Future UFC Stars Who Aren't In UFC Yet

Lets hear about some good prospects...

I'll start with 2 I think could be contenders and maybe Champions in the UFC at 145 lbs and 155 lbs.  One has had 4 pro fights and one has had 8 pro fights...but they both unbeaten and have big time talent.  Another interesting thing is they are training partners.

1) Gregor Gillespie 155 lbs. (4-0....4 1st rd stoppages)  Was a 4 Time All American and D1 National Champion wrestler.  Interesting story and has a similar buzz of dominance like Chris Weidman had a few years ago when he was 4-0 as a Ring Of Combat fighter from Long Island before getting his UFC call.  Gregor trains with Keith Trimble at Bellmore Kickoxing/MMA around guys like Costas Philippou, Ryan LaFlare, Dennis Burmudez, World Champion Boxer Chris Algieri and many others.  Great talent, great coaching...I believe he could make a big noise sooner than later despite only having 4 fights.

2)  One of the others Gillespie trains with is his training partner undefeated 145 lber Andre Harrison Former Ring Of Combat Champion now in Titan FC.  Andre was 6-0 as an amateur and is currently 8-0 as a professional. He was a 2X All American D2 wrestler and is a physical specimen who is athletic, big and strong for that weight class.  Andre is fighting 17-3 Cody Bollinger March 20th in Titan 33. Keep an eye on him and Gillespie.   (Recent videos below)    

Rashid Yusupov (8-0)
Height: 6'1" Weight: 205.3 Age: 25 Reach: N/A

Fighting out of Gorets, the same camp that spawned former M-1 MW champion and newly signed UFC fighter Ramazan Emeev, Rashid first burst onto the public eye when he scored an upset over long-time LHW standout and M-1 staple Viktor Nemkov, to take his title.

In the fight he showed a sharp striking game, doing his best work from the outside, picking his spots very well and preventing the Team Fedor fighter from closing the distance with punches and kicks. Despite being on the backfoot for the most part, Rashid never found himself backed into a corner or against the ropes, doing a very good job of circling out and avoiding Viktor's offense. The only knock that could be made against him in that fight was his output, since it made the fight look closer than it actually was.

While he seemed to be a step ahead of Nemkov on the feet, there were times where he was content with just throwing one or two shots, even when he seemed to have his opponent hurt, and while being patient is not always a bad thing, it could hurt him in future fights. He followed that performance with a pretty much flawless one, against the highly regarded Stephan Puetz. He was in control of the fight the whole time, punishing Puetz with long strikes, and shutting down whatever offense he threw his way. He did his best work with his boxing, and picked up a TKO victory when the doctor stopped the fight in the third round.

His game is very reminescent to that of his fellow teammate Rashid Magomedov, mixing very accurate striking with great defensive and offensive grappling, but he also shares the same flaw as the lightweight contender, and that is low output. That's not something we should really worry about though, so long as the judges do their job right.

His win over Nemkov:




His win over Puetz:

* Edited at 06.10.2017, 1:20 AM ET *

Victory over Nemkov is a real achievement.

At 26 years of age and fighting out of Chisinau, Moldova; Alexander Romanov is an exciting MMA Heavyweight prospect fighting on the Eastern European and Balkan MMA circuits who utilizes a sumo wrestling base.

In terms of his striking and stand up, Romanov is decent from what I have seen.  He makes good use of the clinch, has power in his strikes, has some variation in the strikes he throws, and has a solid chin.

In terms of his grappling and ground game, Romanov is surprisingly good for his size.  He has great takedown defense, gets takedowns with ease, scrambles well, controls position well, transitions well, has solid ground and pound, and can lock up a submission with ease.

Overall, Romanov is a solid grappler for a Heavyweight that effectively uses his size to wear out his opponents.  However, I would like to see him add some more stand up striking to set up his grappling more effectively, as well as get some fights in some bigger organizations in Europe before he goes to the UFC.

Here is Romanov's victory over Andrey Burdeniuk:

At 22 years of age and fighting out of Sacramento, California; Team Alpha Male's Joseph Morales is an incredible Flyweight prospect coming from the US West Coast circuit that the UFC should bring in to add depth to flyweight.

