Best prospects in action this week (Patreon)

ACA 153 | Russia | Thursday

Featherweight, Islam Omarov (12-0): Omarov is one of the best prospects from Russia which is saying a lot for how loaded that place is with talent. He’s fought some really good fighters and never fought anyone with a losing record. Omarov is an excellent wrestler and he strikes well to wrestle. He’s always moving and always throwing to break his opponents down. Omarov has a solid gas tank and with the constant forward pressure, it’s very impressive.

Light-heavyweight, Faridun Odilov (15-2-2): The native out of Tajikistan has won his last six fights. Odilov is a strong physical guy who is capable of ending the fight at any time. He’s a good wrestler being good at timing his shots off kicks. On top, his ground and pound have shown to be his best weapon. Along with some strong grappling, he’s a huge threat on the mat.

Flyweight, Akhmed Khamzaev (9-0): Khamzaev is still a developing prospect but is now on the main ACA roster. He’s 8-0 for ACA Young Eagles with six stoppage victories. Khamzaev is one of the best 125’ers out of Russia. He has won via knockout and submission proving he’s well-versed in all areas. Khamzaev has good footwork cutting off the cage along with his forward movement. I've been impressed more and more every time I watch him.

Cage FS 13 | Austria | Friday

Welterweight, Florian Aberger (9-0): The book still isn't fully written on Aberger with all the uncertainties. He is undefeated but fighting bad competition. As an ammy, he fought some in IMMAF so he has the experience. Aberger is a dangerous powerful guy that's finished all but two of his fights. He's an in-your-face explosive fighter that puts everything into what he throws. I'm not so sure of his cardio and takedown defense but is exciting if nothing else. My hopes aren't high but I'll still be watching for him.

Lightweight, Bogdan Grad (10-1): I've always been skeptical about Grad but I will admit there is some upside. He's a winner of his last four and his last fight had a spinning heel kick knockout. Grad has a high guard but tends to get hit a lot. He's a good kickboxer and does a good job setting up bigger strikes. I'm not sold on Grad as this fight will tell a lot about him.

Lightweight, Renzo Mendez (18-6): Fighting grad is Renzo Mendez. Mendez has had a lot of setbacks in his career already with six losses. However, he’s currently on a ten-fight win streak. “El Nene” on the feet is a banger. He loves to let his hands go, going head-hunting with big looping punches and head kicks. He’s super aggressive the entire fight. His takedown defense does need work but off his back his jiu-jitsu is strong. On top or off his back he has shown good grappling.

LFA 154 | Brazil | Friday

Middleweight, Lucas Fernando (8-1): Outside of one loss, Fernando has been sparking opponents putting on good performances and finishing with knockouts. He’s a tall middleweight standing at six-foot-three. He uses every bit of that reach. His reach is highlighted by a long sniping one-two and a knee. He’s very dangerous using flying knees but just as good at throwing a step-in knee. Fernando is a lethal striker/kickboxer that’s going to give a lot of guys issues. He was a member of the Brazilian Kickboxing team. His grappling is under the radar but it’s very good as well. After this week he should be the new LFA middleweight champion.

Bantamweight, Jean Matsumoto (12-0), Before his last fight I thought Matsumoto was the best Brazilian prospects across all weightclasses. I have pumped the breaks on him so he has to show me a lot more. Matsumoto hasn’t been fighting for all that long and has a strong resume. That resume started in 2019 and won the SFT flyweight title. He then moved up to bantamweight and won the bantamweight title as well. With how good he is on the feet, he’s looked even better on the mat. He throws very good active ground and pound and that mixed in with solid jiu-jitsu makes him a huge threat.

Welterweight, Reginaldo Junior (6-0): Reginaldo shoots a lot of takedowns and four wins of his come by submission. Junior actually has a kickboxing background with a record of 19 wins and only one loss. He's a purple belt in jiu-jitsu and has been active in small grappling competitions as well. On the mat, he's a strong submission grappler. He's a threat from on top or the bottom. Junior is a power puncher who has decent movement. He's a work in progress and at only 24, the sky is the limit. 

Welterweight, Michael Oliveira (3-0): There isn't much MMA experience or fight footage but PQD looks promising. He does have experience in kickboxing and to my knowledge, he's 8-0. He's fast, very good kickboxing, good hands, has power, and has good reads. It's hard to go in-depth on him because there isn't much out on him. I've heard a lot of good things about him and I'm excited for his fights and hopefully LFA shows it this time.

Couldn't finish this cause I'm out of town for work on storm damage so here are the other prospects in action this week I got my eye on with grades of how I view them today:

Guilherme Uriel C+
Roland Dunlap C+
Marcos Degli C+
Cezary Oleksiejczul A+
Karomatullo Sufiev B
Islam Dulatov A
Kevin Vallejos B
Manuel Exposito
Magomed Yunusilau