World MMA Middleweight Scouting Report: #9 – Victor O’Donnell

The Ultimate Fighter has served as a proving ground for many of the prospects that will be featured on our list. Obviously, with the nature of our ranking only including prospects who are outside of any major promotion, those fighters didn’t make the cut during the show’s elimination rounds. Due to unfortunate outcomes, these athletes now find themselves on the road back to the big show. At #9, Victor O’Donnell (8-2), the first of those fighters seeking redemption, makes his impact on the 2011 World MMA Middleweight scouting report.

Offensive Skills: Victor possesses the talents of that you would typically find in many higher level Midwestern-bred fighters. Decent wrestling ability, damaging ground and pound, above average grappling skills, and some effective, yet limited punching power. There isn’t one area that stands out, and while some readers might believe this is an issue if Victor intends to move up in the ranks — it is rare to find such a well-rounded fighter in the regional scene with only ten fights under his belt.

His striking has some promise, and the power he can produce has given him some wins on his record. Most notably, he defeated Rafael Natal, a current UFC fighter, back in June of last year with some vicious punching. While it’s far from being technically superior to that of many UFC fighters, it is dangerous for opponents to stand toe-to-toe with him.

On the ground, he has the grappling and wrestling to threaten most opponents. He isn’t as explosive as I’d like to see, and his conditioning has suffered in some of his recent bouts including his match-up with Chris Camozzi on The Ultimate Fighter. That may be one of the root causes as to why Victor has topped out at this point in his career.

Defensive Skills: The bout with Chris Camozzi highlights a lot of what Victor can and can’t do. His striking defense isn’t a bulwark by any means, and it needs to be tightened up before he runs into a speedier middleweight puncher. His takedown defense isn’t bad, but his inability to stop the taller Camozzi from toppling him via tosses is a cause for concern going forward. Size is an issue for him, but he can’t do much about that. He’ll need to focus on his technique more to hold an edge against more sizable competitors.

Progression: This is a tough category to track since there isn’t a lot of footage on Victor’s early career bouts, but it’s safe to say that he came into the sport with a higher level of knowledge or absorption of knowledge than most fighters. More recent bouts in his career were against some stiff competition, and O’Donnell came out ahead in two of those three bouts. Furthermore, he has taken some bouts in the light heavyweight division as of late, losing his most recent to prospect Marcus Vanttinen. Despite the loss, it is a sign that he’s pushing himself.

Environment: O’Donnell is currently training out of Team Vision in Cincinnati, Ohio. The camp is relatively unknown to even hardcore fans, but it does house prospects Daniel Straus and Roger Bowling among others. Those fighters should bring out the best in O’Donnell, although they do fight in weight classes below his own. That may be one of the limitations of his camp, and he may want to try to find bigger fighters to push him in training.

Potential: Victor isn’t one of our high potential picks within our ranking, but there is a chance for him to prove us wrong if he can work out some specific areas of his game. Most notably, his conditioning and explosiveness needs a shot of adrenaline. If he can become more reliable in the cardio department and use that added conditioning to wrestle opponents more effectively, there is a possibility he could rise through the ranks and earn himself another shot in the UFC.

Victor O’Donnell vs. Chris Camozzi – The Ultimate Fighter 11 Elimination Round

Victor O’Donnell Profile

Victor O’Donnell vs. Rafael Natal (abridged)