Epic Season 17 Draft Preview
Apr 29, 2016 11:37:05 GMT -5
The Sandmen, The Rocketmen, and 2 more like this
Post by ~ The ManMMA Insider ~ on Apr 29, 2016 11:37:05 GMT -5
Welcome to the EPIC Season 17 Draft.....PREVIEW!!!!
Take a seat, and let's jump right the fuck in.
The draft pool got a bit of a shake-up with the epic New Blood Rising card this past month. Here we have a small preview of who is available, and what you might be able to expect of them coming into the league, as well as their future potential!
The Heavyweight Division
In the heavyweight division, there is a lot of hype behind both Guy Mezgar and Mark Kerr. Both MMA legends and pioneers, they will likely be the ones to watch for any team looking for a boost at heavyweight. The rub here, though is that heavyweight remains a very tight, competitive division. The question that remains is whether or not there is even a place for new fighters to excel. We can certainly assume that both fighters would be much better than recent heavyweight draft picks Alberto Rodriguez and Bob Sapp, though. And of the two, who would be the best choice? Despite his recent loss to Mezgar at New Blood Rising, insiders believe Kerr would come in a little stronger off the hop.
Another interesting question revolves around potential. If given the TLC required to make a reasonable or legit fighter, how high can these two fighters go? With both men being C-ranked fighters, capping out at 83, there is a lot of room to work with. But that being said, would drafting brand new fighters be more beneficial than bringing back experienced ManMMA vets? With legendary C-ranked heavyweights such as Ricardo Arona and Antonio Rogerio Noguiera (Little Nog) sitting on the free agent list, that would be a tough call. Our reporters tend to believe Little Nog might be the pick of the batch, but Kerr could give him a run for his money. Especially with the success wrestlers have been finding in ManMMA lately. With the right upgrades, Kerr could be a top 20 fighter in ManMMA within a season or two. But as we said...with the right upgrades.
Other noteworthy heavyweights:
- Ricco Rodriguez, rookie (D-Ranked, 82 overall cap). Former UFC champion, pioneer, legend.
- Phil Davis, 8-18 in ManMMA (81 cap). Has potential, but has not had much success in ManMMA. Would need a lot of work, but it could pay if for the right amount of effort.
- Oleg Taktarov, 5-8 in ManMMA (81-cap). UFC pioneer/legend who’s sitting on 4 fight night bonuses in 14 fights – a decent bonus percentage indeed.
- Heath Herring, 10-11 in ManMMA (81-cap). One of the more successful ManMMA free agents. Despite lower cap, if no other upgrades were applied, Heath is probably most likely to have a decent year next season than anyone else on this list.
The Middleweight Division
In terms of rookies, the middleweight division is a little light in this upcoming draft. The first-ever UFC Middleweight champion Dave Menne is available. He sits on an 82-cap, but had mixed success throughout his career. From here, he appears to be the best bet for a rookie middleweight. There are also several fringe fighters who could help bolster a team if they were desperately looking to add a rookie, but the meat of this division for this upcoming draft is sitting on the free agent list right now.
With a whopping 7 ranked fighters on the free agent list, there is plenty of talent to go around. The question seems to be whether a team would be willing to put in short term work for long term gains. If so, B-ranked (84-cap) wrestler Chris Weidman might be a safe bet. His 6-16 ManMMA record is concerning, but with some development to his wrestling game, he could make a name for himself (again). Jeremy Horn and Hayato Sakurai are both a little green in terms of ManMMA, holding 1-4 and 2-5 records respectively. With the right work, they could turn around pretty quickly. If someone were looking to add a striker with C-rank potential to their middleweight mix, Johny Hendricks (9-18) seems the safest bet, perhaps with Chris Lytle (7-13) a close second. Prospective teams would need to consider if they were looking for a wrestler with 1-punch knockout power in Hendricks, or a more complete boxer like Lytle.
