Niinimaki vs. Skelly

This is the official discussion thread for Niinimaki vs. Skelly. Let's see what you've got.

I'm a Niinimaki fan for some reason, though I think this will be considered a mild upset.

Skelly didn't wrestle at Oklahoma state like alot of people said he did. He wrestled at the NAIA level at Oklahoma City University. Big difference in wrestling quality. I think Ninnimaki takes this one.

How do you know I didn't wrestle at Oklahoma State?

Ah ****, i like both guys. Its one of those fights where i dont want to see either lose cause they could be cut.
While there is a huge difference in Div 1 compared to NJCAA or NAIA, sometimes the wrestler had low grades, were overlooked during recruiting or just wanted to wrestle at the college closest to home. Bendo was a ufc champ and he wrestled at the NAIA level. Bones Jones wrestled at the NJCAA level. Lamas who just recently fought for the FW title was division III, will brooks wrestled in high school and beat a good div 1 wrestler. Carwin was div II and he was ufc interm champ. Look at jake rosholt who had amazing div I credentials. Same with guys like shane roller, eric larkin and mark ellis. All great college wrestlers who did poor in mma despite being div I. So when you think about it, its really not about the division, but how well the wrestler can translate what he did on the mats into the cage.

The internet.

@ACFMMA Jones is a special case when it comes to NAIA in terms of skill and talent.  Most of the times when a wrestler's grades aren't at a point to fit criterion for a D1 school they go D2, such is the case of Joey Davis who was a highly recruited prospect but choose to Notre Dame college in Ohio when he lived in in Compton, California. MMA wrestling and ametaur wrestling are quite different but it annoys me when people butcher someone's credentials such as the case is with Chas Skelly.   

Before his upset loss to Backstrom, I had Niinimaki as one of the division's sleeper fighters; I'm still on his hype train as the tough Finn could impose his BJJ on Skelly and eventually tap him

I'm afraid Skellys wrestling might be too much for Niinimäki, but I gotta go with the fellow Finn here.