Roman Bogatov is a 27-year-old lightweight (155 lb.) currently competing in M-1 Global. Bogatov comes from an extensive freestyle wrestling background, having competed in the sport for a majority of his life. He has also medaled in and won several Russian amateur MMA tournaments. Bogatov turned professional in MMA in 2016 and has since faced an increasingly higher level of competition with every fight whilst maintaining a perfect record.
His biggest win to date came against former M-1 title challenger Raul Tutarauli in June. Bogatov dominated the grappling exchanges before submitting the Georgian with the rear Von Flue choke. Bogatov also holds an impressive unanimous decision victory over Finish grappler Jami Salmi.
Strengths
Wrestling
Bogatov’s constant forward pressure and relentless chain-wrestling reminds one of Colby Covington. Even if he fails on the initial takedown or his opponent gets back to his feet, Bogatov will be immediately looking for another takedown. He is especially skilled at using the single-leg takedown but has also demonstrated double-leg takedowns and high-amplitude slams.
Top Control
After getting the fight to the ground, Bogatov employs his heavy top game. He often passes the guard immediately and constantly looks to advance to a better position. Bogatov’s heavy pressure tends to make his opponents work at a high pace and thus drains their cardio. He likes to utilise ground-and-pound to soften up his opponents and open up potential submissions.
Submissions
As previously mentioned, Bogatov has a win by a Von Flue choke on his record, which is a testament to his submission ability. On top of that, he has three other submissions: two via arm-triangle choke and one D’Arce choke. Bogatov might not have the flashiest submission game but it complements his heavy top game well.
Cardio
Bogatov’s relentless style tends to wear down his opponents but it requires him to have solid cardio, and from what he’s shown thus far, he does. In the Jani Salmi fight, which went fifteen minutes, Bogatov was able to score takedowns throughout the match. Although he did look tired in the third round, he was still able to execute his game plan.
Fight IQ
Even though we haven’t really seen Bogatov in back-and-forth fights where he had to adjust his game plan, I am still impressed with his fight IQ. He seems to be aware of where his strengths and weaknesses lie and tries to impose his game on his opponent from the opening bell.
Furthermore, Bogatov doesn’t tend to go for low percentage submissions which may make him lose position if unsuccessful. Instead, he prefers to play it safe and look for submissions which will not compromise his top control.
Unknown
Striking
It would be unfair to call Bogatov’s striking a weakness, simply because we have not seen him strike enough in any of his fights. Based on the glimpses we’ve gotten, Bogatov seems to employ a variety of spinning attacks similar to those of his teammates Alexander Shlemenko and Andrey Koreshkov.
Weaknesses
Gives Up His Back
Bogatov has a bad habit of giving up his back after securing a single-leg takedown; this can be seen in his fights against Salmi and Abdullaev. Although he usually gets out of those positions relatively quickly, it is still a cause for concern. Should he make the same mistake against a world-class grappler, Bogatov might not be able to escape so easily. Bogatov comes from an extensive freestyle wrestling background where he didn’t have to worry about giving his back up. Perhaps this is just a matter of experience and Bogatov will eventually get used to protecting his back during scrambles.
Predictable
I did mention Bogatov’s relentless wrestling as a positive but it could also be regarded as a potential negative. You only need to watch a couple of Bogatov’s fights to know his exact gameplan in most of his fights. Therefore, a potential opponent will have the chance to prepare a suitable strategy to counter Bogatov’s wrestling. Of course, it is much easier said than done but Bogatov’s predictability is something that can be exploited.
A potential solution for Bogatov would be to incorporate his striking more in order to keep his opponents guessing. Bogatov’s wrestling could also open up a lot of opportunities standing as his opponents will be too focused on defending the takedown.
Future
In his next fight, Bogatov will take on Rubenilton Pereira at M-1 Challenge 97 for the vacant lightweight title. Pereira will be the much more experienced fighter with twenty-five professional fights to Bogatov’s seven.
Pereira is a willing and able grappler and has power on the feet. This could make for some very interesting scrambles as Bogatov will likely stick to his relentless wrestling. I believe that over the course of five rounds, Bogatov’s pressure will prove to be too much and he will dominate the grappling exchanges en route to a late finish or a dominant decision.
Should Bogatov win the M-1 Global lightweight title, he will be in pole position to sign with the UFC due to the recent partnership between the two organisations. Bogatov’s style would make for a lot of interesting stylistic match-ups in the UFC’s lightweight division. So far he has been able to dominate most if not all of his opponents with his wrestling but it will be interesting to see how he fares should he face an equally skilled wrestler, which is likely if does sign with the UFC.
Overall, Bogatov is an interesting prospect with a dogged wrestling game. He has picked up some solid wins and is gradually stepping up in competition. With a couple more wins under his belt, Bogatov may find himself on the next UFC card in Russia. In my opinion, he has the potential to make some noise in one of the UFC’s most stacked divisions.