Hellowhosthat: Black Belt; Member Since 2020.06.27

My MMA Rankings

History of hype

Consensus Rankings: Official | Member Designed | This Ranking Updated 1 week, 6 days ago | All By Hellowhosthat

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1

Georgy Shakhruramazanov
"Tiger"

13-2-0

Russia - Feathwerweight - 1997

Hyped on 12th February 2021
Age at time - 25
Record at time - 10-0
Promotion at time - Eagles FC

At the time I said - "So I was watching this guy's fight against 10-3 Ali Dikaev and was getting really impressed with the way he was managing distance and doing damage, then he starts to land some hard knees to the gut and I'm getting even more impressed and then he does this ****. *insert spinning kick KO gif* ,Needless to say I can't wait to see this dude fight again."

Record since : 3-2
Current promotion - ONE Championship
2

Ruslan Sariev
"Suyek"

15-3-0

Kazakhstan - Bantamweight - 1997

Hyped on 12th February 2021
Age at time - 24
Record at time - 12-1
Promotion at time - Eagles FC

At the time I said - "So this guy actually lost his title fight, but I was transfixed by his style. He has this weird almost hypnotic slow motion stance switches and shadow boxing that he uses to lure his opponent into a false sense of security before suddenly changing speeds and cracking them with something. Also has good TDD and when he does get taken down uses butterfly guard really effectively to create space and stand back up. Was winning the fight comfortably in my opinion before he ****** up and got caught in a D'arce, which I imagine he'll learn from. I would bet he'll have a better career than his opponent."

Record since : 3-2
Current promotion - Alash Pride
3

Mansur Malachiev

12-1-0

Russia - Flyweight

Hyped on 12th February 2021
Age at time - 29
Record at time - 9-0
Promotion at time - Eagles FC

At the time I said - "Of course it would be remiss of me not to give the guy who actually beat Sariev a bit of shine. He strikes me as a bit more of a meat and potatoes kind of fighter, but he keeps coming forward and keeps trying even if things aren't working until he can get them to work, which is what happened in this fight. There'll always be room in MMA for hard working technically sound guys.

Record since : 3-1
Current promotion - ONE Championship
4

Darian Weeks

7-3-0

USA - Welterweight - 1993

Hyped on 13th February 2021
Age at time - 27
Record at time - 5-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "I liked what I saw from this guy at LFA against Craig Fairley. Granted Fairley isn't exactly the best opponent, but Weeks displayed good powerful offence and aggression and good cardio to keep a high output of explosive offence going when Fairley was tough, didn't go away and started trying to get him in leg entanglements. Had an extensive 15-4 ammy career including a couple of IMMAF tournaments, so far more experienced that his record suggests. I'd like to see him given a step up in competition if possible."

Record since : 2-3
Current promotion - B2 Fighting Series
5

Alberto Montes
"The Promise"

6-1-0

Venezuela - Bantamweight - 1994

Hyped on 13th February 2021
Age at time - 26
Record at time - 5-0
Promotion at time - Titan FC

At the time I said - "Very impressed with the performance of this MMA masters product on last night's Titan show. Fighting a tough guy who's been on DWCS series in Richie Santiago, he started by throwing all kinds of fluid looking **** on the feet and then when Santiago tried to grapple with him, he choked the grappling specialist unconscious with an anaconda choke."

Record since : 1-1
Current promotion : Combate Global
6

Ramazan Kishev

18-7-0

Russia - Featherweight

Hyped on 15th February 2021
Age at time - 29
Record at time - 17-3
Promotion at time - ACA

At the time I said - "My personal just bleed god didn't let me down at the weekend with a really hard fought for win against top prospect Askhab Zuliev. Kishev might be a win some/lose some guy if he ever got signed to the UFC, but he always comes to bang and is just never in a boring fight. He said something about wanting to sign a new ACA contract after the fight, which might mean he's potentially available if anyone wanted to move for him now he's on a 3 fight win streak. Guaranteed entertainment from this dude."

Record since : 1-4
Current promotion : ACA
7

Christian Natividad
"The Hawaiian Punch"

5-0-0

USA - Flyweight

Hyped on 20th February 2021
Age at time - 23
Record at time - 3-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "Another impressive performance from Natividad against a guy who was much better than his record suggested. I was impressed by Christian's fight IQ in this fight, whenever Woolsey was starting to feel comfortable on the feet, he'd time his entry well and take it to the ground and beat him up there. A good three rounds worth of experience against a tough guy that will be great in terms of experience for him."

