2011 mma prospects

[hawkeye]

Here are some guys I think could break through in 2011. Mostly guys that aren't yet on UFC, Strikeforce, or Bellator cards yet
Heavyweight
DJ Linderman- 6'3 250 age 27 rec 8-1
Mark Ellis- 6-4 260 age 24 rec 0-0 2009 NCAA nation wrestling champ, and trasins at AKA
Jared Rosholt- age 23 rec 0-0 four time all-american finished second last year in the finals
Tyler East- 6'5 250 age 20 rec 8-3 2 loss against tough Tony Lopez
Ethan Garrison- 6'4 225 ae 34 rec 8-0 older but still has been undefeated
Ty Lee- age 26 6'3 250 rec 8-1 reminds me of Ben Rothwell
Nate Kittredge- age 32 6'2 220 rec 10-1 loss was a DQ
Nik Fekete-6'2 220 age30 rec 5-0 trains with Randy Couture

lhw 205
Jonas Billstein- 6'1 age 19 rec 9-0 only Non-American I know enough about he is so young and talented.
Kelly Anundson- 5'11 age 26 rec 3-0 train at American Top Team
Tim Carpenter- 6'3 age 30 rec 6-0
Chris Davis- 6'0 age 28 rec 14-2
Sam Alvey- 6'2 age 24 rec 10-2
Tyson Jefferies- 6'3 age 22 rec 8-4 trains at Team Quest

MW 185
Justin Edwards- 5'10 age 28 rec 5-0
Tim Williams- 6'2 age 24 rec 5-0 pro and 6-0 am
Gerald Meerschaert-6'1 age 23 rec 11-3
Kyle Weickhardt- 6'1 age 25 rec 5-0
Mike Pitz- 5'11 age 29 rec 5-0
Jake Collier- 6'3 age 22 rec 1-0 pro 12-1 am talented fighter made pro debut last year.
Trey Houston- 5'11 age 22 rec 7-0
Chris Weidman- 6'3 rec 4-0 great BJJ I expect one of the big three to give him a cotract soon
Gordon Bell- 5'10 age 23 rec 6-0 defeated some very good mid-level fighters
Marshall Manning- 5'10 age 22 4-0 pro 9-0 am great BJJ nobodody has gone past the 1st round against him.
Elvis Mutapcic- 6'0 age 24 rec 8-3
Myles Jury- 6'0 age 22 rec 9-0 pro 4-0 am

WW 170
Steve Carl- age 26 6'0 rec 14-2 final got the call from Bellator last year
Stephen''Wonderboy" Thompson- 6'1 age 25 rec 3-0 50-1 as a kickboxer trains now with GSP
Brett Cooper- 5'11 age 23 rec 12-5 been around a long time, but is only 23
Steele McCall- age 25 6'0 8-0 Am
Joe Ray- 6'0 age 25 rec 4-1 trains at American Top Team
Justin Torrey- 6'0 age 29 rec 7-0 rumored to be on this years TUF
Ryan Laflare- 6'1 age 27 rec 7-0 also rumored to be on TUF
Andy Branson- 5'10 age 25 rec 6-0 stopped some very talented fighters
Kurt Holobaugh- 5'11 age 24 rec 8-0 am makes pro debut this year.

LW 155
Jeremy Ashley- 5'9 age 23 rec 14-6 defeated Hermes Franca twice last year
Kurt Kinser- 5'7 age 23 rec 4-0 talented wrestler
Jordan Clements- 5'8 age 19 rec 6-1 defeated Junie Browning last year
Josh Shockley- 6'1 age 21 rec 6-0 undefeated prospect has competed in Russia and the US
Erik Larkin- 5'9 age 30 rec 3-0 all-american wrestler
Dakota Cochrane- 5'8 age 24 rec 7-1deafeat Marcus Levesseur
John Benoit- 6'0 age 27 rec 11-2 one of the best fighters in New England
Brian McLaughlin- 5'9 age 26 rec 6-1 good bjj
J.P Reese- 5'10 age 29 rec 2-0 another UM wrestler
Richie Whitson- 5'8 age 23 rec 10-1 former TUF contender deserves another chance.
Derrick Krantz- 5'9 age 23 rec 10-3

145
Zach Makovsky- 5'5 age 27 rec 12-2
Jared Downing- 5'8 age 21 rec 7-0

 

[moose]

another interesting prospect at heavyweight from the country of Georgia is named Guram Gugenishvili, he is 24 and 6'4 and 250 lbs.

 

[johnnyboy]

no list is complete without Kimbo Slice!

 

[moose]

slice got diced by mr. white, can ya dig it?

 

[DixieDestroyer]

Jared Rosholt comes from a very athletic family. His older brother Jake (UFC vet 10-3) won the 184-pound NCAA DI wrestling title as a freshman at OK State & the NCAA 197-pound title twice. He was a 4-time All-American & and 2004 Big 12 Champ. Jared's younger brother Blake wrestles for the OSU Cowboys & his sister Jesyca was a star soccer player for OSU.




Edited by: DixieDestroyer

 

[Liverlips]

Great list Dixie. Our kind will be dominating MMA for a long time.

 

[hawkeye]

Here are some more prospects
Kurt Holobaugh age 23 5'11 170 rec 8-0 AM
Adam Schlinder age 27 5'8 155 rec 7-1
Blake Chatham age 22 5'11 185 rec 6-0 AM
Jeremy Hamilton age 26 6'3 185 rec 8-0
Brandon Bergeron age 20 5'10 155 rec 9-3
Cameron Diffley- age 26 6'1 185 rec 1-0 Diffley is probably one of the best American BJJ guys around. He is only 26 and has been the instructor for Frank Mir, Forest Griffen, and several other pros. Diffley was the BJJ coach for Griffens team on TUF. He won his debut by 1st round submisson against a very talented James Birdsley.

