Prospect in the Spotlight (Aug 29-30): Abdulrakhman Yakhyaev

Introduction

Tuesday, August 26th, Russo-Turkish light heavyweight prospect Abdulrakhman Yakhyaev will be in action for Dana White’s Contender Series, where he will be looking continue his winning ways against Alik Lorenz. He will be looking for another win, as Yakhyaev looks to score a UFC contract. He represents MMA Nurnberg, a lesser-known camp in MMA. Let’s take a closer look at this prospect as this week’s “Prospect Spotlight.”

Strengths

Wrestling: Like most Chechen mixed martial artists, Yakhyaev is a strong wrestler with an overwhelming ground game. He shoots for takedowns early and often, achieving those takedowns and then getting to work on the mat quickly. On the mat, he has excellent ground-and-pound and complimentary submission ability. Of his six pro wins, five have come by way of finish (four in the first round). Two of those are ground-and-pound finishes, while the other three are submissions by way of triangle choke, guillotine choke and rear-naked choke.

Power Striking: While Yakhyaev isn’t Canelo on the feet, he’s certainly capable of holding his own for a little bit and he does have immense power. He has hammers for firsts and whether he’s throwing on the feet or the mat, he can knock you out.

Needs Improvement

Extended Feet Exchanges: While there are some counter-wrestling concerns when he takes on equal wrestlers, it’s his extended on-the-feet striking exchanges that look to be a bit of his weakness. As you move up the talent ladder, many fighters have good takedown defense and defend the wrestling of guys like Yakhyaev. Because of that, his striking will be tested, so he should continue to work on his striking to continue rounding his game.

Outlook

UFC Midcarder: Yakhyaev is a very talented prospect in a division that is lighter on talent, so he has a chance to make waves in the UFC should he get signed. He has a good matchup in Alik Lorenz who is a good fighter, but Yakhyaev has a stylistic matchup. There are plenty of winnable fights on the UFC roster as well for Yakhyaev. He should stick around for a while.