Undefeated MMA Prospects
In no particular order:
Gray ‘Bully’ Maynard – with an impressive record of 10 – 0 – 0 – 1NC, and 8 – 0 in the UFC. Maynard has just secured a title shot against current UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, coming of his most recent victory against Kenny Florian at UFC 118 via Decision, the Bully has hit the ground running, with notable wins over Roger Huerta, Jim Miller, Nate Diaz and Rich Clementi, ands holds the only win over current champ Edgar. however all of these wins have come by decision, which has caused alot of people to criticise his style (myself included) he is a born and bred wrestler which he has shown in the past through his dominant ‘Wrestling’ performances, but his style does not provide the most entertaining of fights. only time will tell whether he can bully the champ again or can Frankie provide an ‘Answer’ for Maynard when the two meet again in the not so distant future.
Ryan ‘Darth’ Bader – coming into the UFC riding a 8 – 0 professional record the powerful light heavyweight hasn’t looked back, picking up another 4 wins including victories over Eric Shafer and Keith Jardine respectively, Bader is a 2X Division I All American Champion, and 3X Pac 10 Champion, but the Nevada native faces his toughest test to date in his upcoming bout at UFC 119 against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, who is coming in with a controversial decision victory over Jason Brilz, it is a stylistic match up of wrestling vs jiu jitsu as both men poses good standup and heavy hands, it will be interesting to see what happens when this fight hits the mat, if it does will wrestling dominate as we have seen lately or will jiu jitsu prevail, the story will unfold come 25th of September.
Cain Velasquez – coming in to the UFC with a professional record of just 2 – 0, the talented Heavyweight has went on a run of 6 consecutive victories, with a a tko victory over Ben Rothwell, a decision victory over Cheick Kongo, and his most impressive win, a 1st round Knockout over MMA Legend Antonio Rodrigo ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira, the AKA protege has been tearing up the UFC Heavyweight division, and has earned a shot at the title against current UFC Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar at the main event of UFC 121 in Anaheim, California, where Valesquez will be looking to become the first man to knock out Brock Lesnar, and become the new UFC Heavyweight Champion, this should be an explosive matchup but will either fighters wrestling cancel out that of the other, and become a slugfest who knows, but all will be answered on October 23rd.
John ‘Hitman’ Hathaway – the talented young Brit, made his UFC debut at UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland were he impressed with a TKO victory over Irish MMA fighter Tom Egan, and since then has went on a roll with victories over Rick Story, Paul Taylor and Diego ‘Nightmare’ Sanchez and is currently 14 – 0 in his professional Mixed Martial Arts career, he fights out of London, Shootfighters in England, and has spent time in the U.S training with American Top Team and 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu, he has been tipped as a future champion and recieves great publicity in England, his next fight will be against Mike Pyle at UFC 120 in London England, where he aims to continue his run in the UFC Welterweight division. Hathaway will also have the support of the home crowd, which may turn out to be the decisive factor in that bout.
Jon ‘Bones’ Jones – although technically he has a loss on his record I couldn’t leave him out, as I believe his fight with Matt Hamill should have been ruled a No Contest. Jones at just 22 yrs old is definitely one for the future, and already impressively has 6 fights in the UFC to his name, with 5 wins and a DQ, his most recent win coming over MMA Veteran Vladimir Matyushenko via 1st rd KO at Fight Night 21. He also has the longest reach in UFC History at 84inches. The young New York man has made his stamp on the UFC light heavyweight division, with his explosive striking and nasty Ground ‘n’ Pound he has said that he will fight anyone the UFC puts in front of him, even James Toney, his next bout is uncertain though, with rumors speculating about a possible matchup against Forrest Griffin, or the winner of Bader vs Lil Nog, his next bout should be announced in the coming months.
Shane ‘Rocky’ Del Rosario – he is currently under contract with Strikeforce, and has a professional MMA record of 10 – 0 he also competes in professional Muay Thai with a record of 8 – 1 – 0, he has been recognized as one of the most dangerous strikers in Strikeforces Heavyweight division. Standing at 6ft 4” he is well known for his movement and quick reflexes. Coming from a win over Lolohea Mahe via TKO at ShoMMA 9, and since then has expressed a desire to fight former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei ‘Pitbull’ Arlovski, this bout is yet to materialize, and there is continued speculation over his next opponent, but no big names have been mentioned.
Roger Gracie – another Strikeforce up and comer, Roger Gracie hails from the legendary jiu jitsu family, and competes in the Strikeforce light heavyweight division, he is young in is MMA career with a record of just 3 – 0 his latest win coming over Kevin ‘Monster’ Randleman by way of Rear Naked Choke at Strikeforce Heavy Artillery. his MMA record may not give him much credit, but he has won countless, grappling and BJJ tournaments worldwide, with wins over the likes of Fabricio Werdum, Ronaldo Souza, Robert Drysdale and even Shinya Aoki, and he is a definite Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Ace, and one to watch out for.
Daniel Cormier – Another Strikeforce Heavyweight prospect, Cormier comes from a wrestling background, he is a former NCAA Division 1 runner up, he has a professional MMA record of 5 – 0 with 4 of those wins coming by way of KO/TKO and the other win by Submission. Cormier trains out of AKA in California, he is one of the most decorated wrestlers in Strikeforce, placing fourth in 2004 for freestyle Olympic wrestling, he was named as 2008 captain for the olympics but could not compete as he picked up an injury. he is Xtreme MMA Heavyweight Champion and will defend his belt on November 6th against Sao Palelei in Sydney Australia.
Gunnar Nelson – OK many of you may not of heard of this guy but I’m telling you he’s a future star, he is an Icelandic fighter, with a professional record of 7 – 0 – 1, and he started his MMA Career in Iceland and then moved to Ireland and fought out of the Straight Blast Gym in Dublin. at just 22yrs old he has already got his black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu from none other than Renzo Gracie, and is currently training with Renzo in New York City, he fights at welterweight, and has competed in BJJ tournaments all over the world, he has won various Icelandic BJJ opens, he won gold at black belt debut Pan Am no gi 2009, he also got 4th place at ADCC Championships by defeating Jeff ‘Snowball’ Monson who outweighed him by over 100 lbs. Also his striking style is Karate and has a very similar style to Lyoto Machida. he has previously had training camps with UFC Lighweight BJ Penn, and UFC Welterweight Georges St. Pierre. his latest fight was on August 28th were he beat young British fighter Danny Mitchell by Rear naked choke in less than 3 mins, he’s fighting at BAMMA (British Association of MMA) on 25th of September in Birmingham, England. I’m telling you again remember this dudes name and watch out for him in the future.
Honorable mention: Travis Browne-UFC-HW-10-0 / Evan Dunham-UFC-LW-11-0 / Phil Davis-UFC-LHW-7-0 / Johnny Hendricks-UFC-WW-9-0
Alright guys that the round up and as this is my first post I am eager to hear your feedback thanks, Crippla