 

[hawkeye]

Diffley has already defeated both Josh Burkman and Johnny Hendricks in BJJ matches. Hendricks was an all-american wrestler.

 

[hawkeye]

two impressive performances over the weekend by Jory Erickson and Tim Runberg. Erickson koed former UFC fighter Brad Blackburn in the first round. Erickson is 27 years old 5'10 and 185 he has a record of 7-2 as a pro and 6-1 as an amateur, he had a disappointing year last year due to some injuries, but I expect this fight to help launch his career.
Tim Ruberg has just been unstoppable in his fights. Over the weekend he koed 7-2 Jason Floyd to bring his record to 5-0 as a pro. He also has a 5-0 ameateur record. Ruberg has very good takedowns, but needs to improve his striking.

 

[hawkeye]

Jared Rosholt won his mma debut against Dee"the giant" Burchfield by first round tapout due to punches. Burchfield was a big guy but not much of a fighter. Overall impressive debut for Rosholt.

Ritchie Whitson also won this week, defeating Curtis Demarce in a close split decision victory, which earned fight of the night. Prior to the loss Demarce had won his last 7 fights.

 

[hawkeye]

Saturday James Head(white) defeated former UFC fighter Gerald Harris (Black)by Unanimous decision. James Head is 27 6'2 185 and sports a record of 7-1 his one loss was a Unanimous decison to Jesse Forbes. Harris had a record of 17-4 and was 4-1 in the UFC before being cut. Becuase of the loss I doubt Harris will get resigned. Overall good day because all the people on Sherdog were bitching that Harris got cut after one loss.

 

[moose]

thats good news about rosholt, have seen any news about mark ellis the 2009 ncaa heavyweight champ who starte training in mma last summer?

 

[space hillbilly]

no list is complete without Kimbo Slice!

 

[hawkeye]

Chris Weidman won his UFC debut against Sakara.

 

[DixieDestroyer]

Jared Rosholt won his mma debut against Dee"the giant" Burchfield by first round tapout due to punches. Burchfield was a big guy but not much of a fighter. Overall impressive debut for Rosholt.
<div> </div>
<div>Ritchie Whitson also won this week, defeating Curtis Demarce in a close split decision victory, which earned fight of the night. Prior to the loss Demarce had won his last 7 fights.</div>

Alaskan Richie Whitson is 11-1 & won his 5 fights. I think the UFC needs to give him a shot in the LW division. BTW, I watched the fight where Richie loss (via decision) to Harris Sarmiento....and it looked more of a draw to me.


Edited by: DixieDestroyer

 

[hawkeye]

Michael Chandler won his fight at Belator against Macin Held to improve his record to 6-0. Chandler is 24 and is a former All-American at Missouri.

 

[hawkeye]

However Josh Shockley lost due to his own stipdity. Shockley was winning the fight he was in Toby Imada's guard, when Imada put him in an armbar, instead of spining out he chose to slam Imada breaking his own arm in the process.

 

[moose]

chandler is a great prospect, very strong ground and pound, good submission defense and wrestler strong. Bellator is on mtv on saturday nights for the next 7 months. Next saturday they have another great wrestler former ncaa champ fighting on tv eric larkin. Larkin is another excellent prospect.

 

[hawkeye]

Tonight on the Bellator light heavyweight tournament
Tim Carpenter (7-0) stayed unbeaten by defeating Daniel Gracie (7-2)
D.J. Linderman (11-1) pulled off a huge upset against Rafeal Davis (11-1). Davis was the favorite to win the tournament.
also Richard Hale (15-2-1) pulled off a huge victory over Nike Fekete.
Hale is 25 but it seems like he has been around forever. He was turned down for the Ultimate Fighter show, and hasn't had many opertunities to showcase his talents.

 

[Liverlips]

Yes, Bellator is very white-friendly. Hope they make it on MTV 2.

 

[hawkeye]

Two more prospects
Lance Benoist- age 22 he's 5'11 170 and has a record of 3-0 pro and 6-0 am his strenght is his wrestling and all but one of his fights was stopped in the first round.
Andrew Craig- age 25 he's 6'1 185 his record is 4-0 pro 4-0 am He is pretty well rounded and has good endurance.

 

[Eliwarfare]

Hawkeye-You must be a Missouri guy or at least located somewhat close huh? I recognize a few of the names on your lists are from my area, and I actually was Jake Collier's first trainer, and have also trained with Blake Chatham. Both of those guys are REALLLLLLY well-rounded fighters, as well as Lance Benoist.
Jake's striking and offensive Jits are his strongest points, and good God that kid hits like a fuggin' heavyweight. lol. His next fight is on the 30th of this month @Ameristar Casino in St. Charles, MO if you're interested.

 

[hawkeye]

Justin Edwards is the replacement for Keon Caldwell on the Ultimate Fighter, It's nice to see one of my prospects getting an opportunity consider Miles Jury is out. I personally think Edwards can run through a bunch of these guys.

 

[DixieDestroyer]

Hawk, I would have done a thread on TUF 13, but we don't have cable anymore...so haven't watched it.

 

[Liverlips]

Michael Chandler (24) makes it to the finals of the Bellator lightweight tourny. He has tremendous wrestling and cardio and heavy hands. Reminds me of a 155-lb Ryan Bader.

Also, not sure if he can be called a prospect at 34, but Eric Prindle is 6'5 and over 300. He cuts down to 265 and is now 7-1. He fights for Bellator and was a 5-time Army boxing champ and is a massive white man.