“Fearless” Lance Gibson Jr.
Lightweight
9-1 (4 KO/TKOs, 3 Submissions)
30-years-old
Five-foot-ten, 72.5″ reach
Training out of Gibson MMA
Gibson grew up in the fighting world as his dad, Lance Gibson S,r fought in the UFC back in the day. Still training with his father today at Gibson MMA, he also trains with Bellator legend Julia Budd, a former featherweight champion.
Gibson Jr. is best known for his time in Bellator, which has been the majority of his career. For the promotion, he went 5-1. A deeper look into that resume, many won’t be impressed. The combined record of his wins is 37-27, and three of the guys were in their 30s.
His loss to Vladimir Tokov isn’t bad at all, but it is when he’s getting knocked out in about a minute. Being that Tokov doesn’t have notable power and is a submission guy, it’s not a good look for Gibson. After that, Gibson took a year off and won two fights to get this call-up. The two fights weren’t to improve his development but to pad his record fighting two bums in some low-level promotion called Muckleshoot.
Gibson is a physical specimen, definitely looks the part. I’d say he prides himself as a martial artist but is a better wrestler than anything. One thing you can count on him doing on the feet is blasting that rear left leg to the body. Basically, everything that comes from his offense generates from explosiveness. I do believe it costs him more than it helps him, though. He does a good job exploding in, but doesn’t set it up, nor does he have the power to make a difference with one shot. That makes a difference when he isn’t a volume guy. When he does advance, Gibson’s shoulders are square, which has caused him to be finished and dropped in the past.
Wrestling-wise, he probably should go to it more because he’s dangerous in the top position. I can’t determine his wrestling level, being the guys he’s fought, but he does a lot of things right. Gibson can chain wrestle, and that comes from a single leg to running the pipe. He can also shoot in on the legs and circle to the back and get the fights down. Being that he is super athletic, it plays more of a part in his wrestling than anything. On the opposite side, his takedown defense has been decent enough. He’s good at open space, having a good sprawl, but struggles in chain-wrestling, and off his back, he’s lacking.
In the top position, Gibson is working to improve his position and cause damage. His best weapon is his elbows. That comes from in the clinch, but more so on top, as he’ll throw them in guard or pin a limb down and fire away. Gibson’s GnP opens the availability to advance his positions and potentially attack submission.
I’m only confident that Gibson beats 13 of the UFC lightweights, and that’s not good when there are 84 guys on the roster. Too much concern with his chin and the low level of competition.
In the fight with Bobby Green it depends on how over the hill Green is. Offensively, Green is still sharp and dangerous. The glaring issue is the amount of damage he’s accumulated in his career. He’s coming off getting highlight-reel by Mauricio Ruffy. It’s just not that, though, as Green has been finished by KO/TKO many times. A few of those were brutal losses.
I’m not entirely sure Gibson has the ability to KO Green. Green has been KO’ed a lot recently, but Ruffy, Dober, and Turner are far better strikers than Gibson is. What makes it difficult for Gibson is that Green has good TDD. He hasn’t been taken down since 2022, and that was against Makhachev.
I’m picking Green by KO/TKO in round one as I predict he will clip Gibson in an exchange.