MMA’s Top 25 Unknown and Up & Coming Heavyweights

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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

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~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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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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