Introduction
Sunday, December 24th, Russian bantamweight prospect Rustam Kerimov will be in action for ACA, where he will be looking continue his winning ways against Charles Henrique. He will be looking for another win, as Kerimov looks to inch closer to a ACA title shot. He represents DagFighter, a respected camp in MMA. Let’s take a closer look at this prospect as this week’s “Prospect Spotlight.”
Strengths
Wrestling: It shouldn’t be shocking that a fighter from Dagestan has good wrestling and uses it often in the cage. He can be taken down by fellow wrestlers, but when Kerimov is on his front leg on the hunt, he is incredibly hard to deal with. He shoots with impunity and gets the takedown at a high percentage. Most of his finishes come by ground-and-pound, though he has a couple by submission.
Power: Kerimov is a very powerful, explosive fighter that is able to impose his will because of his physicality. His takedowns are always bullish. His punches are there to cause damage. All in all, Kerimov is a bully that likes to impose his will and cause damage that scores him points.
Needs Improvement
Decision Fighter: The one knock on Kerimov so far in his career is that he’s a decision fighter. Most of his wins have gone to the judge’s scorecards. When you fly too close to the sun, though, you will get burned, which is what happened in his lone loss to Oleg Borisov. It was a split verdict, but it was a reversal of all of his previous luck on the judge’s scorecards. Finishes would make him more valuable.
Outlook
Regional Champion: I think Kerimov would be wildly successful in the UFC; the problem is I don’t know if he’ll ever make his way there, and that’s a shame. I see him likely sticking around Russia for his career and accumulating championship wins and defenses for quite some time. If he did go to the UFC, I could see him making his way into the top-20, even the top-15. The guy is that talented and that relentless in the cage.
MMA Intel 