If someone was looking to go a different route, Tapology currently lists rookie Damian Maia as their #1 best MMA grappler of all time. With Shinya Aoki’s submission success at lightweight, perhaps someone would be ballsy enough to take on this submission expert and try to duplicate Aoki’s success. Aoki is, after all, currently sitting on a 21-fight winning streak. What do you think; can Maia match that?
Other noteworthy Middleweights
- Yushin Okami 12-20 in ManMMA (C-rank, 83 cap). With the right direction
- Shonie Carter, 3-5 in ManMMA(81-cap). Take him for no other reason than those shorts. Oh, and his epic spinning back fist KO of Matt Serra.
- Alexander Shlemenko, 6-6 in ManMMA (81-cap). If you just simply need an average, self-sustaining middleweight, this might be your guy.
The Lightweight Division
The Lightweight division looks much the same as the middleweight one. In terms of rookies, Pat Curran might be the go-to rookie. He is C-ranked (83 cap). But the lightweight division also has a B-ranked fighter with a so-so ManMMA record on the free agent list in Renan Barao. Do you want to gamble on a short-term possibility of success, or invest into building a B-rank, 84 cap fighter into a star? Decisions, decisions.
If heavy-handed lightweights are your game, Tony Ferguson (currently ranked #3 in the UFC rankings) certainly has some KO power. Fine-tuning and he could bump anyone’s LW division above 500. Strikers tend to have success early more than wrestlers.
The free agents in the lightweight division have benefitted greatly from the recent re-rate as well. With fighters like Tatsuya Kawajiri
(1-4 ManMMA, C-rank, 83 cap) moving into the ranks, the already deep talent at LW is getting deeper.
Other noteworthy Lightweights
- Genki Sudo, 2-6 in ManMMA, (C-rank, 83 cap) an excellent submission fighter who is also a singer, composer, choreographer, actor, and author.
- Joseph Benavidez, (2-5 in ManMMA, C-rank, 83 cap). Very solid stand up and power for a LW.
- Kid Yamamoto, (6-9 in ManMMA, (C-rank, 83 cap) Though nothing special now in real life, in his prime, Kid was a juggernaut. He could be turned into that juggernaut again with relative ease based on his record here already.
The Bantamweight Division
And now onto the women’s divisions. Here is where the bulk of the noteworthy rookies should be. First, in the bantamweight division. If you are looking for a fighter, Raquel Pennington might be the fightingiest fighter that ever fought. She’s an aggressive striker and sure to be atop someone’s list of female bantamweights. Aside from Raquel , the next most tested bantamweight is likely Valentina Shevchenko. With a win over fellow prospect Peggy Morgan at New Blood Rising 3, Valentina’s got some momentum behind her as well.
Other notable Bantamweights
- Germaine de Randamie (5-3 real life record)
- Ediane Gomes (10-4 real life record)
- Marion Reneau (6-3 real life record)
The Flyweight Division
There is a lot of rookie potential in the Flyweight division this draft as well. With both the looks and the skillz, Karolina Kowalkiewicz (8-0 in the real world) looked to be a lock as the top flyweight pick this draft. But with a loss to Alexa Grasso (7-0) at New Blood Rising, has her stock fallen? Time will tell, but either of these two would make a good addition to any Flyweight roster. As would Livia Renata Souza (9-0). The slew of undefeated female flyweights is insane.
And though the free agent crop for female flyweights is not bad, inside reports indicate that it is more likely than not that these new rookies would have a stronger shot at success than much of the free agent list.
Other notable Flyweights
- Jennifer Maia (13-4-1), can also fight at Bantamweight
- Jéssica Andrade (13-5), can also fight at Bantamweight
One final reminder.
In all weightclasses, remember to be cautious of “flash in the pan” types. Fighters such as Sage Northcutt, for example, have quite the hype train behind them in real life, but in the ManMMA world, fighters like Sage will be quite weak. Without a deep pool of opponents to draw from, fighters like this will be a flashy prospect with little hope of victory. If you want to really invest the points into making these projects legit, by all means do so. But remember that it will take time and effort, and any fighter listed in the write-ups will likely have a much greater chance of success, both with and without upgrades.
