I believe that if Minakov fought DC ten times that he is winning six of those fights.
I give him the same odds with Stipe, Lewis, Volkov, Werdum, anyone in Bellator.
Most casual UFC fans don’t even know he exists.
To bad the contractual issues with Bellator are depriving Minakov and the fans of seeing how far he can go in the sport.
He is locked out of the UFC for different reasons than Fedor but at least we got to see Fedor in the best organization of his era while he was in his prime.
With Minakov, his prime is being wasted fighting journymen in the world’s fourth or fifth biggest promotion.
Is there any chance we can see him fight in the UFC in the near future?
Also what about that Dagestani/Chechen Kadyrov look alike at HW who popped for being a juicy slut? His striking was next level.
I don’t think we ever get to see Minakov in the UFC because he still has fights on his Bellator deal and is under contract with them. Now I’m not sure if there were provisions in his deal that allowed him to fight in Russia or if it is just that Bellator can do anything about it legally because they can touch Russian promotions in US courts.
I do know that if he tried to do something with the UFC that Bellator could deal with that in US courts.
From what I’ve read, Minakov wanted more money and Bellator did not want to budge, so he fights for decent money in Fight Nights Global instead of fighting for peanuts in Bellator. How could his management allowed him to get locked into low money long term? Surely his potential to reach the highest levels in MMA has not been a secret since his sambo days.
We might be seeing him fighting the Tony Johnson’s and 2018 Bigfoot Silva’s of the sport until he retires and that would be fine for the average HW but he is top of the food chain.
I like the guy, he deserves to be top 10 in the UFC. But he takes too many big hits from unranked guys. His chin is already suspect. Three matches in the UFC would turn him into Arlovski 2.0
Hypothetically, maybe. Too unproven. His best wins are Volkov five years ago and a decision over Kongo.
<span class="User-125421" id="userPost62688254">I don't think he is unproven at all, 4x sport sambo world champ, just ran through lots of decent HWs with ease.
Tony Johnson actually beat Volkov, Minakov decimated Tony Johnson.
Fighters don't perform in a constant state but Minakov has had some brilliant performances recently.
Just look how he handled Geronimo dos Santos, Josh Copeland, Peter Graham, Bigfoot Silva and Tony Johnson recently.
Not saying he is unbeatable but Minakov would have just as much UFC success as Miocic, Cain, DC, Werdum, Overeem...</span></blockquote>
Sport sambo is not MMA, success in a grappling sport doesn't automatically translate to success in MMA. Obviously Minakov is very successfull in MMA also - just hasn't beaten anyone to make the claim that he's #1 in the world.
Of all his opponents you named, Silva is the highest ranked at #36 and frankly he doesn't deserve to even be in the top 100 IMO. He's 3-9-1 post Strikeforce FFS. Tony Johnson is the only one barely above journeyman level, and Volkov improved tremedously in recent years, so a split decision over Volkvov in 2015 doesn't make Johnson a world beater.
You just can't objectively say that Minakov would be UFC champion level like DC/Cain/Stipe/Werdum based on his level of competition. Maybe he could be, maybe not, but I'd like to see him at least face some top 10-20 level competition before proclaiming he's #1 in the world. Unfortunately very unlikely this will happen while he's still in his prime...
I know sport sambo does not automatically translate but I was just establishing he has a serious base like many other successful fighters.
I can’t say objectively he would be champ. I’m just saying I’d personally put my money on him over anyone else in 2018.
If you wanted me to construct a list of the top 10 HWs of all time, I can’t put him on the list because he has not beaten the high ranked guys to prove it. Just as Pico is 3-1 and might beat Max tomorrow but we can’t put him on Max’s level until he proves it through achievements.
BJ Penn Forever - I believe that if Minakov fought DC ten times that he is winning six of those fights.
I give him the same odds with Stipe, Lewis, Volkov, Werdum, anyone in Bellator.
Most casual UFC fans don’t even know he exists.
To bad the contractual issues with Bellator are depriving Minakov and the fans of seeing how far he can go in the sport.
He is locked out of the UFC for different reasons than Fedor but at least we got to see Fedor in the best organization of his era while he was in his prime.
With Minakov, his prime is being wasted fighting journymen in the world’s fourth or fifth biggest promotion.
He has fought no one even close to UFC talent at the moment
He is 6-0 vs UFC vets. Bigfoot, Copeland, Kongo, Volkov, Eddie Sanchez, Fabiano Scherner
UFC does not even have 50% of the top 100 HWs.
That being said, just because say Justin Ledet fights in the UFC does not mean beating him is more impressive than say beating Amir Aliakbari who competes in ACB.
He has fought no one even close to UFC talent at the moment
He is 6-0 vs UFC vets. Bigfoot, Copeland, Kongo, Volkov, Eddie Sanchez, Fabiano Scherner
UFC does not even have 50% of the top 100 HWs.
That being said, just because say Justin Ledet fights in the UFC does not mean beating him is more impressive than say beating Amir Aliakbari who competes in ACB.
UFC vets or UFC rejects? Bigfoot was legit once, a decade ago. That’s it
So gauging by Kongo and Volkov fights, you could say he would be realistically borderline top 5, there's just no basis to put him any higher even though he *might* hypothetically be the best in the world since he's undefeated I guess...
The poster said he had fought no one close to “UFC talent”. Was just pointing out he is 6-0 vs UFC talent.
I’m not worried about rankings or talks of “top 5”, just saying based on what I’ve seen him do I perceive him to be the favorite vs anyone in 2018.
BJ Penn Forever - Stipe made his name beating Gonzaga, Arlovski, Hunt, Werdum, JDS, and Overeem while they were on the decline and he was in his prime.
Never saw him as some invincible HW.
Don’t think Minakov is invincible either, just think he is the best out there in 2018 and the favorite vs any pro MMA fighter competing in 2018.
You’re comparing all these fighters to Bigfoot. You’re clearly retarded
For fucks sake, he was basically KO’d by DJ Linderman in a low level organization very recently. This should not even be a thread. Greg Hardy would KO this guy in the first