No doubt Minakov is a rising talent. But if there's anything we learned from his fight with the infamously durable Kongo, it's that Minakov is in no way shape or form ready for the UFC heavyweight elite. He has tons of fighter heart (I don't think I've ever seen a Russian fighter lacking in that area) but his cardio leaves much to be desired. If he doesn't score a finish in the earlier rounds against any top 10 UFC fighter and gets taken into deep water, he's screwed. Kongo is tough as nails. We all know that. He's crafty, he's cunning and known for exploiting the rules almost bordering on cheating. A mix of Mike Selearis (for those who follow pro arm wrestling) with a little bit of Matt Brown grinding aggression and win at all costs mindset. However, a tough Kongo with horribly sore balls is no Reem, Cain, Junior, Browne or Barnett. Had that been any of those fighters mentioned, it's extremely likely that Minakov would have folded in the second or third round. You can say what you want about Reem or Barnett, but the Reem who dominated a very in shape Mir would have finished this Minakov easily. I don't hate Vitaly, nor do I not want to see him in the UFC one day. But he's no UFC ready heavyweight right now. And not even close to Fedor 2.0 as I've seen some call him (yes, it's funny, I know).
↧