I know some people who are friends with Nick Galanti in real life and they know that i am “the UFC guy” so they were all over me to watch and asking my opinion. So i was in New York on a trip for work, yes I have a full blown 9-5 in addition to this, and i watched Nick’s Contender Series fight. My immediate takeaway was “he’s not that good and he won’t be that good. He is a straight up wrestler and nothing else. Yes, I watched the fight so I know he knocked the dude out, but he was desperately wrestling, not getting the takedown, threw a massive punch that landed, and then immediately started desperate wrestling even though dude was knocked out. Point here being, I don’t know how good Nick is or is not at MMA because he is a straight up grappler and you’re not going to see much else, but he’s going to beat the shit out of Julien Leblanc. Julien is awful. He’s not UFC caliber and even though I think Nick is one dimensional, Julien is zero dimensional. He has nothing to offer here and no way to win. Nick is the very confident pick.
Julien Leblanc
Julien Leblanc is a long and lean guy who uses that length. On his feet he will throw long jabs and big kicks and on the ground he throws up triangles and other long limb style techniques. He is not very fast, or powerful but he is tough and busy. He moves forward throwing whatever he can and is always looking for a finish. He is coming off the submission loss to Robert Valentine that has us questioning if he is even UFC caliber.
Nick Galanti
Nick Galanti is a jersey wrestler. You can figure that out a couple different ways. First, his name, that is a very Jersey name. Second, his ears, which is the normal tell and third, which is probably most important, his fight. He comes forward, maybe throws a jab and immediately shoots a takedown. If he doesn’t get it, he will pressure you against the cage, step away, throw, and then shoot again. He has unrelenting wrestling pressure and very good BJJ when it hits the ground. It’s almost impossible to find any actual footage of him doing anything other than wrestling, but he clearly has power in his hands because he knocked out Carlos Petrezella to punch, pun intended, his ticket to the big show.
