James' prospect thread

Those of you who followed my work with MMAProspects and MyMMANews may have noticed that I haven't published anything for several months, and long story short when MyMMANews brought me on they didn't end up buying the MMAProspects domain or give me the resources to recreate my top 15 prospect rankings on their site. That meant that when the MMAProspects domain expired, my list was lost. 

However, I still spend an embarrassing amount of time every day on the tapology feed looking at results, which means that my prospect rankings stay very current and are always adding new members. My idea for this thread is for it to be a place where I'll post whenever I come across a new prospect, when a top amateur goes pro, or when I see a particularly noteworthy performance. If anyone else wants to come in here and show love to your favorite under-the-radar regional guys or see how my opinion on a prospect compares to yours, go for it!

I'll probably try to go back to publishing sometime next year, but for now grad school consumes too much time, so this will be my primary outlet for all the scouting I do.

* Edited at 11.11.2022, 1:28 PM ET *

Thanks Shawn, I appreciate it. Glad the prospect GP is back so I can finally put it all to use! 

How is it a prospect ranking if guys like Francisc N'Gannou are on the list? I am confused. 

Read the first post in the thread Khanate, they're comprehensive rankings, I literally say "you'll see everyone from the current UFC champion to some random 5-0 Russian"

Haven't been able to watch film the last few days but I'm back with another undefeated prospect, this time a flyweight from Mexico: Luis Iván Rodríguez

22 years old, 5-0 with all of his fights for LUX, and a well-rounded athlete. His first 4 wins all came by submission including 2 guillotines, and while those opponents were also early in their careers they were at least decent with a 9-3 combined record. His breakout win came this week against Emilio Cuellar(7-2), who I had ranked coming into this year but removed when he lost to a gatekeeper.

Rodriguez came out aggressive as normal, throwing heavy body kicks and extended punch combos, but he does tend to get wild the more strikes he throws and can miss big which leaves openings that better opponents will counter. He was able to hurt Cuellar every round and maintained the pressure, and when his opponent tried to clinch to buy himself some recovery time Rodriguez kept grabbing a standing guillotine, so it's pretty clear that's his favorite sub. He let himself get tied up for too long in those exchanges and could have probably gotten the finish if he'd managed to stay in space more but it was still a beatdown of a very tough and pretty skilled opponent. This also showed that Luis has a great gas tank as he kept the pressure up for 15 minutes and didn't look anywhere near slowing down. 

Grade: 1
He's still young and early in his career, so I bet he gets one more fight against a more-experienced veteran and if he can win that a title shot for the belt that Nono Costa just vacated makes a ton of sense. I could even see an argument for him to get the title shot now, but I don't think its necessary to rush his development.  

got two cool prospects to talk about 

First is Ferdun Osmanov. Ferdun is 3-0 and had a reported 13-3 amateur record (according to his instagram hes got a whopping 37-4 amateur record). Now a Bulgarian who is can crushing as a pro isn't impressive at all and wouldn't even catch my attention, however, he had a very impressive amateur career. Ferdun silver medaled at the 2015 immaf European open, silvered at the 2016 immaf worlds, then went on to win the 2016 and 2017 European immaf. Even better, he beat some really really good names as an amateur. He beat Tobias Harila twice, Lee hammond, pascal hintzen, Cristian  Iorga, and Ziyad Sadayly. As a pro, he has fought really bad competition but has looked the part. I really like how defensive he is on the feet. He will throw combinations and move out of the way when his opponent fires back. Hes also got solid footwork and is a pretty fast lightweight. He seems to have a combat sambo background and his wrestling looks very good. even as an amateur he showed it off. He always cuts angles to finish the takedown if hes facing resistance and is dominant on top. I would really like to see him get a fight outside of Bulgaria (they can only give him cans there) but he has shown hes capable of fighting at a high level as an amateur so I will be looking out for him. 

