Dec 08 2010

MMA’s Top 25 Unknown and Up & Coming Heavyweights

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Shane Del Rosario

Shane Del Rosario

Within the past two or three years, the heavyweight division in mixed martial arts (mma) has had a rebirth of a sort. During the quiet years of mixed martial arts, it appeared that it wasn’t as many talented fighters in comparison to today’s numbers.  And with that, the talent pool was hit and miss, especially in the big boy division. There simply wasn’t any true heavyweight that was able to garner the attention of the casual fan, which is the fanbase that has recently fueled the rebirth of mma. And as we’ve seen with boxing, if there’s not one or two dominating and well-known heavyweights, the entire sport seems to border on the realm of obscurity to the general masses.

This is a comprehensive list of up and coming heavyweights from around the world. Also within this list are those heavyweight mixed martial arts fighters who may not be well known to the casual mma fan. So, fighters who have fight experience as well as being relatively known amongst the American fanbase such as a Fabricio Werdum, Roy Nelson, & Ben Rothwell … to name a few, aren’t included in this list.

~MMA’s Top 25~
~Unknown and Up & Coming~
Heavyweights

pr cr Fighter Record 1st Rd Stops Ht Wt Age Discipline Origins
2 1 Shane Del Rosario (Strikeforce) 11-0
8 KOs
3 subs
10 6’4″ 240 25 Muay Thai California
3 2 Antonio Silva (Strikeforce) 16-2
11 KOs
3 subs
11 6’4″ 265 29 Muay Thai, Karate, BJJ Brazilian
4 3 Mike Russow (UFC) 14-1-1
4 KOs
8 subs
9 6’2″ 265 32 Wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing Chicago
8 4 Brendan Schaub (UFC) 8-1
7 KOs
6 6’5″ 240 27 Boxing, BJJ Colorado
1 5 Sergey Kharitonov (Strikeforce) 18-4
9 KOs
8 subs
17 6’4″ 250 30 Sambo, Boxing, Muay Thai Russia
19 6 Cole Konrad (Bellator) 7-0
1 KO
2 sub
2 6’5″ 266 26 Wrestling Minnesota
9 7 Daniel Cormier (Strikeforce) 8-0
3 KOs
3 subs
4 5’11″ 248 31 Freestyle/
Collegiate Wrestling
Louisiana
10 8 Stefan Struve (UFC) 20-4
4 KOs
14 subs
13 6’11″ 245 22 Kickboxing, Jiu-Jitsu Netherlands
6 9 Brett Rogers 11-3
10 KOs
6’4″ 265 29 Boxing, Muay Thai, Wrestling Minnesota/
Chicago
12 10 Lavar Johnson (Strikeforce) 15-4
13 KOs
2 subs
12 6’3″ 242 32 Boxing California
11 11 Dave Herman (UFC) 21-2
15 KOs
5 subs
15 6’5″ 241 26 Boxing, Wrestling Indiana
7 12 Aleksander Emelianenko 17-4
11 KOs
4 subs
14 6’3″ 255 29 Boxing, Sambo, Judo Russia
5 13 Damian Grabowski (Bellator) 13-1
5 KOs
7 subs
10 6’1″ 230 30 BJJ, Submission Wrestling Poland
14 14 Bobby Lashley (Strikeforce) 6-1
3 KOs
1 sub
4 6’3″ 252 33 Collegiate Wrestling Kansas
15 15 Muhammed Lawal (Strikeforce) 7-1
5 KOs
2 subs
4 5’11″ 218 27 Wrestling Tennessee
16 16 Patrick Barry (UFC) 6-3
7 KOs
4 5’11″ 248 31 Sanshou, Muay Thai Louisiana
H 17 Jon Madsen (UFC) 7-1
4 KOs
2 6’0″ 252 30 Wrestling South Dakota
17 18 Hae Joon Yang (Bellator) 5-1
5 KOs
5 5’11″ 230 22 Wrestling, Boxing, Muay Thai South Korea
13 19 Todd Duffee 6-2
6 KOs
5 6’3″ 253 25 Freestyle Indiana
18 20 Travis Browne (UFC) 11-0-1
8 KOs
1 sub
7 6’7″ 251 Boxing California
20 21 Chad Corvin 6-0
4 KOs
2 subs
6 6’5″ 253 23 Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling Kentucky
- 22 Sean McCorkle 11-2
4 KOs
6 subs
8 6’7″ 265 34 Kickboxing, Wrestling Indiana
22 23 Dan Christison 18-7
5 KOs
11 subs
8 6’8″ 270 38 Submission Wrestling California
23 24 Stav Economou 11-1-1
7 KOs
1 sub
8 6’1″ 250 24 Vale Tudo Cyprus
24 25 Chris Tuchscherer 21-4-0-1
9 KOs
7 subs
14 6’1″ 258 34 Boxing, Wrestling North Dakota