For now, that’s all from The Inside. Keep it close tighty whities.
Take a seat, and let's jump right the fuck in.
The draft pool got a bit of a shake-up with the epic New Blood Rising card this past month. Here we have a small preview of who is available, and what you might be able to expect of them coming into the league, as well as their future potential!
The Heavyweight Division
In the heavyweight division, there is a lot of hype behind both Guy Mezgar and Mark Kerr. Both MMA legends and pioneers, they will likely be the ones to watch for any team looking for a boost at heavyweight. The rub here, though is that heavyweight remains a very tight, competitive division. The question that remains is whether or not there is even a place for new fighters to excel. We can certainly assume that both fighters would be much better than recent heavyweight draft picks Alberto Rodriguez and Bob Sapp, though. And of the two, who would be the best choice? Despite his recent loss to Mezgar at New Blood Rising, insiders believe Kerr would come in a little stronger off the hop.
Another interesting question revolves around potential. If given the TLC required to make a reasonable or legit fighter, how high can these two fighters go? With both men being C-ranked fighters, capping out at 83, there is a lot of room to work with. But that being said, would drafting brand new fighters be more beneficial than bringing back experienced ManMMA vets? With legendary C-ranked heavyweights such as Ricardo Arona and Antonio Rogerio Noguiera (Little Nog) sitting on the free agent list, that would be a tough call. Our reporters tend to believe Little Nog might be the pick of the batch, but Kerr could give him a run for his money. Especially with the success wrestlers have been finding in ManMMA lately. With the right upgrades, Kerr could be a top 20 fighter in ManMMA within a season or two. But as we said...with the right upgrades.
Other noteworthy heavyweights:
- Ricco Rodriguez, rookie (D-Ranked, 82 overall cap). Former UFC champion, pioneer, legend.
- Phil Davis, 8-18 in ManMMA (81 cap). Has potential, but has not had much success in ManMMA. Would need a lot of work, but it could pay if for the right amount of effort.
- Oleg Taktarov, 5-8 in ManMMA (81-cap). UFC pioneer/legend who’s sitting on 4 fight night bonuses in 14 fights – a decent bonus percentage indeed.
- Heath Herring, 10-11 in ManMMA (81-cap). One of the more successful ManMMA free agents. Despite lower cap, if no other upgrades were applied, Heath is probably most likely to have a decent year next season than anyone else on this list.
The Middleweight Division
In terms of rookies, the middleweight division is a little light in this upcoming draft. The first-ever UFC Middleweight champion Dave Menne is available. He sits on an 82-cap, but had mixed success throughout his career. From here, he appears to be the best bet for a rookie middleweight. There are also several fringe fighters who could help bolster a team if they were desperately looking to add a rookie, but the meat of this division for this upcoming draft is sitting on the free agent list right now.
With a whopping 7 ranked fighters on the free agent list, there is plenty of talent to go around. The question seems to be whether a team would be willing to put in short term work for long term gains. If so, B-ranked (84-cap) wrestler Chris Weidman might be a safe bet. His 6-16 ManMMA record is concerning, but with some development to his wrestling game, he could make a name for himself (again). Jeremy Horn and Hayato Sakurai are both a little green in terms of ManMMA, holding 1-4 and 2-5 records respectively. With the right work, they could turn around pretty quickly. If someone were looking to add a striker with C-rank potential to their middleweight mix, Johny Hendricks (9-18) seems the safest bet, perhaps with Chris Lytle (7-13) a close second. Prospective teams would need to consider if they were looking for a wrestler with 1-punch knockout power in Hendricks, or a more complete boxer like Lytle.
If someone was looking to go a different route, Tapology currently lists rookie Damian Maia as their #1 best MMA grappler of all time. With Shinya Aoki’s submission success at lightweight, perhaps someone would be ballsy enough to take on this submission expert and try to duplicate Aoki’s success. Aoki is, after all, currently sitting on a 21-fight winning streak. What do you think; can Maia match that?
