Hamlet showed otherworldly toughness to keep moving and throw a few wild spinning backfists, but Silveira was relentless with his punishment and eventually sealed the deal by grabbing a collar-tie clinch and crumpling his opponent with a brutal knee to the face. This first-round knockout should send Silveira into the PFL playoffs despite only getting one regular season opportunity and he’s proven that even with a big step up in competition he is more than capable of putting together highlight performances. This win moves his record to 9-0, which means that his next win will disqualify him from the rankings, enjoy him while he’s here, as Silveira looks like he could be an elite fighter at either light heavyweight or middleweight for years to come.
Lightweights:
Abdisalam Uulu Kubanychbek : Improved from #6 to #4 prospect
Kubanychbek is the top prospect currently coming out of Kyrgyzstan and he continued his rise to stardom this week by claiming the interim lightweight title for Brave CF. He started his career by building up a strong record against relatively weak opposition throughout Central Asia and was then brought in to the ACB Young Eagles series, where he was matched up with a string of promising Russian prospects, 3 of whom were undefeated. Usually, the non-Russian fighters brought in for those matchups get run over and are mostly there to add to the resume of whoever the promotion is trying to build up, but Kubanychbek refused to cooperate and went 5-0 for them while continuing to finish most of his fights. He was then signed to Brave in 2019, where he knocked out João Paulo Rodrigues (39-19-2) and Vagif Askerov (12-4), choked Jahongir Saidjamolov (15-4), then put such a beating on UFC-reject Rolando Dy (14-9) that Dy’s corner stopped the fight before the third round. That impressive string of finishes against strong competition earned Kubanychbek a shot at the interim title back in March but unfortunately that fight ended up as a no contest after accidental illegal strikes. He got a second chance this week against a new opponent in Olzhas Eskaraev (10-5), who doesn’t have the flashiest record or much name recognition but was on my watchlist because of some big wins he’d pulled off, most notably in his Brave debut. Eskaraev is a well-rounded fighter who can find success in any aspect of MMA, but Kubanychbek proved himself superior in all regards with a complete performance over 25 minutes that improved his win streak to 11 and showed why I rate him so highly as a prospect.
Kubanychbek doesn’t need much of a feeling out process to start fights or rounds and is happy to start engaging while his opponent is still trying to get reads, but he’s also very careful with his footwork and body positioning to avoid putting himself in unnecessary danger. He got takedowns every round against a good wrestler and frequently managed to take his opponent’s back to land ground and pound and look for chokes. He did show some lapses in his body triangle control, as Eskaraev was able to spin into him multiple times and end up in top position, though he was never able to have the same impact as Kubanychbek. Abdisalam also showed off his natural power in this fight as he scored a knockdown in round two and stunned his opponent on the feet in round four. He wasn’t loading up and swinging for the fences in either sequence but instead threw solid, technically sound and well-timed punches that landed exactly where he wanted and caused immediate damage. He started to lean on his wrestling more as the fight went on simply because it was very effective, but he never became one-dimensional and didn’t allow his opponent to time when he was going to attempt a shot. Kubanychbek’s cardio was also in display in this performance as he kept up a consistent pace that barely changed from the first minute to the twenty-fifth, mixing together his striking and grappling to wear his opponent down and earn himself the belt with relatively dominant decision win. However, while Eskaraev was on my radar he was ranked several hundred spots below Kubanychbek, which is why Abdisalam only moves up a couple spots in the rankings despite the impressive fight and winning an interim title for a talent-filled promotion. The current Brave champ is Ahmed Amir (12-3-1), who used his grinding wrestling style to win the belt last year but has struggled with injuries since, hence the interim title. He would be one of the best fighters Kubanychbek has faced to date, but I think that the Kyrgyz star has the grappling skills necessary to prevent excessive control from Amir and is much more skilled on the feet, so I would definitely pick him to win when/if that fight gets booked.