~Honorables~

pr cr Fighter Record 1st Rd Stops Ht Wt Age Discipline Origins
21 H Brandon Cash (Strikeforce) 5-3
3 KOs
1 sub
3 6’5″ 256 29 Boxing California
25 H Michał Kita (Bellator) 10-6
6 KOs
4 subs
10 5’10″ 240 Wrestling, Sub. Wrestling, Kickboxing Poland
H H Rogent Lloret  (Bellator) 10-2-1-1
1 KO
6 subs
10 6’3″ 235 BJJ Spain
H H Kimbo Slice 4-2
2 KOs
1 sub
2 6’1″ 225 36 Boxing, Streetfighting Bahamas, Miami
H H Blagoi Ivanov 4-0-0-1
2 KOs
1 5’11″ 240 23 Sambo, Judo Bulgaria
H H Mariusz Pudzianowski 3-2
2 subs
2 6’1″ 315 33 Kyokushin Karate, Boxing Poland
H H Daniel Puder 8-0
2 KOs
3 subs
6’3″ 255 28 Amateur wrestling, BJJ, Kickboxing, Muay Thai California
H H Tony Johnson Jr (Bellator) 6-1
2 KOs
1 6’1″ 265 Freestyle Wrestling Ohio
- H Rob Broughton (UFC) 15-5-1
6 KOs
5 subs
6 6’2″ 265 27 Freestyle Wrestling, Submission Grappling England
- H Satoshi Ishii 4-1
2 subs
2 5’11″ 240 24 Judo, BJJ, Wrestling, Muay Thai, Shotokan Karate Japan

~~~~~~~~

~Video Links~

Antonio Silva vs Mike Kyle
Shane Del Rosario vs.  Brandon Cash
Dave “PeeWee” Herman vs.  Jim York
World’s Strongest Man–Mariusz Pudzianowski in his mma debut
Hae Joon Yang vs.  Joaquim Ferreira
Tim Sylvia  vs.  Mariusz Pudzianowski….Article & Video
Damian Grabowski vs.  Michal Kita
Sergei Kharitonov vs.  Mike Russow

Upcoming Fights | Fight Results

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Sergei Kharitonov

Sergei Kharitonov

There are a few fighters that can be held responsible for pumping life back into the heavyweight division as of recent years. Arguably one of the best heavyweights ever, Fedor Emelianenko(31-1) of Russia, has been near the top of this list for a few years now, even with the air of unfamiliarity that accompanies him.  His mystique comes from fighting primarily outside of the US in Japan and other international locations. Whether you like Fedor or not, you want to tune in to see what the hype is all about.

Randy Couture (47), in 2007 reinvigorated the UFC and the heavyweight division when he defeated champ Tim Sylvia to regain the title he once had 7 years prior. He was 44 years of age at the time. Couture is a 4 time UFC heavyweight champion. Couture is arguably the most revered American mma fighter amongst the loyal mma fanbase. And this is in part due to his lunch bucket mentality as well as his longevity.

No longer can the talents in the heavyweight division be overlooked. One of the most top tier grappling talents is Frank Mir. Mir, a former UFC champion is 1-1 against Brock Lesnar, and is looking for a rubber match. Lesnar knocked out Mir in their last bout. And in Lesnar’s very brief mma career, he has brought in an array of viewers from his days as an entertainment wrestler. There’s no denying the fan appeal that Lesnar has added to the mma world!  Lesnar recently lost his hw belt to Cain Velasquez, who now has ushered in an influx of casual Mexican fans, much of which was helped by the advertisement ran by the UFC for this fight.

