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RavishingRickRudo

Thoughts on the Following Fighters II: No Way Out

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Season 1:

 

Forrest Griffin - Real funny guy, likeable, but I think he's hitting a wall as far as his development goes.

 

Stephan Bonnar - Also very funny, and seems to have real chemistry with Griffin. Tends to leave himself open to submission attempts, which has gotten him in trouble in some of his fights. I guess that he'll be fighting at the next UFN so we'll see if he's gotten any better.

 

Mike Swick - Might be the gem of the LHW fighters from season 1. I don't think he'll be beating down Rich Franklin for the belt or anything, but he's got great hands and could probably make a good living as curtain jerker at the PPVs

 

Chris Leben - Ah, Fratboy. Pretty one-dimensional fighter, but his ground game is getting better and he could conceivably get fed to challenge Ace in a title match. And actually he's fairly likeable when he's not drunk.

 

Nate Quarry - Done like dinner.

 

Josh Koscheck - Like Sherk and Hughes, a scary-good wrestler who seems to be able to take opponents down at will. Had some trouble finishing during TUF, but has gotten better at it. The loss to Drew Fickett probably won't hurt him.

 

Ken-Flo - Second worst nickname in MMA (the first, of course, being Twinkletoes). I could see him being a fairly dominant LW (assuming Pulver stays where he is) but as a WW he'll just get lost in the crowd.

 

Season 2:

 

Joe Stevenson - Good wrestler, seems to think a bit too highly of himself. Taking Luke lightly almost cost him the TUF 2 title. A good addition to the WW ranks.

 

Luke Cummo - Seems to be a pretty good artist, but then even Rob Liefeld can draw boobs. On the fighting side, he can get outmuscled on the ground, but he's got a pretty good defensive game. His advantages are more on the psychological side. The ninja mask, the unibrow, the overall look makes you think that he's not too dangerous, and that's when he can knock you into next week.

 

Reshad Evans - There were heavyweights on the show? I wasn't impressed very much with Rashad's fighting, but his charisma could probably be utilized by Zuffa to help sell tickets.

 

Brad Imes - Seems to fit in with all the giant heavyweights that the UFC has. He's still pretty green, so I think you need to see a few more fights from him to see if he's developing well.

 

Keith Jardine - I've only seen him fight the one time, and it really wasn't that impressive.

 

Melvin Guillard - The Jeremy Horn of TUF?

 

Josh Burkman - Was pretty good in the one fight we saw from him, and I'd like to see him in a couple more fights.

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Sure, if you have it written out like that it sounds lame. But c'mon, Twinkletoes makes Trigg sound like the second coming of Michael Flatley. And KenFlo is just another thing we can blame on Jennifer Lopez and her nice but overrated ass.

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Forrest Griffin

- Probably the best fighter going into and coming out of TUF, though with how he's fighting, not many people are going to get to see that. A slick grappler and ground fighter masquerading as a passable brawler. Could possibly be a Top Ten level LHW if he fights to his strengths.

 

Stephan Bonnar

- Good offensively both from the ground and on his feet (where he's tightened up his game a bit), but his defense, both striking and submission wise, leaves a good deal to be desired. However, he can hide both deficiencies with the ability to gut out punishment or submission attempts. Will probably never crack the Top 25.

 

Mike Swick

- Quick striker with legit KO power, he's still begging to get Leben'ed again with the way he sticks his chin out there. He's also got some skills on the ground, and could someday be a Top 10 MW if he could find a way to protect his chin.

 

Chris Leben

- Despite talk of his dynamite hands (more a matter of Leben being a southpaw throwing punches from odd angles), Leben's biggest strengths are his iron jaw (shown vs. Cote) and tenacity(shown vs. Doerkson). However, in losing to two smaller MMA newcomers in Koscheck and Florian, he showed a bit of one-dimensionality that the armbar vs. Dewees doesn't change. Might crack the Top 10 at some point, but his stay there will probably be brief.

 

Nate Quarry

- Finally had his 2nd shot at the big boys, and showed he still doesn't have what it takes. A good striker and ground fighter when on the offensive, he doesn't fare nearly as well when on the defensive and isn't great enough in any range to obliterate top level competition before they show him up in some area. Will probably float around the Top 25.

 

Josh Koscheck

- Easily the best prospect of the series, Koscheck already has wrestling skills to rival many of the elite wrestlers litering the division, but still needs time to up the rest of his game. He showed great improvement vs. Spratt, but even though he was definitely beating a Top 10 caliber fighter in Fickett, he showed that he still needs a bit of work, as he wasn't able to deal much damage and lost mount twice. However, he already has a great base for MMA, a good team to work with, some good natural instincts, etc., and could someday be a P4P fighter.

 

Ken-Flo

- Bad nickname aside, he's obviously pretty good grappler (if nothing too special) and can throw a bit on his feet as well. However, he's totally out of his depth at 169lbs, and I wonder how would fare against the best at 155-160lbs. Will probably never break the Top 25 in either division.