Other noteworthy Middleweights
- Yushin Okami 12-20 in ManMMA (C-rank, 83 cap). With the right direction
- Shonie Carter, 3-5 in ManMMA(81-cap). Take him for no other reason than those shorts. Oh, and his epic spinning back fist KO of Matt Serra.
- Alexander Shlemenko, 6-6 in ManMMA (81-cap). If you just simply need an average, self-sustaining middleweight, this might be your guy.
The Lightweight Division
The Lightweight division looks much the same as the middleweight one. In terms of rookies, Pat Curran might be the go-to rookie. He is C-ranked (83 cap). But the lightweight division also has a B-ranked fighter with a so-so ManMMA record on the free agent list in Renan Barao. Do you want to gamble on a short-term possibility of success, or invest into building a B-rank, 84 cap fighter into a star? Decisions, decisions.
If heavy-handed lightweights are your game, Tony Ferguson (currently ranked #3 in the UFC rankings) certainly has some KO power. Fine-tuning and he could bump anyone’s LW division above 500. Strikers tend to have success early more than wrestlers.
The free agents in the lightweight division have benefitted greatly from the recent re-rate as well. With fighters like Tatsuya Kawajiri
(1-4 ManMMA, C-rank, 83 cap) moving into the ranks, the already deep talent at LW is getting deeper.
Other noteworthy Lightweights
- Genki Sudo, 2-6 in ManMMA, (C-rank, 83 cap) an excellent submission fighter who is also a singer, composer, choreographer, actor, and author.
- Joseph Benavidez, (2-5 in ManMMA, C-rank, 83 cap). Very solid stand up and power for a LW.
- Kid Yamamoto, (6-9 in ManMMA, (C-rank, 83 cap) Though nothing special now in real life, in his prime, Kid was a juggernaut. He could be turned into that juggernaut again with relative ease based on his record here already.
The Bantamweight Division
And now onto the women’s divisions. Here is where the bulk of the noteworthy rookies should be. First, in the bantamweight division. If you are looking for a fighter, Raquel Pennington might be the fightingiest fighter that ever fought. She’s an aggressive striker and sure to be atop someone’s list of female bantamweights. Aside from Raquel , the next most tested bantamweight is likely Valentina Shevchenko. With a win over fellow prospect Peggy Morgan at New Blood Rising 3, Valentina’s got some momentum behind her as well.
Other notable Bantamweights
- Germaine de Randamie (5-3 real life record)
- Ediane Gomes (10-4 real life record)
- Marion Reneau (6-3 real life record)
The Flyweight Division
There is a lot of rookie potential in the Flyweight division this draft as well. With both the looks and the skillz, Karolina Kowalkiewicz (8-0 in the real world) looked to be a lock as the top flyweight pick this draft. But with a loss to Alexa Grasso (7-0) at New Blood Rising, has her stock fallen? Time will tell, but either of these two would make a good addition to any Flyweight roster. As would Livia Renata Souza (9-0). The slew of undefeated female flyweights is insane.
And though the free agent crop for female flyweights is not bad, inside reports indicate that it is more likely than not that these new rookies would have a stronger shot at success than much of the free agent list. Other notable Flyweights
- Jennifer Maia (13-4-1), can also fight at Bantamweight
- Jéssica Andrade (13-5), can also fight at Bantamweight
One final reminder.
In all weightclasses, remember to be cautious of “flash in the pan” types. Fighters such as Sage Northcutt, for example, have quite the hype train behind them in real life, but in the ManMMA world, fighters like Sage will be quite weak. Without a deep pool of opponents to draw from, fighters like this will be a flashy prospect with little hope of victory. If you want to really invest the points into making these projects legit, by all means do so. But remember that it will take time and effort, and any fighter listed in the write-ups will likely have a much greater chance of success, both with and without upgrades.
For now, that’s all from The Inside. Keep it close tighty whities.