This list entails a variant of talents and skill sets.  There’s the guy who last beat Fedor, Blagoi Ivanov, which was in a Sambo fighting style event….to win Gold from the 4-time champion of this event.  Ivanov has since fallen out of the rankings due to inactivity.  Fabricio Werdum of Brazil recently scored a huge upset Fedor via a triangle choke.   Werdum probably has the best bjj skills amongst all the bigs in mma.   And you have Marius Pudzianowski, The Polish Muscle, who’s known as the Strongest Man In The World.  That alone is scary, however,  he has some mma skills; he’s quick, ultra aggressive, and athletic, and is trained in Kyokushin kaikan karate, and, he was an amateur boxer.  Lavar Johnson, a guy with pure one punch knockout power, was shot 3 times in mid 2009 at a family reunion in which one other relative was killed.  He won his return fight in knockout fashion back in March, 2010, as has since moved up to Strikeforce’s main card after winning his last 7 fights, all by knockout…..all but one in the 1st round.

Two years ago, some parts of the UK faithful were already calling Karlos Vemola a legend, with just 6 fights under his belt.  This guys’ stitch is to walk into the cage and walk right up to his opponent and snarl nose to nose, then turns  his back in pure disregard for his opponent…all before the fight begins.  Vemola(8-1), recented signed with the UFC and has gone 1-1.  His last fight was at light-heavyweight, and weight class that will better suit Vemola.  Vemola was once ranked #1 on this list, buut now fights full-time in the 205pound(lhw) weight division.

And is the Filipino-American Shane Del Rosario the best American Heavyweight prospect to date? Time will tell.  “King Mo” Lawal was impressive in his first few fights as a heavyweight.  But his focus has been on the lhw division; he continues to be on this list in hopes that he’ll return to this weight class which seems to fit his skills better.  The quickest knockout in UFC history belongs to Todd Duffee, another young muscle bound fighter.  And lastly, Kimbo Slice makes this impressive international list, simply from the standpoint of pure grit and knockout power.

(Mariusz P. photo from polonista, a poster on  the forums at mixedmartialarts.com)

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12 Responses to “MMA’s Top 25 Unknown and Up & Coming Heavyweights”

  1. OmarCuleNo Gravatar says:

    Kimbo Slice makes the list? Kimbo makes the list look bad, everything else is just about right. Though I would add Siyar Bahardurzada to the list, as he’s the current Shooto Champion and recently signed with Strikeforce.

    • adminNo Gravatar says:

      You have a point about Kimbo……considering….especially after his last lost against Mitrione.

      No excuses for Kimbo, but Mitrione was at least 45lbs heavier than Kimbo. The guy is no heavyweight, although he threw Mitrione around a few times like a rag doll.

      Kimbo may drop completely off the list, as did Rolles Gracie after his last fight. Kimbo will be okay, as long as he stays at 215 and 205.

    • adminNo Gravatar says:

      Will Bahardurzada fight at heavyweight?

      I suspect when this list is updated, a few fighters wil drop off….mainly because they will eventually fight at 205….such as Roger Gracie.

  2. Refugio AlescioNo Gravatar says:

    Many thanks writing this

  3. Doug MeyersonNo Gravatar says:

    Justin Bieber is my top! He’s extremely cute!

  4. adminNo Gravatar says:

    Geez, thanks a lot Mister Karlos Vemola for that lackluster performance at UFC 116 against Jon Madsen. Not good.

    Can we blame it on fighting in the US for the 1st time; jetlag; being the first fight on the card? :-\

    Vemola has surely lost his #1 ranking….but how far will he drop? Stay tuned….

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