 

Joe Stevenson

- Another nigh-finished product going into the show, what you see is what you get: a good wrestler and ground fighter when he's on top, but nothing special when on the bottom or standing. His lack of stature will hurt him further as well, unless he makes the move back to LW, where he could arguably break the Top 20.

 

Luke Cummo

- Something of a mystery to me. While he proved a lot to me in his showing against Stevenson, he still has some glaring holes in his game that are going to be easily exposed the division's elite. However, like Leben, his sheer tenacity will probably carry him a ways, and if he could develop a solid ground game under Serra, he could possibly be a Top 25 guy in the future.

 

Reshad Evans

- Good wrestler with very good takedown defense who got a bit exposed by Jardine & Imes. Both shoed that he was very hittable (and Jardine showed that his chin could be cracked), and reinforced the fact that he's not a great finisher in the least. His wrestling skills alone could give many LHW's big problems, but will probably never climb into the Top 20 without other skills to round them out.

 

Brad Imes

- The definition of "raw talent," Brad obviously has a size and athleticism to spare. However, he'll need to be brought along gradually by Miletich and the boys, as he's shown that he can be hurt, and he'll need a good deal of training before he adequately negatre that fact. Almost too early to tell, but I think he has the potential to be a Top 10 fighter someday.

 

Keith Jardine

- Living proof that all the intimidating shadow boxing in the wrld doesn't actually make you an elite striker, Keith is the nonetheless a reasonably well-rounded fighter, though like Quarry, isn't necessarily good enough in any single area to compete with big boys. Could possibly be a Top 25 guy, though.

 

Melvin Guillard

- Seems to get buy on a lot of natural athleticism, and he's still fairly unpolished even with 25+ career fights. The talent to be something more is there, but my gut instinct is that he'l never realize that potential and will be content to do damage on smaller shows.

Edited by Lei Tong

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Forrest- Love him. Probably, next to Rich Franklin, the coolest guy in the UFC. Looks very humble and approachable and I enjoy his unique brand of self-deprecating humour. Tough as fuck and will always go until he's got nothing left. I, like many, are going to be fans of his for a long time because of the Bonnar fight and I will be rooting for him come April when he take on Tito. Has shown to be solid on his feet and not incompetent on the ground which he'll need if he's got Tito on top. This is a big step for him because he's going from facing two relative unknowns to one of the biggest LHW fighters of all time.

 

Bonnar- Same as Forrest cept I enjoy Bonnars fights more because he's shown me more. Anybody that goes for a spinning roundhouse earns my love. I remember seeing Bonnar talk about how he looked like a guy that people thought they could beat up and how it resulted in him having to take anger management classes and it made me realize in a weird way that MMA can be important for this reason. This was a guy who wasn't finding a healthy outlet for his agression and now he is. I'm stoked on him vs Irvin.

 

Swick- SWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK. Can't say too much but what I can say is that he's hilarious and there needs to be some kind of sitcom involving him and Dana White premiering on the WB soon. Oh, and he's got quick hands.

 

Chris Leben- I'm still waiting to be impressed, personally. An Iron Chin rep will only take you so far but I'm glad he's shown that he can get it done on the ground. Would enjoy him not hugging people when they get in close on him ala Cote and Koscheck. A lot of people say he's matured greatly since TUF I and if that's true I respect him for it because I damn sure laughed my ass off when Southworth dropped the FB bomb on him and felt he deserved it 100%.

 

Nate Quarry- His punches are thrown like he's a Rock 'em Sock 'em robot. I had really no issues with him until he referred to Canada as "America's pissing ground", then I was more then happy to see Franklin knock him the fuck out. Still, solid hands and (pissing comments aside) he comes off as a pretty likeable guy. Watch the crowds reaction to his victory over Shonie Carter @ UFC 53, this is a guy people clearly wanted to see win and were happy for him when he did.

 

Josh Kocheck- Loads of potential. Very strong, fast and a great wrestler. Good future so long as he doesn't make rookie mistakes like shooting in for the umpteenth time in a fight. I'm afraid that if he loses again he'll be all but done but there's always the possibility of a Leben rematch and he holds a victory over Luke Cummo so there's that too.

 

Diego- Rudo forgot to put him on the list, not sure why. Personally I've already stated that he gets on my nerves but I really like watching him fight. He was my MW pick to take it all the minute I saw him absolutely dominate Karalexis in TUF I and his bout with Koscheck is probably in the Top Five TUF Fights they've had so far. Good wrestler, great submissions, always looking to finish. He'll need to get by a WW Gatekeeper before he really gets thrown into the mix but I'm confident he can get the job done.

 

Ken-Flo aka The Lazy Samurai- I need more before I can truly state him love but I do like what I've seen so far. Kenny/Cope was kind of a letdown, despite the wicked-awesome finish to the first round because it was two Muay-Thai practicioners who really didn't thrown any kicks of knees. Still, if the LW Division gets a second chance I think he could shine.

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