The second is Akonne Wanliss. I would like to see a little more from him and I do have my doubts because of the level of competition, but this dude really stands out for a lot of reasons and I really like the potential in him. First, in his 8 wins as an ammy and 7 as a pro, he has never gone the distance. Second, he is 6"1 with a 77.5 inch reach and what appears to be an even longer leg reach. All these physical attributes at 155 really make him stand out. On the feet, he is super fast and way taller than all his opponents. His power is quite ridiculous too; in every fight ive seen hes dropping people in the opening stanza or if they survive he even drops them multiple times. One thing I dont like is his chin is usually up when he strikes, but hes so damn fast and bigger than everyone else that nobody has been able to capitalize (maybe they have, I cant find footage of his losses). He is really deadly in the clinch as well his elbows are nasty and especially his knees; because of his lanky frame he can fire them to the head with ease. What impresses me even more is his grappling. hes already hard to take down because of his length, but he actually knows how to wrestle. Hes got great hips and makes all the perfect adjustments to defend. Because of his long arms, hes also very slick with locking up subs, favoring the Japanese necktie and darce as his go to's. Now, his level of competition is really bad, which is my only knock on him. Even his best win against Manuel gaxja (supposed to be on dwcs a few years back) isn't that impressive considering Manuel is a can crusher who looked outclassed in that fight. However, he also looked a career best. he showed his cardio is fine and demolished gaxja in a one sided beatdown. He dropped him in almost 10 seconds and it was one way traffic from there. He defended pretty much every takedown from gaxja and just beat the **** out of him until he wrapped up a sub. I really like his potential but would like to see him get one signature win before a call up

Nice finds Ayy, Osmanov was totally off my radar, hopefully he can fight again sometime soon and like you said out of Bulgaria so he's got some actual competition. Some of those ammy wins have aged really well now that those opponents are pro prospects, especially Lee Hammond,

Wanliss is someone I debated ranking after his last fight, mostly because of all those physical tools you mentioned, but I want to see him beat someone who isn't a can crusher next time out, even just a solid journeyman would be a good measuring stick

Also, sorry I haven't been posting in here, I've been maintaining my lists but can't spare the extra time for write-ups. Who would've thought, grad school is hard lol

* Edited at 12.08.2022, 10:32 AM ET *

@jrscolwell yeah I was very impressed when I found ferdun. That is one impressive ammy career. I have the same sentiments about wanliss. I see high potential there but he needs a signature win. He is fighting a 5-0 guy but he’s from Israel and is a can crusher so doesn’t really do much for him. He should try and get a fight in ares or maybe CW can sign him and have him fight for a title once hardwick vacates or something 

Also, lol I feel you. Finals week is kicking my ass rn. Have so much work to do

Time for a sleeper ammy prospect out of Poland: Iwo Baraniewski

24 years old and on a 9-win streak after starting 1-2, in 2021 he won multiple 1-night tournaments against pretty good opponents, then this year he won the GAMMA European championships. Most recently he knocked out a 4-0 amateur in 30-seconds in his debut for Babilon on the prelims of this week's card, which gives him two straight round-1 KOs after previously winning 7 straight decisions.

He's fought at heavyweight most of those fights but this most recent fight was at 215 pounds so I bet he's looking to move to LHW as a pro. The most intriguing thing about him is his judo background, which gives him grappling skills you don't usually see with the top weight classes. He's hardly Kayla Harrison in terms of success but he placed 3rd in the 2018 junior world championships and has some solid top 5/10 finishes in a bunch of smaller competitions too. I haven't watched him fight yet but seems worth keeping an eye on. 

Didn’t have time to tape but came across a very interesting prospect. Rafael Tobias 

Tobias is only 19 but has already asmassed 6 wins. He is a light heavyweight and has been running through the competition. What stands out to me the most is his activity; since turning pro, Tobias has fought 6(!) times this year and has a 7th fight this week. Ridiculous activity for someone so young and he fights in a thin division. Definitely someone to look out for 

Lol Tobias is the prospect that inspired this thread, I wrote about him in your news thread and everyone liked him so much that I decided to make this one separately

Oh **** I totally forgot about that🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Finals week is making my head spin lmao

Leonardo Hudson: 21-year old Brazilian flyweight, 5-0 with 2 guillotines, 1 decision, and just got his second KO this week in his Spartacus MMA debut. This was his first step up, as the 4 first opponents were either 0-0 or 1-1 but this week he took on a 3-0 submission specialist who had previously won for Spartacus and was a slight favorite going into the fight.

