MMA news updates

Instead of spamming the boards everytime I see some cool news, I’ll post it here. I’ll also keep track of prospects I like, new signings to ufc/dwcs/Bellator/etc.

* Edited at 05.02.2022, 4:44 PM ET *

Yeah reminds me of when they signed that 41 year old Bellator vet last season ha

Barnes? Was that his name? 

Yeah that’s the one

Speaking of James barnes, I feel like I heard something about his opponent, Pedro falcao, competiting on dwcs next season, BUT, I could be wrong. I vaguely remember hearing something but it’s more likely just me confusing it with something else

* Edited at 06.12.2022, 1:01 PM ET *

Lmao isn’t Bollea the guy related to Hulk Hogan?

Not sure, I never heard of the guy until today🤣

Brunno Ferriera - 7-0 4 ko 3 sub. I actually dont know a ton about brunno but he carries a nice undefeated record finishing everybody hes fought. Hes got a well rounded skillset and has fought relatively good competition throughout his career, with a record of 51-30-1 

Roybert Echeverria - 7-0 4 ko 1 sub. 6-3 ammy record with 1 ko 4 sub. Ive known about Roybert for a little bit. hes from goat shed which is notorious for producing can crushers, which he has done his whole career. The best opponent hes fought, wascar cruz, he won in what was a pretty **** robbery. Wascar is okay but hes a journeyman, prospects should run through him. Hes exciting but he has tons of work to do. Not expecting too much from him but, 125 needs prospects so he has to do. Dont expect him to win a contract unless he faces a can or gets an early ko. 

Leon Aliu - 10-1 6 ko 4 sub. So i was exaggerating a little bit when I said aliu may have punched his ticket to dwcs in his last fight, but, I turned out to be right. Hes a bit old for a prospect at 32, but hes got good experience and finished everyone hes fought. He suffered his first loss in 2018, took three years off (I think because of injuries and then the pandemic), and came back in 2021 going 2-0. In his most recent fight, he made his cage warriors debut 2 weeks ago and absolutely flatlined James hendin. Hes likely gonna fight brunno and im excited to see what he can do. looks promising but the age is a little concerning. 

Marnic Mann - 5-0 3 ko 1 sub. 4-0 ammy record 1 ko 2 sub. So Mann probably would have been signed during the female free agency fire sale a few weeks ago, but, she kind of cruised in a fight where she should have absolutely demolished her last opponent. She is promising but I didnt like to see that last fight. she is a grappler who has good subs and nasty GnP.  

David Bollea - 7-2 7 subs. Yeah this one is just strange. dude is 41 and has can crushed. he retired in 2012 on a 2 fight losing streak and came back in 2021, rattling off 4 straight first round finishes. I mean I just dont understand this at all and I can only assume he impressed dana (probably with his attitude) enough to give him a shot. Hes gonna get his ass kicked and I can only assume hes gonna be a stepping stone for a hot prospect. Or a bum who puts him on their highlight reel 

Bruna Brasil - 7-2-1 2 ko 2 sub. I really like this signing. Bruna started her career off 1-2-1, losing to ariane carnelossi in her debut and Jessica delboni; two tough fights for early in your career. She also had a pro boxing bout where she lost to an undefeated boxer. Since this rough start, she's now on a 6 fight win streak, and in her most recent fight, she dominated an undefeated prospect. And I mean dominated, she looked flawless everywhere.  

Ikram Aliskerov - 12-1 4 ko 4 sub. this is my favorite signing out of the new additions. Ikram is really ******* good. you may recognize the name from his brutal ko loss to khamzat chimaev, which is nothing to scoff at. That also happens to be his only loss. He spent the majority of his career in Brave CF, and most recently dominated nah-shon burell in Eagle FC (cool to see they started signing eagle fc guys). Besides being a phenomenal mma fighter, Ikram has a very very high level combat sambo game. Now sure, all these dagestanis do, but Ikram is seriously credentialed; he is a 4 time combat sambo world champ, gold medaling 7 times. He has held gold in 2016 FIAS worlds, 2012 WCSF worlds, 2014 and 2016 FIAS World Cup, 2017 and 2012 European championships, and 2013 Russia combat sambo championship (also silver medaling in 2017). If you weren't convinced his sambo is filthy, the dude has beaten Yaroslavl amosov, Murad Kerimov (I dont know sambo like that but apparently this guy is nasty at the sport), and top prospect Raimond Magomedaliev. Oh, and hes only 29; this kid is really ******* good and doesn't even need dwcs imo. 

