Introduction
Tuesday, October 19th, American welterweight prospect Solomon Renfro will be in action for Dana White’s Contender Series, where he will be looking to continue his winning ways against Jonny Parsons. He will be looking for another win, as Renfro looks to score a contract with the UFC. He represents WNY MMA & Fitness, a smaller camp in MMA. Let’s take a closer look at this prospect as this week’s “Prospect Spotlight.”
Strengths
Striking: Renfro’s best part of his game is clearly his striking. Intangibly, he has good footwork and movement in the cage. He has good offensive striking and counter-striking. His boxing is great, as he has great hand speed and knockout power when he throws his hands. We have seen that knockout power on display in his last two victories, scoring first round KOs over Lee Henry Lilly and Nick Alley. Both of those, Renfro absolutely desolated them with smooth, powerful punches. He always has a chance in the fight if he’s on the feet.
Power/Athleticism: Renfro has natural gifts that help aid him in the cage. We’ve already mentioned his knockout power, but he is also physically strong, which can aid him in the clinch/grappling. He’s also very athletic and quick on his feet. He moves well because of his lateral quickness and explodes into combinations well.
Needs Improvement
Counter-Grappling: Renfro has decent grappling, but he did show some holes in his lone loss to Mike Malott. Once Malott had him on the mat, he didn’t take much time to cut through the defenses of Renfro and slap on a fight-ending rear-naked choke. Renfro’s experience in the cage doesn’t have a ton of evidence of him fighting wrestlers and top-notch grapplers, so from the limited we have seen of him counter-grappling, he still has stuff to work on if he’s going to succeed in the UFC.
Outlook
UFC Curtain Jerker: Renfro is certainly a solid prospect that will find himself in the UFC at some point. As of now, his future points to him being a preliminary card fighter during his tenure. Welterweight is a shark tank of talent, including guys with prestigious wrestling and jiu-jitsu backgrounds. There are also guys with striking ability to compete with or defeated Renfro. A lot of scouts are high on Renfro; I am not quite as high as they are. I think he’s a talented guy, but I don’t think Renfro cracks the top-50 welterweights when he’s on the UFC roster.
MMA Intel 