Vladimir Mineev is a middleweight that currently competes in Fight Night Global and other regional promotions in Russia and Ukraine. Mineev transitioned to MMA after a successful career as a kickboxer where he picked up impressive victories over current Glory fighters in Sergej Maslobojev and Felipe Micheletti. It is believed that Mineev had championship potential should he have stayed in kickboxing. Since turning his attention to MMA, Mineev has gone 14-1-1 including wins over Yasubey Enomoto, Maiquel Falcao and Andreas Michailidis.
Strengths
Range Striking
Unsurprisingly, Mineev’s background in kickboxing has translated well into MMA. In most of his fights, Mineev is content to let his opponents come forward and fight off the back foot. Although fight off the back foot is not uncommon in MMA, doing so successfully is. The Russian utilises impressive footwork to stay off the cage and in his preferred range. As his opponents come forward, Mineev likes to pepper them with strikes. He has solid boxing combinations which are emphasised by his hand speed. He is also adept at counter punching with single shots when the opportunity presents itself. This can be seen in his most recent fight vs Artur Pronin where he landed a picture-perfect counter uppercut to knock his opponent out.
https://twitter.com/Grabaka_Hitman/status/1266827060686839814
Strike Variation
One of my favourite aspects of Vladimir Mineev’s game is that he attacks all levels. He is a committed leg kicker, often utilising the classic jab-leg kick combination. Furthermore, Mineev also likes using leg kicks as an exclamation mark at the end of his boxing combinations. His leg kicking is best demonstrated in his win over Milos Kostic, where he chopped his opponent’s leg up in under one round.
Mineev is also very good at targeting the body, what is more, impressive is how subtle he is about doing it. He rarely throws big shots to the body, mainly focusing on quick jabs and straights to disrupt his opponent’s rhythm and breathing. Mineev also occasionally throws quick kicks to his opponent’s midsection. As a result of his consistent body and leg attacks, Mineev can keep his opponents guessing where the next strike will land.
Composure
Another impressive attribute that Mineev possesses is his composure during the fight. It is clear to see that he enjoys being in a fight even if it gets difficult. Despite getting taken down repeatedly and largely dominated on the ground by Magomed Ismailov in the first two rounds of their fight Mineev never looked frustrated and was able to make the necessary adjustments to turn the tide. This was also the case during the first Maiquel Falcao fight, Mineev’s only professional loss, despite being gassed Mineev was still able to demonstrate technical striking in the third round of that fight.
Weaknesses
TDD/Bottom game
As expected with most kickboxers transitioning into MMA, Mineev has faced questions about his wrestling and takedown defence specifically. In his loss to Falcao, Mineev showed the inability to stop both body lock and double leg takedowns. This also came back to haunt him in the first two rounds of his fight with Ismailov as he was repeatedly taken down. To his credit, Mineev has clearly been working on his wrestling and has shown an impressive sprawl in the later rounds of the Ismailov fight. This is a positive sign but there is still work for Mineev to do when it comes to wrestling.
As a result of his takedown defence sometimes failing him, Mineev has found himself on the bottom in several of his fights. From what I’ve seen, Mineev hasn’t really shown good get-ups or an active guard game. This was especially concerning in his fight against Diego Dias who was able to win a round due to top control yet was seen as an overmatched opponent.
Vladimir Mineev improved to 13-1-1, taking the UD against Diego Dias in a 3 round scrap. #UnitedDonbass2 pic.twitter.com/BYupgBzHrr
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) September 27, 2019
Cardio
We have already discussed Mineev’s ability to fight off the back foot, which is impressive but comes at a cost. As a result of his movement heavy approach, Mineev has shown a propensity to tire as the fight goes on. However, despite being visibly tired, Mineev is usually able to fight through fatigue well and maintain striking volume. Nonetheless, this is a clear area of concern that needs to be improved for someone that relies on moving around the cage.
Overall
Vladimir Mineev is a great striker with a deep arsenal of tools and is clearly working on his wrestling and grappling. Although he is under contract with FNG, I would not be surprised if we see him join a bigger promotion in the future. Should he do that, I think that he has the potential to become a top contender providing he keeps working on the weaknesses we have discussed. I do not see many fighters who would be well suited to striking with Mineev for 15 minutes. I think that he has a lot of potential and it would be a shame if we never see him take the step up and face off against the elite of the middleweight division.