Introduction
Saturday, May 11th, Palestinian-American light bantamweight prospect Askar Askar will be in action in Chicago, where he will be looking to continue his impressive winning streak against Taylor Moore. He will be looking to score yet another win, as Askar looks to make a strong impression with Bellator. Askar represents Midwest Training Center, a respected camp out of the suburbs of Chicago. Let’s take a closer look at this prospect as this week’s “Prospect Spotlight.”
Strengths
Top Game: Askar is a solid striker, but his top game on them at is something that needs to be checked by his opponents. When he gets on top, whether he takes them down or hurts them no the feet, Askar is a blanket. He doesn’t just lay-and-pray though. He is very active with his ground striking and throws heavy leather. He hasn’t had a submission victory to date, but he has ground striking stoppage victories.
Power: For a guy of Askar’s size, he is very powerful. He has knockout power that is quite impressive. On the feet and on the mat, he can put opponents to sleep in impressive fashion. He’s also very strong in the clinch, and when he does go for takedowns, he can drag a guy down with just pure muscle. That type of power is a huge advantage for a weight class as low as bantamweight.
Needs Improvement
Competition Level: In recent times, Askar has taken on a couple better opponents, but thus far in his career, his competition level has not been very impressive. Yes, Dennis Dombrow and Derrick Mandell have been solid opponents (his last two), but previous to that, he’d fought guys who were inexperienced or had losing records for the most part. It’s important to build yourself up as a prospect, but it’s also harder to gauge a prospect’s legitimacy when his resume lacks a lot of solid competition.
Size: Askar, now fighting at bantamweight, used to fight as a flyweight. That means he’s a bit of a smaller 135er. I would say this could give him a speed and agility advantage, but that really applies more to guys in higher weight classes than bantamweight. If Askar runs into a big bantamweight, that size disadvantage could really work against him. His power could make up for it, but could also be cancelled out by a bigger bantamweight who has similar or more power.
Outlook
UFC Middler: Askar is just 24 years old, so the future looks to be bright for this fighter. He’s got a lot of time to develop, and working at Midwest Training Center will be great in his development. I think he will be a middle-of-the-road UFC fighter that wins some and loses some. As for now, he’s competing under the Bellator banner, but my assumption would be he’s fighting a one-off fight as a regional undercard fighter. Expect to see this prospect continue to develop and be an exciting prospect until he gets a bigger opportunity on the big stage.
MMA Intel 