Record since : 2-0
Current promotion : LFA
8

Steven Nguyen
"The Ninja"

9-2-0

USA - Featherweight - 1993

Hyped on 20th February 2021
Age at time - 27
Record at time - 7-1
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "I said I was keeping an eye on him after his contender series fight and he didn't disappoint tonight with a thunderous first round KO that sent his opponent crumbling to the canvas. Now he's training what seems to be full time at a great camp in Fortis MMA he can really become a force to be reckoned with."

Record since : 2-1
Current promotion : UFC
9

Jailton Almeida
"Malhadinho"

20-3-0

Brazil - Light Heavyweight - 1991

Hyped on 23rd February 2021
Age at time - 29
Record at time - 13-2
Promotion at time - Future FC

At the time I said - "This guy is a Brazilian LHW who's developed a Khabib style grappling style and he uses it to absolutely drown people. In the last year he's used it to finish two UFC vets in Ednaldo Oliveira and Ildemar Alcantara and he just got done with demolishing tough veteran Edvaldo De Oliveira. Especially in a division that could use talent like 205, this dude is UFC ready."

Record since : 7-1
Current promotion : UFC
10

Ji Won Kang
"Mighty Warrior"

7-2-0

South Korea - Heavyweight - 1995

Hyped on 5th March 2021
Age at time - 25
Record at time - 5-0
Promotion at time - ONE

At the time I said - "I'm not sure how good this guy really is tbh however.

a) He just knocked out Amir Aliakbari
b) He's clearly tough as ****
c) He clearly has KO power
d) He does all this while looking like a giant baby
e) It's not like there's a load of young heavyweights to get excited about"

Record since : 2-2
Current promotion : ONE

11+

11

Diego Lopes
24-6-0

Brazil - Featherweight - 1994

Hyped on 13th March 2021
Age at time - 26
Record at time - 19-3
Promotion at time - LUX Fight League

At the time I said - "Extremely impressed with this dude, fought Masio Fullen who also impressed me by looking much better than he ever did in the UFC. Lopes was able to deal with that and slowly start to figure him out on the feet, then implement his top game for some dominant grappling and then when Fullen decided to take him down he subbed him with an awesome armbar off his back.

He's now beaten three UFC vets in his last four fights in Fullen, Marco Beltran and Rony Jason.

Imo he's ready for the big leagues."

Record since : 5-3
Current promotion - UFC
12

Michal Figlak
"Mad Dog" | 8-2-0

Poland - Lightweight - 1996

Hyped on 19th March 2021
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - Cage Warriors

At the time I said - "Very interesting prospect imo, don't know that much about his grappling yet, but he has good power, good takedown defence and has a very methodical method of beating people up before stopping them. Very impressive performance yesterday, I'd like him to have a couple more fights in CW and get the title there before moving on as he's still young in his career, but I'm watching with interest."

Record since : 3-1
Current promotion : UFC
13

Paul Hughes
"Big News" | 11-1-0

Northern Ireland - Featherweight

Hyped on 19th March 2021
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 7-1
Promotion at time - Cage Warriors

At the time I said - "Rebounded well from suffering his first career setback against Jordan Vucenic (in a fight where I personally thought he just won), with a great performance against another prospect in James Hendin. Hughes is a well rounded fighter who has good, technical, well timed striking and good defensive wrestling and impressive BJJ to go with it. His next fight could well be for the Cage Warriors belt."

Record since : 4-0
Current promotion : Cage Warriors
14

Ian Machado Garry
"The Future" | 14-0-0

Ireland - Welterweight - 1997

Hyped on 20th March 2021
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - Cage Warriors

At the time I said - "Ridiculously impressive performance from Garry in his Cage Warriors WW title tournament semi final last night. Took on UFC veteran Rostem Akman who's a guy who went the distance with Jake Matthews and thoroughly outgrappled him in the first round before landing an absolutely brutal walk off head kick KO in the 2nd which Rostem took a good while to get up for this one. Now has a fight with solid CW vet Jack Grant in the final of the tournament, but I'm expecting big things from this kid."