Bantamweights:
Jakub Wikłacz: Improved from #8 to #7 prospect
Wiklacz has been a part of the rankings since they began but this is the first opportunity, I’ve had to write him up, as he last fought at beginning of September 2021, just weeks before the series started. He’s an athletic 25-year-old with incredible grappling ability, and his youth makes him eligible for these rankings despite his experience (13-3-1 record) and fighting for a major promotion in KSW. Poland has a robust amateur scene but Wiklacz chose to bypass that entirely and went pro back in 2014 at just 17 years old, so most of the blemishes on his record come from when he was a teenager. Even then his deadly submission game was evident as he recorded 3 guillotines, 2 triangles, 2 rear-naked chokes, and an armbar on the regional scene to go with a couple decision wins. That was good enough to get him signed to KSW in 2020 where he took on Sebastian Przybysz in his debut match, who Wiklacz had already beaten by decision 3 years prior. However, Przybysz was able to get his revenge with a 3rd-round knockout that took a lot of momentum away from Wiklacz. Since that fight, Przybysz has won the KSW title and defended it twice while looking excellent in the process, which certainly makes Wiklacz’s setback more understandable. For his part, Jakub rebounded with a decision win against up-and-comer Patryk Surdyn (5-1) then scored a big upset over former KSW champ and European stalwart Antun Račić (25-9-1) with a beautiful first-round guillotine, which was the 4th time he’s pulled off that submission.
That brings us to this week, where Wiklacz took on Bruno Santos (10-3), an athletic and well-rounded prospect from Brazil who had challenged for the title twice but been unsuccessful both times. Wiklacz’s grappling skills carried him in this one, as he shot for his first takedown after less than 30 seconds, throwing just enough strikes to distract Santos before driving him to the ground. He has great shoulder pressure to maintain control from the top and also made it easier to slide his legs out of guard into side control. When his opponent tried to scramble, Wiklacz shifted fluidly into mount, then took the back after a turn, and finally scooted forward to wrap his legs around Santos’ head while falling off to the side to attempt a mounted triangle armbar. There was serious extension on the arm, and I thought the fight was over, but Santos struggled through it and Wiklacz shifted his strategy by abandoning the armbar and raining down vicious elbows on his trapped head. Rounds two and three were less dominant, as Santos was able to land some powerful strikes on the feet, but Wiklacz was able to get the fight to the mat both times and from there was in his element. The second round was a particularly good demonstration of how skilled he is in both wrestling and BJJ, as his initial takedown attempt was pretty obvious and got stuffed heavily by Santos, but Jakub didn’t seem to care and turned a great angle to the side, unbalancing his opponent and allowing him to take control. He later took the back but moved a little too quickly and fell over the top before securing his leg hooks, which gave Santos a chance to work from top guard. However, Wiklacz again showed that it doesn’t matter what position he’s in on the ground and used his legs perfectly to elevate his opponent for a sweep. His ground and pound wasn’t as impactful in the later rounds, nor did he get as close to a submission as the triangle+armbar combo, but he did more than enough to come out with the decision victory. Wiklacz was the #1 contender coming into this fight while Santos was the #3, so this was almost certainly a title eliminator bout that will set up an epic trilogy fight between Wiklacz and Przybysz, who are two of the top talents currently in Poland. While I was very impressed by his performance, Wiklacz only improves one spot in the rankings because Santos had already shown that he couldn’t match top fighters and was graded much lower as a prospect. Wiklacz will turn 26 later this year, which will end his eligibility in these rankings, but his future in KSW and potentially beyond is very bright.
June 20-26:
Heavyweights:
Kirill Kornilov: Moved from #2 prospect to unranked (15th fight)
Shamil Gaziev: Improved from unranked to #5 prospect
Kornilov made his long-awaited move away from Russia this week by joining Ares FC in France, which has quickly become one of the most talent-laden regional shows in the world. Unfortunately for him, this big moment was spoiled by Gazhiev, a gigantic wrestler and former IMMAF amateur champion who used his grappling and sheer bulk to smother Kornilov’s deadly striking and win a split decision. Gazhiev is someone I’ve been keeping an eye on since his impressive amateur run in 2019 when he won IMMAF gold at both the Asian Open and World Tournament. While he was born in Russia, he has been a resident of Bahrain for a long time as part of the state sponsored KHK Team, where he is joined by #4 LHW prospect Murtaza Talha Ali and former #1 welterweight prospect Eldar Eldarov along with a whole stable of other talented Russian imports. He’s continued to impress as a pro with all 7 of his wins coming by finish, typically with devastating ground and pound but he has also shown some submission threat with two rear-naked chokes. However, his professional competition had been relatively weak, so this move to Ares was a massive jump in opponent caliber and I definitely had him as the underdog coming into this week.
