Introduction
Saturday, January 18th, American featherweight prospect Dustin Lampros will be in action for Shamrock FC, where he will be looking continue his winning ways against Mike Hernandez. He will be looking for another win, as Lampros looks to inch closer toward a UFC contract. He represents Kill Cliff FC, a top camp in MMA. Let’s take a closer look at this prospect as this week’s “Prospect Spotlight.”
Strengths
Wrestling/Ground-and-Pound: Lampros has a strong wrestling acumen and a relentless top game that he incorporates in the cage. He’s effective on the cage and when he secures takedowns, getting to a spot on the mat where he can drop hammers. In fact, seven of his nine career wins come by TKO, with most being from his brutal ground-and-pound. Most of those wins come in the first round, showing he’s a fast starter as well.
Power/Athleticism: Lampros is a fantastic combination of athletically gifted and physically powerful. It certainly aids him in his wrestling and generating the type of stopping power he can generate from in close. It also helps him in exploding on this takedowns and transitioning to better positions.
Needs Improvement
Extended Striking Exchanges: The biggest weakness I see in Lampros’ game thus far has been when he has to strike on the feet for a longer period of time. He usually uses his to set up cage work and takedowns, but when forced to engage in a striking war, he’s shown some holes. This was seen on TUF, where he was dropped multiple times by Vince Murdock, first with a 1-2 and then later a knee. Luckily, he now trains with Henri Hooft, so his striking is being attentively looked after.
Strength of Schedule: A big knock on Lampros thus far in his career has been the level of competition he’s faced. His first six fights came against sub-.500 fighters and guys making their pro debuts. His ensuing three fights came against opponents that have a combined record of 15-8, with his most notable opponent being LFA veteran Ashton Caniglia. The biggest fight of his career was on TUF against the aforementioned Murdock, where Lampros lost in just under three minutes. An increase in competition would not only give him more quality cage time, but would give us a better idea of where his talent is at this point in his career.
Outlook
Regional Ace/Preliminary Big-Show Fighter: As stated, Lampros doesn’t have the toughest strength of schedule and has had few-and-far-between fights. His lone major step up was The Ultimate Fighter, where he was dispatched of quickly. However, that was a hot minute ago. The other thing is that it seems his side gig, which appears to be exposing child predators on the internet, seems to grab a lot of his attention as well, meaning maybe MMA isn’t his highest focus. For all those reasons, I could see him being a career regional headliner/champion. I think he has big-show talent, and could make it to one of the top-three organizations, but that will all depend on his activity and competition.
MMA Intel 