Contender Series grades

Richard

ALL CONTENDER SERIES 2019 GRADES

So, I’ve been watching the contender series, and I’m hoping to see some guys that I’ve seen on the local scene. After 2 weeks, the talent looks dry. I think the show set up some of their preferred fighters to shine and they failed.

Here are grades of some of the talent on the show. These grades are only based on their Contender Series performance, and not their performance before in other organizations

Yorgan De Castro, Punahele Soriano, Miles Johns & Miguel Baeza got picked from this batch.

I’m looking forward to seeing Armando Villarreal. He has CRAZY endurance, and buttery smooth technique.

Contender series grades Week 1 & 2
  • Yorgan De Castro
  • Alton Meeks
  • Bill Algeo
  • Brendan Loughnane
  • Hannah Goldy
  • Kali Robbins
  • Punahele Soriano
  • Jamie Pickett
  • Miguel Baeza
  • Victor Reyna
  • Miles Johns
  • Ritchie Santiago
  • Michael Lombardo
  • Kyle Daukus
  • Justin Gonzales
  • Zach Zane
  • Alton Cunningham
  • Tony Johnson
2.8

Summary

  • Meeks couldn’t strike with De Castro at all, and looked totally one dimensional. De Castro looked slow
  • Algeo didnt want to put his hands up, and Loughnane couldn’t hurt him.
  • Goldy ran all fight, and Robbins couldn’t cut the cage off.
  • Soriano fought a tough Pickett, who just knew how to survive
  • Baeza rocked Reyna, but couldn’t put him away
  • Johns fought Santiago, who is made of the same stuff that Justin Gaethje and Nate Diaz is made of. Johns gassed early. I’m not a big Ritchie Santiago fan, but he is a promoter’s wet dream. He doesn’t fight smart, he walks forward and eats punches and he’s always looking to finish the fight.
  • Lombardo looks like a street fighter. He really needs to improve the technical side of his game. Daukus has a very high ceiling, he needs to add a real striking game to his repertoire, and up his wrestling game 
  • Gonzales is the best talent that I’ve seen on the show so far, and he didnt get a contract. Zane looked too green to even talk about him.
  • Alton Cunningham got robbed. He might have lost the first round against Johnson, but he made the adjustment and just got screwed by the judges. Someone should tell Johnson that he has to wrestle a little bit if he wants to do MMA

——————————> So yes, after 2 weeks of the show, I do think that the fighters were below average