Like people are watching right now with Bo Nickal… big MMA prospects are often very careful about who they fight in their first few pro fights these days. Sometimes not, as with Pico. Look at that kid Mokaev… he had like 20 or 25 ammy fights before turning pro. You just don’t see that much in MMA.
At any rate by the end of his first ten pro fights Tony Johnson had been in there with Kenny Garner, Tony Lopez, DC, Derrick Lewis and Tim Sylvia already. He fought Volkov in his 11th fight and Kongo by his 12th. His 14th and 15th fights were vs Minakov and Aleks.
Thats a pretty heavy schedule for a HW who has never set foot in the UFC.
Ishii was like that too, after his first eight fights he had already been in there with Yoshida (Ishii’s debut fight), Minowa, Le Banner, Filho, Fedor, Sylvia, McCorkle and Rizzo.
Pawel Nastula fought prime Big Nog, Aleks, Edson Vieira and Barnett in PRIDE for his first four pro MMA fights.