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1
- Valentin Moldavsky
- 13-3-0, 1 NC
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1992 - Russia - PFL
Looks like he's been hard at work at his striking lately, was always a solid (if very boring) wrestler, but impressive in the way he came forward and KO'd an admittedly probably injured Delija. Pretty important for him to right the loss he had to Vassell next if we're going to consider him a consistent top guy.
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2
- Derrick Lewis
- "The Black Beast"
- 28-12-0, 1 NC
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1985 - USA - UFC
Performances seem to vary according to motivation. Still has concussive power, but ability to just stand up doesn't seem to be quite as good as it used to be. Also tends to quit when the going gets tough, but good luck if he clocks you first.
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3
- Denis Goltsov
- "The Russian Bogatyr"
- 33-8-0
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1990 - Russia - PFL
Consistent at making the post season in PFL but always seems to **** the bed at some point when it comes to getting the grand prize. Really good jab on the feet and a decent workrate for a heavyweight. Top game pretty good, climbs through to mount positions and does decent damage. Takedown defence not always the best but usually solid, does have some sweeps but probably not going to work against really good wrestlers.
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4
- Linton Vassell
- "The Big Swarm"
- 24-9-0, 1 NC
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1983 - England - PFL
Performance against Goltsov was a bit worrying. Looked fine early but gas tank completely went when dragged into deep waters. Good power and good offensive grappler with really good ground and pound early on. Getting to the age where his explosiveness might start to wane.
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5
- Ante Delija
- "Walking Trouble"
- 24-6-0
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1990 - Croatia - PFL
Walking Trouble seemed to have walking trouble after a knee injury in his last fight. He's still pretty solid all round though. Should mix it fine with both the ex PFL and Bellator guys when he's healthy. Good striking, decent wrestling when he decides he has to go that route and pretty tough.
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6
- Rodrigo Nascimento
- "Zé Colmeia"
- 11-2-0, 1 NC
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1992 - Brazil - UFC
Kind of okay for current heavyweight standards. Solid enough punching power although a little on the slow side, decent enough grappling and a decent squeeze. Likes to try and crowd bigger punchers and trip them. Doesn't really seem great at anything but it's modern day heavyweight.
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7
- Oleg Popov
- 17-1-0
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1992 - Russia - PFL
Performed better against Mowry than I thought he would do after hanging on a bit at the end against Saricam. Had to endure a tough first round, but once can get his wrestling going and get on top he's good at advancing position, getting to crucifix and generally getting stoppages.
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8
- Sergey Bilostenniy
- 12-3-0
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1995 - Russia - PFL
Used to be a death gasser but didn't gas as much as he used to against Blagoy. Really good boxing, takedown defence has improved over time, has explosive spinning kicks in his locker. Managed to hold form with his hands together better late in the fight than has previously.
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9
- Waldo Cortes-Acosta
- "Salsa Boy"
- 12-1-0
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1991 - Dominican Republic - UFC
Pretty good boxing, likes to brawl, absolutely **** leg kick defence, doesn't check those at all and heavy on front foot too. Likes **** talking and showboating. Solid chin and can wrestle a little bit if he needs to although doesn't do much damage on top and sub attempts are awful. Was at least sensible enough to take Robelis down.
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10
- Steve Mowry
- "Tall"
- 10-2-1, 1 NC
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1992 - USA - PFL
Weird fighter, just seemed to give up against Popov after a dominant first round. Good grappler, much better than average BJJ for his size, but seems to tire himself out doing it, lost winning positions against both Popov and Isaev. Takedown defence pretty ****, not as good on his back as he is on top, so kind of depends who gets the first takedown with him. Striking defence used to be absolutely awful but he seems to have shored that up a little bit at least.
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11
- Blagoy Ivanov
- "Baga" | 19-7-0, 1 NC
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1986 - Bulgaria - PFL
The best chin in the biz, but pretty limited otherwise. Does have faster hands than you think, but generally needs to fence push guys to get anywhere. Lacks power and generally fights at a very slow pace, but if he can manage to lean on you, he can give you problems.