* Edited at 06.12.2022, 5:41 PM ET *

Wowowow very interesting 125 matchup added to dwcs. Rafael Ramos vs joao Elias 

Ramos is 10-0 with 3 ko and 3 sub. He was the former shooto Brazil champ and dominated a fellow undefeated prospect in his lfa debut 

Elias is 17-3-1 with 1 ko and 11 subs. He is the BFS 125 champ and carries a myriad of experience. He hasn’t fought the best competition tho. However he is on a three fight winstreak finishing his last 3 opponents

Haha I called it, Austen lane getting his dwcs opportunity. He’s fighting Richard Jacobi. 

Jacobi is 5-0-1 with 3 ko’s. He hasn’t fought the best competition but made his lfa debut against an undefeated fighter a few months ago, ending in a split draw. Now, that’s not the greatest thing to see, and unfortunately I couldn’t watch the fight because it was on the lfa prelims, but I’m pretty sure he should have won the fight considering the ufc signed him to dwcs off of a draw. Not sure what to expect considering his last fight and his level of competition not being so great

Austen Lane is 11-3 with 10 ko’s and 1 sub. Now, you guys might remember me bringing his name up as somebody who I was confused hasn’t been signed to dwcs, but now he is. You also may remember his name as he is an ex-NFL player who got starched by Greg hardy in his 4th pro fight on dwcs. Now, Austen has improved a ton, becoming the fury fc HW champion. Fury doesn’t offer great competition and Austen is a bit older at 34 (luckily that’s pretty young for 265), but there’s a lot I like out of him. His biggest hole is his tdd, but that won’t be an issue against a striker. He is massive for the division at 6”6 with an 80 inch reach and is very athletic and has great cardio for the divison, as shown in his title fight. He fought former ufc fighter who was on the rebound in Juan adams, and he was losing a fairly one sided fight, before adams gassed in the 4th and he got the ko. Again, not good to see him get mauled like that but his cardio is quite impressive for the big guy that he is. Then, his title defense was odd because he won from a checked leg kick that broke his opponents leg. Two odd endings to fights but still, I am impressed with the improvements he’s made. Still not sure about his celing (probably middle tier HW tbh; if he wins that is lol) but I am excited to see what he can do.

* Edited at 06.13.2022, 1:00 PM ET *

Lane is a legit can

I don’t think he’s that bad tbh

Cardio and size alone is enough for him to beat the bottom of the barrel. He’s better than hairy **********, Baudot, Parisian, and the rest of those cans. Plus, there’s no HW prospects and he stands out as one of the better ones

* Edited at 06.13.2022, 1:02 PM ET *

Not saying much

Ik but he’s not terrible is all I’m saying, at least compared to what’s out there

* Edited at 06.13.2022, 1:06 PM ET *

Road to ufc flyweight matchups have been announced 

Seung guk choi vs qiu lun 

Topnoi vs hyun sung park (terrible matchmaking, this should have been the finals)

They are really loading at heavyweight and flyweight this season, hopefully we get a few interesting guys

@cangrejoruiz appreciate the Twitter follow 😉 

Also, my favorite signings for 265 are Jimmy Lawson and Kevin szaflarski. ******* shame they matched the two up together 

* Edited at 06.13.2022, 1:13 PM ET *

I knew it was you lmao, Austen Lane praise + Topnoi smoking picture made it an easy guess.

@cangrejo 🤣🤣🤣**** gotta cover my tracks better hahaha jk

* Edited at 06.13.2022, 1:14 PM ET *