Future UFC Stars Who Aren't In UFC Yet

Lets hear about some good prospects...

I'll start with 2 I think could be contenders and maybe Champions in the UFC at 145 lbs and 155 lbs.  One has had 4 pro fights and one has had 8 pro fights...but they both unbeaten and have big time talent.  Another interesting thing is they are training partners.

1) Gregor Gillespie 155 lbs. (4-0....4 1st rd stoppages)  Was a 4 Time All American and D1 National Champion wrestler.  Interesting story and has a similar buzz of dominance like Chris Weidman had a few years ago when he was 4-0 as a Ring Of Combat fighter from Long Island before getting his UFC call.  Gregor trains with Keith Trimble at Bellmore Kickoxing/MMA around guys like Costas Philippou, Ryan LaFlare, Dennis Burmudez, World Champion Boxer Chris Algieri and many others.  Great talent, great coaching...I believe he could make a big noise sooner than later despite only having 4 fights.

2)  One of the others Gillespie trains with is his training partner undefeated 145 lber Andre Harrison Former Ring Of Combat Champion now in Titan FC.  Andre was 6-0 as an amateur and is currently 8-0 as a professional. He was a 2X All American D2 wrestler and is a physical specimen who is athletic, big and strong for that weight class.  Andre is fighting 17-3 Cody Bollinger March 20th in Titan 33. Keep an eye on him and Gillespie.   (Recent videos below)    

Any Olympians this year who you think would do MMA?

I've always wants to see some Olympians from the striking martial arts make the transition to MMA. Not complaining about any solid wrestlers or judokas crossing over though.

* Edited at 08.08.2016, 12:57 PM ET *

I think some of the Cuban Olympians would be great.  Just as with Romero, they could do pretty well.

At 24 years of age and fighting out of Poznan, Poland; Michał Andryszak is one of the best heavyweight prospects in all of Europe.

In terms of striking and stand up, Andryszak is great.  He has elite KO power, great amount of variation in the strikes he throws, great footwork for a guy of his size, closes the distance well, makes good use of the clinch, and gauges distance well.  However, there is one flaw with Andryszak's stand up game.  His chin.  Half of Andryszak's losses are early 1st round KO's.  Now I will say that, as a proviso to this, all three of those KO's came at the hands of some serious power punchers in Konstantin Erokhin, Michał Włodarek, and ACB Champ Salimgerey Rasulov.  Still, it is something to watch out for in the future.

In terms of grappling and the ground game, Andryszak is decent.  He can score takedowns well, he can pass guard well, controls position well, has good ground and pound, and is capable of locking up a submission.  The one issue with Andryszak's grappling is that his takedown defense is rather hit or miss.

Overall, Andryszak is a legit Heavyweight contender that, like Sergey Pavlovich, is an absolute no brainer for the UFC to bring in at this point, in my opinion.

Here is a video of Andryszak's most recent victory over ex UFC vet Tim "The Thrashing Machine" Hague:

* Edited at 08.08.2016, 10:24 PM ET *

Andryszak definitely deserves a spot in the UFC, he's always struck me as one of those fighters who can beat newcomers and have success against middle of the pack guys but might always struggle against the upper echelon. If he can work on his striking defense, he can be an absolute beast in the division. He's still crazy young for how many fights he has though, he might end up being a second Struve in that regard. Good write up @GreenHornet!

His debut would be perfect for a Europe show.

@DrGlaze  Thank you. :)

I wonder if Travis Stevens would do MMA.  He just won a Silver for the USA in Judo at the Olympics.

Names I mentioned here that was signed to the UFC:
Marc Diakiese
Eric Spicely (Sorry)|
Darrell Horcher
Randy Brown
Kyle Bochniak
Yoni Sherbatov (TUF)
Katlyn Chookagian
Curtis Blaydes
Aiemann Zahabi

kairat akhmetov

At 22 years of age and fighting out of Santo Domingo, Costa Rica; Allan "Tigre" Zuñiga is an exciting Lightweight prospect coming from Central America.

In terms of his striking and standup, Zuñiga is very good and very technical.  He has good KO power, he has good variation in his strikes, gauges and closes distance well, has decent hand speed, uses the clinch well, counter strikes well, blocks well, puts combinations together very well, is great at pressuring his opponents, has decent head movement, and has decent footwork.  Two minor gripes I have with Zuñiga, however, is that he can sometimes leave his hands a bit too low, which leaves his chin exposed, and he can occasionally stand flat footed when he begins to pressure an opponent. 

In terms of his grappling and ground game, Zuñiga is average.  While he is solid at getting takedowns, can occasionally find success in scrambling, has good takedown defense, good ground and pound, and is good at locking up submissions, there are some significant flaws in Zuñiga's ground game.  For starters, he struggles with passing guard and he can even sometimes get put into submission as he tries to pass when he is not careful.  Another problem that Zuñiga struggles with is controlling position, as his opponents (at least in the fights that I have had access to) are able to scramble out and get the fight standing again.