I’ve written extensively about how clean Kornilov is with his kickboxing, but it bears repeating, as in the few opportunities he had in space he was much faster than Gaziev and showed deadly precision with jabs and hooks from his lead left hand. However, Kornilov was much less light on his feet than we’ve seen him in the past, which was probably due to Gaziev spending the entire first round crushing him from half-guard after landing his first takedown just 5 seconds into the fight. Gaziev’s ground and pound output wasn’t particularly high, and he never postured up high to go for the finish, but he’s so muscular that even his short shots to the ribs that would be insignificant in other divisions made popping sounds and were leaving welts of Kornilov’s body. Another element that was absent from Kornilov’s typical gameplan was his kicks, which he usually uses very effectively to manage range and beat up the legs and body of his opponents. Again, this was probably due to Gaziev’s early wrestling success, as Kirill would have wanted to avoid leaving himself open for more grappling by going on one leg to kick. While round 1 was so one-sided in favor of Gaziev that one judge scored it 10-8, his gas tank started to fail him in the second round, which is the main downside of carrying around a mountain of muscle. His takedowns became much sloppier as he shot from further away and was content to catch the upper body and bull-rush Kornilov to the fence instead of going low for the legs. His output against the fence was minimal and mostly limited to short knees as he tried to buy time to recover his breathing and prevent Kornilov from getting the space he needed to inflict damage. Round 2 saw Kornilov land some good punches, particularly with the aforementioned lead left hand, and he also used a very deep kimura from bottom position that also forced Gaziev to tap and allowed Kornilov to escape to top position. While Kornilov was able to inflict enough damage in round two to win it on all of the scorecards, round three saw Gaziev control the vast majority of the time either against the fence or on the ground. However, he was so inactive that Kornilov’s short strikes from losing positions were enough to win over one judge while the other two gave the round and the split decision victory to Gaziev.
While Kornilov suffered his first defeat in this fight, I still grade him highly enough that he would be a top-5 prospect if he were eligible. However, since this was his 15th fight and he is 31 years old, he is disqualified and must be removed. Gaziev fills the vacancy, albeit a few spots down the list, but debuting on the rankings as the #5 prospect is still very impressive. Some people may question why Gaziev gets ranked so highly when he showed some flaws in his cardio and wasn’t inflicting a ton of damage, but Kornilov has previously shown excellent wrestling defense, most notably against Sultan Murtazaliev, in addition to his incredible striking skills for a heavyweight. Gaziev showed very little striking ability in this fight and has only ever really been dangerous with his hands when he’s in top position on the ground, so he is undoubtedly one-dimensional as a fighter. However, heavyweight is a division where you can get away with having weaknesses if you’re truly elite in other areas, especially since when it comes to wrestling there are very few men on the planet who will be able to match Gaziev’s combination of strength and skill. This was the first time in his career that he went the full 15 minutes of a fight, so hopefully the visible exhaustion that he was battling in the later rounds will serve as motivation to improve his cardio as he continues to build upon his 8-0 professional start. I think this fight was a de-facto Contender Series match and expected to see whoever won come out with a UFC contract, so I will be watching closely to see if Gaziev gets a call later this year. He could easily find success in the UFC by mimicking the wrestling-heavy approach of Ilir Latifi, who is similarly muscle-bound but much shorter than Gaziev. At 31 years old, he’s likely never going to become a great striker, but if he can find a camp that can at least make him pretty good on the feet while improving his gas tank, Gaziev could be a major player in the heavyweight division.