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12
- Don'Tale Mayes
- "Lord Kong" | 11-6-0, 1 NC
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1992 - USA - UFC
Unwavering in his endless quest to be the most mediocre UFC heavyweight of all time. Likes to lumber around, then throw a couple of punches, then go back to lumbering around for a bit. Likes that as a pattern, very rarely makes anything clear. Also seems to have added some awful spinning **** to his game for some reason.
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13
- Pouya Rahmani
- 3-0-0
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1992 - Iran - ACA
This dude looks like a problem. Excellent grappler who beat Keynan Duarte under that ruleset, has double legs to get in there in MMA. Throws hard ground and pound to open up opportunities for himself. Floats well on top for a big guy, takes back well if people try and scramble up and beats them up as they try to work to their feet. Looked fairly sensible defensively striking wise too. Gonna take a good defensive wrestler to stop this guy I think.
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14
- Mick Parkin
- 9-0-0
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1995 - England - UFC
The master of just about getting the job done at the moment. Able to stay on feet alright thus far and worked up when needed to. Keeps just about enough volume to stay ahead in lower volume fights.
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15
- Mohammed Usman
- "The Motor" | 10-3-0
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1989 - Nigeria - UFC
Getting further than I thought he would but still not really all that impressive. Has enough wrestling to take advantage of people who have bad TDD which is a lot of HW. Striking is pretty **** technique wise but he has a bit of power, tends to leap in and try and bomb a lot and more technical guys can just stay out of the way and counter him.
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16
- Slim Trabelsi
- 7-0-0
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1993 - Tunisia - Bellator
Not there yet. Striking still very stiff. Good wrestler, picks up single legs and circles round when the opponent hits the mat to tidy the takedown up quickly. Ends up very, very low on his single leg shots sometimes which could spell trouble if he gets stuck eating punches there against someone better.
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17
- Jhonata Diniz
- 7-0-0
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1991 - Brazil - UFC
Former Glory kickboxer who's very fast with the hands, particularly dangerous when he gets indside, throws hooks at a speed you don't usually see at heavyweight. Working on takedown defence, seemed to get better against Lane when Austen got tired, needs to work on get ups but managed to stay safe.
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18
- Štefan Vojčák
- "Mutant" | 8-1-0
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1990 - Slovakia - KSW
Pretty nimble on the feet for a big guy, decent offensive wrestling. Was questioning his fight IQ taking Prasel down but looked comfortable there against a guy with a dangerous guard. Pretty decent power on the feet too. Only loss is getting nuked by Stosic which happens.
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19
- Austen Lane
- 12-5-0, 1 NC
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1987 - USA - UFC
Athletic former football player who's a glass cannon without much of a gas tank. Pretty explosive early and can get guys down but relies on explosivity to do so and only really has a round of that. Fairly good jab and a bit of power, but too slow with the hands to deal with proper strikers. Chin just not there.
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20
- Arkadiusz Wrzosek
- "Hightower" | 5-0-0
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1992 - Poland - KSW
Former GLORY kickboxing champ is killing strikers in MMA at the moment as they realise they're not enjoying striking with him and dive towards him where he just pushes their head into the mat and unleashes for a quick stoppage. Seems to be improving fast after looking a little ropey with MMA striking in his first couple of fights. Not been challenged with an actual wrestler or really an all round MMA fighter yet which is where a lot of questions will be answered. Definitely one of the most interesting heavyweight prospects though.
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21
- Robelis Despaigne
- "The Big Boy" | 5-1-0
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1988 - Cuba - UFC
Power, speed and athleticism is off the charts. As soon as he touches people they go to sleep, even if he's ridiculously off balance when he lands. Unfortunately he can't wrestle at all and someone who's not really even a grappler like Waldo completely exlosed him. Just goes to half guard, lies on a hip and hopes for the best without making any effort to get out.
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22
- Tallison Teixeira
- "Xicão" | 6-0-0
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1999 - Brazil - LFA
6'8 dude who comes forward maintaining his range and throwing hard as **** straight punches and hard kicks. Absolutely rolling through the cans that are crazy enough to agree to fight someone his size. Chin looks like it might be a little bit out there but nobody has come close to tagging it yet. Just need to see him against tougher opponents but looks the goods.
