Introduction
Saturday, July 8th, Swedish bantamweight prospect Ali Taleb will be in action for PFL Europe, where he will be looking continue his winning ways against Kenji Bortoluzzi. He will be looking for another win, as Taleb looks to score a playoff birth in PFL Europe’s inaugural season. He represents Swedish Athletics, an unknown camp in MMA. Let’s take a closer look at this prospect as this week’s “Prospect Spotlight.”
Strengths
Power Puncher: On the feet, Ali Taleb is a solid boxer/kickboxer with dynamite in his hands. That gives him one-punch stopping power that can put anybody down that he catches clean. Four of his eight wins have come by TKO, with three of them coming with his hands. His biggest win to date came via knockout, as he downed former top prospect Vinicius de Oliveira under the UAE Warriors banner.
Top Game: In addition to some solid striking, Taleb has a solid ground game when he’s in the top position. He has strong grip strength and is a strangler when he grabs a neck. He has two wins by guillotine choke, one of which was from the mount position. The other was by arm-triangle choke. Taleb’s physical strength helps him keep position when he does indeed end up on top on the mat.
Needs Improvement
Lack of Track Record vs. Wrestlers: While Taleb recently stepped up and earned the biggest win of his career against the aforementioned Vinicius de Oliveira, he does have a question mark when it comes to fighting talent that has a legit wrestling background. As he moves up the ladder, more and more opponents will have accredited wrestling chops, which will make it tougher for Taleb to fight like he does now. The sooner he can test himself against a wrestler, the more we will understand more solidly his skill level.
Outlook
PFL Regular: Taleb is being set up to win this PFL Europe season, it appears. Frans Mlambo and Khurshed Kakhorov look to be his biggest competition, but many have pegged Taleb as the favorite. If he does take this European variant of the PFL season, I expect him to be in the regular PFL season next year on American soil. There, he will have to test himself with some top-notch fighters, many of whom have wrestling credentials.
MMA Intel 