After a successful return to Fight Island, the UFC is back at the Apex in Las Vegas. In January, we saw Dustin Poirier knock out Conor McGregor, a huge welcome to the UFC for former Bellator champion Michael Chandler, an incredible fight with Mike Davis and Mason Jones, and a career performance by Max Holloway, battering Calvin Kattar for five rounds. UFC Vegas 18 this Saturday will feature Alistar Overeem and Alexander Volkov in a pivotal heavyweight fight in the main event. In the co-main event, it’s Frankie Edgar vs. Cory Sandhagen. With a stacked card there are a couple of debuts. One of those debuts is Askar Askar who will be replacing Andre Ewell to fight Cody Stamann (19-3-1 MMA, 5-2-1 UFC).
Askar “AK-47” Askar
5’7″
Bantamweight
26-years-old
Chicago, Illinois, US
Midwest Training Center
11-1
5 KO/TKOs
1 Submission
How will Askar fare in the UFC:
Askar is a fantastic fighter who could have a bright future. When talking about a complete fighter being able to mix it up everywhere, Askar fits the bill. On the feet, Askar is super polished and technical. He fights with a textbook jab that snaps the head back of his opponents. He throws combinations and mixes up his attacks frequently. Askar has a sneaky good uppercut he likes to use and that’s to the head and body. The power is there too, but it’s his technical ability that’s super impressive.
Despite how good Askar is on the feet, he’s even better on the mat and with his wrestling. Askar is an excellent wrestler, flat out. From his set-up to his execution it’s all very well done. On the mat, his record only shows one submission but he’s more capable than that reflects. Askar is a solid positional grappler with all his transitions and ground strikes sought out.
Offensively Askar is a great fighter but defensively he needs work. Not too long ago, he was knocked out in under a minute and has been tagged in other fights. His chin is a big question mark and his inability to move his head more is a concern. The takedown defense looks okay but it’s still questionable. Askar also gets tired and while he stays sharp and on top of his game his movement ain’t as crisp and fresh as the fight goes on. Overall, there’s a lot to like about Askar and he has a good future.
- Striking: A
- Kickboxing: C
- Clinch: C+
- Wrestling: A
- Grappling: A
- Striking Defense: C
- Takedown Defense: C+
- Cardio: C
- Biggest Strength: Grappling
- Biggest Weakness: Striking defense
How he matches up with Stamann:
Credit to the UFC for bringing him in but to put him Askar Askar against Stamann in his debut is just crazy. Askar is the better striker but Stamann is going to come forward and press for takedowns. While Askar is a good wrestler, Stamann is significantly stronger. I think Stamann will be the one getting the takedowns and will just be too heavy on top. Askar is taking this fight on just a week’s notice so his cardio may not look good compared to Stamann, who definitely has solid cardio. This is just a bad match-up for Askar, but it gets his foot in the door.