Overall, while he struggles on the ground, I think Zuñiga is a real diamond in the rough in terms of prospects coming from Central America and can possibly go into the UFC right away, or take some fights in a promotion like RFA so he can sharpen up his skills.  Regardless of what direction he chooses, however, I personally think he should consider going to an American MMA gym to help improve his grappling.

Here is a video of Zuñiga's victory over Vincent Corbin: 

Zuniga would be perfect if they had another TUF Latin America.

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* Edited at 08.12.2016, 4:21 PM ET *

At only 26 years of age and fighting out of Moscow, Russia; multiple time WAKO kickboxing champion Vladimir Mineev is a solid Middleweight fighter in Russia.

In terms of his striking and stand up, Mineev is elite.  He has great power, great variation in the strikes that he throws, feints well, uses the jab well, counter strikes well, gauges and closes distance well, uses the clinch well, has great footwork, and great head and body movement.

In terms of grappling and the ground game, Mineev is decent from what I saw.  Key phrase being what I saw.  His takedown defense is decent, he is decent at getting takedowns, has good ground and pound, scrambles decently, and can lock up submissions well.  However, as with most striking heavy fighters, when Mineev gets taken down he struggles getting up and can get controlled easily.  The one benefit of the doubt I will give to Mineev is that I have not seen enough of him grappling to make a full analysis.  However, from what I saw, there is room for Mineev to improve.

The one big question mark I have with Mineev is the weight class he will fight in. As far as the weight class scenario is concerned, Mineev has been fluctuating between Middleweight and Light Heavyweight and has been cutting as low as 176, which makes me wonder if he will try to fight at Welterweight.  If that is the case, I am a bit concerned considering how big of a weight cut it is, especially since he fights at Heavyweight to Super Heavyweight in kickboxing.  Personally, I think Mineev is good at Middleweight, but that is just me.

Overall, while Mineev is a pure striker, he has enough of a takedown defense to be a solid contender in the UFC.

Here is a video of Mineev's most recent victory over Boris Miroshnichenko: 

Good prospect.

At 23 years of age and hailing from Sydney, Australia; Tai "Bam Bam" Tuivasa is a solid Heavyweight prospect coming out of Australia that is coming over from Boxing and Kickboxing.

As a result, in terms of striking and stand up, Tuivasa is good from what I have been able to see.  He has ridiculous KO power, good hand speed, has good combos, has some variation in his striking, decent foot work, and decent movement.  Additionally, from what I saw in his kickboxing bouts, boxing bouts, and semi pro fights (for lack of a better term to describe them), Tuivasa also has a solid chin.  One negative against Tuivasa, however, is that he keeps his hands a little too low sometimes and relies on his chin a little too much.

For grappling and ground game, I do not have a clear enough analysis as Tuivasa has never gone to the ground in any of his pro fights from the footage I have been able to watch.  There were some semi pro fights where he scored some takedowns in the clinch, but it's not enough for me to go on as he and his opponents were stood up relatively quickly after the takedown.

Overall, while I don't have a clear enough picture of Tuivasa as a fighter, what I have seen from him in his fights as well as his non-MMA bouts, he seems pretty legit.  I will need to see how he will do against his next opponent in James McSweeney in October, however, so I can get a clearer picture.

Here is a video of Tuivasa's KO victory over Brandon Sosoli:

* Edited at 08.28.2016, 3:04 AM ET *

If he does lose to McSweeney, then he has a lot to learn.

Held just signed with the UFC. Gonna be so weird seeing him there in that ugly uniform. Lots of good fights for him though. should get the Felder/trinaldo

At 27 years of age and fighting out of Fribourg, Switzerland; Volkan Oezdemir is a talented heavyweight fighter that has sort of flown under the radar in recent years as a prospect.

In terms of striking and standup, Oezdemir is good.  He has decent power in his strikes, has good amount of variation in the strikes he throws, he is dominant in the clinch, he blocks strikes well, has good head and body movement for a heavyweight, and good footwork.

In terms of grappling, Oezdemir is also good in this area as well.  He is solid at getting takedowns, solid at defending takedowns, great at scrambling, controls position well, transitions and passes through guard well, and has great ground and pound.  The only thing Oezdemir lacks, from what I have seen, is any type of submission offense as he only has one submission victory.

Overall, Oezdemir is a real diamond in the rough that the UFC should sign immediately.

Here is Oezdemir's most recent victory over Alikhan Vakhaev:

* Edited at 10.09.2016, 3:22 PM ET *

A Swiss fighter. You not see that often except maybe Enemoto.