Oleg Popov: Improved from #3 to #2 prospect
Kornilov and Gaziev weren’t the only Russian-born heavyweight prospects in action this week, as Popov took his first fight of 2022 as the headliner for MMA Series 53. Sadly, his opponent was Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva who is on a massive losing streak while suffering scary knockout losses, so this matchup was more about the name value than actually providing a challenge for Popov. The fight was totally one-sided, as Oleg got an early takedown, spent a couple minutes delivering short shots from half-guard, and effortlessly returned Silva to the mat multiple times while never stopping the punishment to out-strike his opponent 70 to 3 in the first round. Round two was bad in a different way, as Silva was trying to advance to pressure Popov and got caught with a clean lead left hook that sprawled him semi-conscious on the canvas. It wasn’t a particularly devastating shot as Popov was moving backwards and didn’t put all of his strength into it, but Silva’s chin is so destroyed at this point that it was all that was needed for the knockout. Even Popov didn’t look too thrilled about the result, as he just walked away without celebrating. This makes 13 consecutive wins for the Russian prospect but recently he’s mostly been fighting washed up veterans and can-crushers from other countries that improve his record but don’t teach us anything new about his skill set. He’s clearly a skilled wrestler with calculated and effective ground and pound, and he’s proven to be a very competent striker though he’s never going to be as dynamic or quick as someone like Kornilov. Popov moves up one spot in the rankings due to Kornilov’s departure, but since he is now 30 and recorded his 16th fight with this win, he only has another half-year of eligibility before he himself must depart the rankings. I’ve heard rumors that Popov has signed to Bellator, but the situation with Russian fighters is very complicated amidst the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Hopefully he’ll get his chance to show his talents against more reasonable competition sometime soon, whether that’s with Bellator or with a larger Russian promotion.
Middleweights:
Aaron Jeffery: Moved from #11 prospect to unranked (signed to Bellator)
We last saw Jeffery back in January when he won a 4-round decision against veteran Rex Harris (12-5) to defend his title for CFFC and rebound from his second unsuccessful appearance on the Contender Series. He faced very tough opponents on DWCS, as he got choked by Brendan Allen (11-3), who has gone on to become a contender, back in 2019 and lost a competitive decision to Caio Borralho (8-1) last year, who is looking like a strong prospect for the division. With the UFC unlikely to come calling following those two defeats, Jeffery did the next-best thing and signed with Bellator this week and took on a tough opponent in his debut in Fabio Aguiar (18-3), whose record is somewhat inflated by weak competition in Brazil but had already gone 1-1 in Bellator against strong opponents. The fighters spent most of the fight wrestling against the cage, as Aguiar had control early but was unable to take down Jeffery, who used a good combination of whizzers and underhooks to maintain his balance. At one point, Aaron saw an opening and laced his arms under Aguiar’s neck and threatened a front choke deep enough that the next couple minutes were spent with the two adjusting positions either trying to get the finish or escape. The round eventually ended after a lot of energy expenditure on both sides, but Jeffery looked considerably fresher than his opponent in the second round. That allowed him to mainly take control of the fence grappling, and once he had established his position he slashed a sharp right elbow into the side of Aguiar’s head, timed a knee perfectly to stun his opponent, then landed a couple hard punches to seal the deal and score a second round KO in his major-promotion debut. While anyone who was looking for a striking battle in space may have been disappointed, this was a high-quality performance that showed off Jeffery’s skills in all areas of MMA and should definitely earn him some more opportunities with Bellator going forward. His main downside as a prospect is that while he is very good at most things, I don’t see him as elite in any one area, so he may never be able to challenge the promotion’s best middleweights but should absolutely be a high-quality addition to their roster. However, at age 29 and now with a 12-3 record he is well over the eligibility limits for fighters signed to major promotions, so he must depart the rankings following this good win.
Shamil Abdulaev: Improved from unranked to #15 prospect
In last month’s rankings update, Abdulaev (13-1) rejoined the rankings at the start of the month only to be pushed back out at the end of May following strong performances from previously unranked prospects. After sitting on the sidelines for most of June, Jeffery’s move to Bellator once again opens up the #15 spot for the fighter who has moved on and off these rankings far more than any other prospect. His next fight will bring him to 15 total and make him ineligible since he is already 32 years old, so I continue to hope that his strong wrestling and heavy hands will get him picked up by a larger promotion in Russia, as he absolutely has the skills to impress if given a larger platform.