Hudson showed fast hands and ripped to the body as well as stunning his opponent with hard crosses and uppercuts, and there were a couple of times in the first 2 rounds that he had him so visibly rocked that I was sure the fight was over. He also did a good job stuffing TDs and not giving them away easily by rushing forward, and he was active off his back with a triangle attempt the one time I saw him in bottom position. He was destroying his opponent R2 and was heading for a 10-8 from what I saw, but unfortunately the official stream cut out so all I know is that he won by KO early in R3

Young, undefeated, a varied finisher, and has power in his hands, so lots of natural tools to work with. He trains with Parana Vale Tudo, which is full of top talents (including Jessica Andrade), so he's well set up to keep improving

* Edited at 12.12.2022, 5:53 PM ET *

Got another prospect from the Spartacus event, but this time he's a Cuban: Geovanis Palacios

26 years old and built like an absolute tank, he's only been doing MMA for a few years but was a wrestler before that. There's limited info on his wrestling career but he went 2-1 at the only event listed on that site and its safe to assume that he's taken place in a lot more that aren't in the database.

He made his MMA debut as an amateur in May 2021, won 2 decisions then went pro in March 2022. He's now 4-0 all KOs, with his debut win coming in round 2 and then 3 straight in round 1. His opponents have been typical beginner fodder: 4-3, 0-1, 1-1, and 2-0, though like Hudson this week's fight was a slight step up for him because his opponent's 2 wins came in September and October 2022 and were both R1 KOs so he had some momentum, and he had won some kickboxing matches as an amateur so he's clearly got some striking skills.

Palacios level-changed immediately and it was very sudden, and he managed to elevate his opponent over his head for a big suplex despite only having control of 1 leg. He spent a few minutes doing damage from guard and showed great instincts to posture up whenever his opponent raised his guard to threaten triangles or armbars then sinking his base to block a roll-through when he started to go for a leg attack. He also put good power on his punches from that posture and exploded into half guard when he briefly hurt his opponent, then unloaded with bombs for the finish.

Early in his career, but wrestling is a great base and its clear that he's a fantastic athlete. The main question will be his striking if he finds someone who can stop his takedowns, and also whether he has the stamina to go deep into fights given how much muscle mass he carries.

* Edited at 12.12.2022, 6:02 PM ET *

Damn I wanted to do my first breakdown of a fighter here today and It was going to be about Palacios. I Will just add that he performs those suplexes with real ease, as I have seen him doing them 4 times during his pro Carreer. His striking is okeyish, carrying enough power to defend himself but he has a base to world with. He threw a BJJ practitioner across the ring with one punch, but It can be dismissed as the Guy ate a few shots and wanted to go out of the Fight.

His wrestling cardio looks like It would hold 3 rounds, but given his relentlessness in the striking, that Will remain as an unknown. Also, those cuban genetics really shine with Palacios, as he always looks a weight class above every Guy he fights.

* Edited at 12.13.2022, 1:28 AM ET *

Been a while since I added a new Heavyweight, but Russia always comes through: Zumso Zuraev

28 years old, Chechen with all the wrestling skill you would expect from that region, and is now 5-0 with all of his wins for ACA Young Eagles. Zuraev caught my eye early on because he appeared out of nowhere in 2021 and immediately started finishing everyone they put in front of him with both GnP and a submission, and that sort of threat on the ground is always noteworthy with the big boys. He's not super tall but not short either at 6'1, and he's incredibly powerful and thickly built with a good base of muscle underneath a bit of fat. His first win came round 2 and then the next 3 were all round 1, but none of those opponents were that good.

Big step up in competition this week against a fellow 4-0 prospect in Musa Abdurakhmanov. Both rounds Zuraev comes out with a few big hooks then grabs a clinch and smashes his opponent to the fence, where he's able to control position and toss his man around for powerful takedowns despite some fence grabs. Once its on the ground he immediately settles in half guard with a powerful base to trap a leg and prevent movement, then does a good job fighting for wrist control and picking his spots for strikes. His natural power is obvious with the impact of everything he lands, and he's patient but not stalling as he found an opportunity to move to mount in both rounds. There were only a few seconds left round 1 but he still managed to land a couple hard punches then took the back quickly to counter a roll, then round 2 he again started to go for GnP before making a surprise move and wrenching the right arm back for his second Americana submission. We still haven't seen his stamina in a full 15-minute fight but he at least didn't look tired in round 2, which is about as good as you can ask for someone his size.

Grade: 2
Big, strong, great wrestling, and powerful hands all make him intriguing as a HW, especially if his striking on the feet is at least ok. 

Great information!
Thx!

@jrscolwell I like him a lot. Good a lot of good tools to have success at heavyweight