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23
- Ricardo Prasel
- "Alemão" | 13-5-0
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1990 - Brazil - KSW
Leglock meme dude. Hasn't got good wrestling so has to rely on people being stupid enough to take him down so he can have his chance but they frequently do and he's picked up a couple of wins over solid guys doing it. He does risk taking a lot of damage committing his hands to try and take a leg underneath heavyweights though. Not a good striker, tough but chin not great and gets hurt a lot, but sometimes that just means dudes dive on top of him and end up getting subbed.
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24
- Ivan Vitasović
- 13-6-1
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1992 - Croatia - KSW
Bit limited, striking not too bad, has a fair few KOs. Can't seem to stay off the cage when people who want to lean on him there decide to do that. If he ends up on top after a bit of a mess about on the cage his ground and pound and top control are both okay. His offensive wrestling in space is awful though so needs to get a trip during a cage entanglement if he wants to get there.
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25
- Raffael Cerqueira
- "BJJ" | 11-0-0
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1990 - Brazil - Demo Fight
Pretty underwhelming for a guy with his record. Seems to have decent power but wings his punches a lot, seemed okayish on top but had to stick his head in a guillotine and wait for the guy to jump for it before he got him down. Looks pretty hittable as he comes in, doesn't look particularly athletic or quick either.
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26
- Yuriy Fedorov
- "Ragnar" | 10-6-0, 1 NC
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1992 - Russia - ACA
Solid enough tough dude. Throws down pretty well on the feet. Lacks takedown defence against good grapplers which can obviously be a problem fighting in Russia, but if he can keep it standing he's okay.
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27
- Eduardo Neves
- "Bebezao" | 8-3-0
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2000 - Brazil - Centurion FC
Two time Contender Series veteran always looks good when things are going his way. He's got very fast hooks for the weight class and enjoys clobbering people with them and his ground and pound is pretty solid. Problem is he's extremely gassy and folds like a lawn chair under any kind of adversity.
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28
- Felipe Franco
- "Negão" | 5-0-0
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2001 - Brazil - Demo Fight
No idea what this kid is like on the feet but his grappling looks phenomenal against cans and he's big and athletic and fast. Reminds me a lot of Jailton Almeida, extremely low level competition so far but probably not a guy people are particularly keen to fight. They probably need to put a call in to Guelke to get him a more experienced guy to fight.
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29
- Louie Sutherland
- "The Vanilla Gorilla" | 6-3-0
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1994 - England - Bellator
Tough guy, keeps trying hard. Gets taken down a lot but does always try and work back up so he can throw again. Did manage to gas Meeks doing it but it feels like most decent wrestlers will just put him on his back too much.
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30
- Benjamin Šehić
- "Dragon of Bosnia" | 6-4-0
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1995 - Bosnia - Ares
Heavyweight meme master. Can't strike at all and just pulls guard or dives into Imanari rolls. Does work well on low level guys who don't know what they're doing and sometimes higher level guys find it surprisingly awkward too.
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31
- Miles Banks
- 2-1-0
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1995ish - USA - Fury FC
Interesting prospect. Huge, athletic ****** who uses size pretty well. Fought Robelis pretty early in career but going well other than that. Showed decent cardio for his size against a tough guy he couldn't get out of there. Not sure he has one shot KO power against guys with solid chins.
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32
- Filip Stawowy
- "Czołg" | 10-5-0
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1996 - Poland - KSW
Big fat dude, fights a bit like Martin Buday in the sense that he uses his punches to try and fall into the clinch and try and take guys down from there but he isn't very good at the actual takedown bit.
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33
- Roggers Souza
- "The Tiger" | 15-8-0
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1989 - Brazil - Centurion FC
Kind of a jobber to the stars on the Brazilian and Russian scenes. Occasionally picks up an upset win but mostly gets beaten up when he's fighting anyone good. Just very slow, tries to pressure forward at people but if they have reasonably fast hands he just ends up eating loads of shots trying to do it. Does try and stay in the fight if he can, but you just can't get hit as much as he does at this weight class.
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34
- Artur Szpilka
- "Szpila" | 3-1-0
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1989 - Poland - KSW
Not sure how long he'll stick at MMA but doing okay at it so far, found an all round striker in Arek too much to deal with but passed the Pudzian test pretty easily. I wonder if KSW will throw him in with the regulars soon.