Welterweights:
Abdoul Abdouraguimov: Remained #1 prospect
This is now the third time I’ve written about Abdouraguimov and he continues to impress me even more with each viewing. He defended his Ares FC welterweight title this week against Karl Amoussou (27-9-2), who is one of the biggest legends in the history of French MMA with a good run for Bellator and countless strong performances on the European scene including 3 straight first-round finishes coming into this fight. Amoussou is a well-rounded fighter who is particularly known for being a dangerous submission threat but started off the fight with lots of movement and fast strikes from the outside. After a minute of that, Abdouraguimov proved just how special his grappling is with an almost-perfect double-leg takedown followed by a body-lock throw to return his opponent to the ground after he initially scrambled back to his feet. He then dominated with top control and non-stop short punches for the next 2.5 minutes, and while none of the strikes was that powerful, they were landing cleanly and were clearly annoying because they forced Amoussou to try to scramble into a new position. However, Abdoul took advantage of the very brief opening and sliced his left leg through into half-guard, which was the beginning of the fight’s end. The intensity of the ground-and-pound picked up immediately with some slicing elbows and then Abdouraguimov went berserk with about 30 seconds left by throwing down a barrage of punches and elbows a-la Donkey Kong. He didn’t have quite enough time to get the knockout finish, but he sliced his opponent’s face open and may have also concussed him, as he was clearly struggling to pass the doctor’s exams in the corner which forced the fight to end. Abdouraguimov took an excellent veteran fighter who is also known for his grappling skill and made him look like a white belt, which is a testament to just how incredible he is on the mat. He didn’t show much striking on the feet in this one, but he’s proven to be competent there in the past and his wrestling and ground threat is impressive enough that he doesn’t need to be an elite striker. I was surprised coming into this week that Abdouraguimov hadn’t already been signed to the UFC, and after a performance like this I would be truly shocked if he doesn’t make his major-promotion debut on the upcoming UFC Paris card.
Featherweights:
Lucas Brennan: Improved from #11 to #10 prospect
Brennan moved to 7-0 this week and picked up his 5th round-one submission, but unfortunately Bellator continues to give him easy matchups that make it hard to judge his true ceiling or whether he’s progressed since we last saw him. This week’s victim was Johnny Soto (4-2), who is probably the best opponent Brennan had faced so far but that’s not saying much. Soto had previously scored a huge upset with a decision win in his Bellator debut against Weber Almeida, who was 5-0 at the time, but he lost his next fight and has never shown anywhere near the grappling skills needed to challenge Brennan. Lucas stepped into an early clinch, easily pushed Soto against the cage, then threw him to the ground several times while marginally advancing his controlling position. At one point he threatened a front choke similar to the one he used Ben Lugo (5-4) back in January, and when he realized he wasn’t going to get the finish Brennan smoothly got one leg hook in and started working to take his opponent’s back. He achieved that with ease and looked to set up an armbar then showed impressive hip flexibility to scoot backwards and drop his weight when he decided to retain position instead of risking it for the submission attempt. Brennan then progressively worked towards a rear naked choke with both arms, always finding a way to apply pressure and get closer to the finish until forcing the tap after three and a half minutes of the first round. This was an impressive display of jiu-jitsu and wrestling blended together, but those are skills that we already knew were Brennan’s specialties. He landed a few hard punches and attempted a couple of knees while he had his opponent against the fence but I would still like to see more striking output from him, as he could easily become a threat to finish regularly with ground and pound given how good he is at achieving and maintaining dominant grappling positions. This win boosts his record to 7-0 but doesn’t do much to improve his grade, and while I understand that Brennan is only 22 and Bellator doesn’t want to throw him to the wolves too soon, he should at least be fighting established veterans instead of guys who would be more at home on the regional scene.
