Sherdog Prospect Watch: 10 Upside Picks

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7. Phil Hawes
Division: Middleweight
Record: 3-0
Age: 26
Years Pro: 1
Camp: Blackzilians

Judging by the first three fighters on this list, you might have thought that wrestling had somehow gone out of style. Nothing could be further from the truth, as Hawes demonstrates. A former Iowa State University wrestler and junior college national champion at Iowa Central Community College, the alma mater of Jon Jones, Hawes brings solid credentials and fantastic athleticism with him into the cage.

As one would expect for a fighter with only three professional bouts under his belt, Hawes relies on that wrestling base. He gets tremendous drive and lift on his takedowns, all of which he finishes with brutal authority. Despite his lack of experience in MMA, Hawes does a good job of covering his shots with punches and ducking under his opponents’ strikes for reactive takedowns. From top position, he looks like he is picking up things quickly, with lightning-fast passes to half guard and then the mount and an unshakeable base. His ground strikes pack brutal power, and he throws them with an absolutely relentless approach. He can work a bit on the feet, with fairly decent weight transfer and technique in his strikes and what looks like substantial power, but there is not much to go on just yet.

While he is solid from a skill perspective and well ahead of where most inexperienced prospects are at a similar stage, what really set Hawes apart are his freakish physical tools. Check out this picture Ryan Loco of the Blackzilians took to get a sense for what he can do, and bear in mind that Stefan Struve is seven feet tall. When you combine Hawes’ athleticism with the proper training environment -- he spent the better part of a year at Jackson-Wink MMA in Albuquerque, N.M., and is now with the Blackzilians -- the sky is the limit. Skills can be taught by the right coaches, and Hawes’ mentors certainly qualify, but physicality can only be improved so much.

Assuming Hawes continues to develop, and there is no reason to think he will not, look for him to be gracing a UFC cage late in 2015 or early in 2016. His talent is off the charts.

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