In terms of his striking and stand up, Morales is good.  He has solid footwork, gauges distance well, has solid head and body movement, has great variation in the strikes he throws, decent power in his strikes, and makes good use of the clinch.

In terms of his grappling and ground game, like most Team Alpha Male fighters, Morales is really good.  He can lock up a submission with ease, he is solid at getting takedowns, passes guard well, postures well when pressing an opponent against the cage, scrambles well, does a great job of controlling position (even off his back), and solid ground and pound.  One thing Morales does struggle with a bit is his takedown defense, as there are times where when Morales closes the distance and completely leaves himself open for the takedown.  One example where this happened was with Morales' fight with Josh Paiva. 

Overall, outside of Titan FC Champ Jose Torres, I would argue Morales is the best American Flyweight not in the UFC.  Faber himself has predicted Morales to be the next big name to come out of his gym, and I can see why.  He is probably one of the most complete fighters out there and, in my opinion, has a bright future ahead of him should the UFC sign him.

Here is a video of Morales' biggest win to date over Josh Paiva for the GKO Flyweight Title: 

The UFC needs more flyweights.

At 20 years of age and fighting out of Salzburg, Austria by way of Grozny, Russia; Ismail Naurdiev is an elite European Welterweight prospect that should be looked at by many promotions to bring in.

In terms of his stand up and striking game, Naurdiev is solid.  He has great power, great variation in the strikes he throws, makes good use of feints, good head and body movement, decent footwork, closes the distance well, and makes solid use of the clinch.  One minor knock on Naurdiev's game that I will note, however, is that he doesn't always check strikes.

In terms of grappling and ground game, Naurdiev is also solid.  He has solid takedowns and grappling throws, he controls position very well, can lock up a submission well, scrambles well, transitions in guard well, and has solid ground and pound.

Overall, Naurdiev is one of the most complete MMA prospects at his age that has a real possibility of being a serious contender at Welterweight for years to come and it would be foolish for any of the big 3 promotions (UFC, Bellator, RIZIN) to skip on him.

Here is a video of Naurdiev's most recent win over Ben Alloway:
 

So many promising Russian fighters.

It's always so hard to tell with Russian prospects though. There are plenty of legit beasts but loads of fighters who can tick yes to 'Are you on roids?' 'Is this fight fixed?' 'Does your opponent have a record of 3-37?' on their pre-fight questionnaires. 

It's hard to tell which russian guys are legit or just feasting on overmatched opponents, but they're nowhere near as bad as brazilians or ukranians when it comes to padding records.

There are definitely some big time offenders in Ukraine and Brazil. The Dimitrov brothers in Bulgaria were bad for it too and the undisputed Queen of it must be Satoko Shinashi still.

The only way to tell now is to get some of them in the UFC.

At 22 years of age and hailing from Sibiu, Romania, Nicolae "Nicu" Negumereanu is an intriguing prospect on the Balkans circuit; fighting primarily in RXF.

In terms of his stand up and striking game, Negumereanu is decent.  From what I saw, he has good variation in the strikes that he throws, has solid power in his strikes, makes solid use of the clinch, decent footwork, gauges distance well, and has a solid chin.  One of the problems with Negumereanu's stand up game is his lack of solid head and body movement, which causes him to leave his chin to be wide open sometimes.  A good example of this is in his fight against Constantin Padure where he was getting tagged at multiple points with "big risk, big reward" type strikes like spinning back fists.  This is a concern as he could potentially have his chin deteriorate from continuing to take those types of strikes.

In terms of his grappling and ground game, Negumereanu is solid.  In the fights I watched, he has great takedowns and takedown defense, strong grappling slams from the clinch with hip tosses and suplexes, can pass guard well, can lock up submission well, has solid ground and pound, and can control position well.  The one area in which I see problems with Negumereanu in grappling is with his scrambling. Going back to his fight with Padure, as he was trying to pass guard, he lost a key scramble at the end of the round and was getting beaten up while on his back with butterfly guard.  He was able to get it back to a dominant position, but it is something to keep a note of.

Overall, Negumereanu is a promising prospect that, with a little more time to get experience and sharpen his skills, especially against some tougher competition in promotions like Final Fight Championship, could be a good prospect for the UFC to sign.

Here is a video of Negumereanu's victory over Constantin Padure:
 

No different than the Russian fighters they add so let's see it.