Record since : 8-0
Current promotion : UFC
15

Achilles Estremadura
8-1-0

Canada - Lightweight - 1992

Hyped on 20th March 2021
Age at time - 29
Record at time : 7-0
Promotion at time - Battlefield Fight League

At the time I said - "A bit older than you'd expect for a LW with his record, but seems to have had some periods of inactivity in his career. Anyway he easily dispatched of his journeyman opponent last night with ridiculously fast hands and varied shot selection. I think at his age he needs to get some fights outside Canada, maybe with the PFL or CFFC to get someone who can give him more of a fight. Might find himself on the Contender Series this summer maybe."

Record since : 1-1
Current promotion - Battlefield Fight League
16

Murtaza Talha
6-1-0

Bahrain - Light Heavyweight - 1996

Hyped on 20th March 2021
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 3-0
Promotion at time - BRAVE

At the time I said - "There's something about this dude. He's a double IMMAF champ who was undefeated in the Ammys and now he's turned pro he's beaten three guys with a combined record of 14-3 in his first three fights, all by stoppage. I just like the way he almost looks bored as he casually nullifies everything his opponents do while waiting for his opportunity and finishing them when he gets it .Casually defended a bunch of takedown attempts last night, while waiting for the right angle to elbow his opponent in the head and as soon as he was happy with the angle he KO'd him with the first one he landed.

Very impressive."

Record since : 3-1
Current promotion : BRAVE
17

Paddy Pimblett
"The Baddy" | 21-3-0

England - Lightweight - 1995

Hyped on 21st March 2021
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 16-3
Promotion at time - Cage Warriors

At the time I said - "I didn't think I'd be featuring Paddy in this thread tbh, but I'll be damned if he didn't look better than ever last night. Looked much more comfortable in the standup and the grappling was as exciting and geared towards a finish.

**** it, give him a chance in the big show I say."

Record since : 5-0
Current promotion : UFC
18

Tobias Harila
"Bad Intention" | 12-4-0

Sweden - Featherweight - 1994

Hyped on 21st March 2021
Age at time - 27
Record at time : 9-1
Promotion at time - Cage Warriors

At the time I said - "Just when I thought the Cage Warriors FW division was all about the Charriere, Vucenic, Hughes and Hendin quartet along comes this guy, prancing around like a ********, pea****ing about and smugly smiling at the camera making me want him to lose badly. He then absolutely dominates his man and finishes him with really powerful ground and pound. I could be hating this guy at a high level."

Record since : 3-3
Current promotion : Cage Warriors
19

Renat Khavalov
8-0-0

Russia - Bantamweight - 1998

Hyped on 24th March 2021
Age at time - 22
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - EFC

At the time I said - "Another one to add to the seemingly endless list of good Russian Bantamweight fighters. Looked very impressive in winning the EFC belt in only his 4th pro fight, knocking out former IMMAF ammy champ Sharapudin Magomedov in a highly impressive display."

Record since : 4-0
Current promotion : UAE Warriors
20

Shamil Erdogan
9-0-0

Russia - Light Heavyweight - 1990

Hyped on 24th March 2021
Age at time : 30
Record at time : 7-0
Promotion at time : EFC

At the time I said - "This dude hasn't fought in 4 years, but it didn't look like it as he absolutely physically dominated his opponent before easily choking him. Ring rust not a factor for this guy."

Record since : 2-0
Current promotion : ONE Championship
21

Vinicius Oliveira
"Lok Dog" | 20-3-0

Brazil - Bantamweight - 1995

Hyped on 25th March 2021
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 16-2
Promotion at time - UAE Warriors

At the time I said - "Lockdog is a fun fighter to watch, this dude is always throwing something at you and there's very little chance to rest against him. Maybe a little recklessly aggressive sometimes, but it makes for some fun fights as he comes forward taunting and throwing bombs. Really beat up and stopped a well travelled fighter in Xavier Alaoui (who's been to a split with Josh Hill before). I think a big organisation should pick him up purely for the entertainment factor."

Record since : 4-1
Current promotion : UFC
22

Francesco Nuzzi
"Berserker" | 10-1-0, 1 NC

Italy - Bantamweight - 1996

Hyped on 26th March 2021
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 9-1
Promotion at time - BRAVE

At the time I said - "Nuzzi had a very impressive, very close fight with fellow prospect Bernardo Sopai which honestly wouldn't have looked out of place on a UFC card. I was particularly impressed with his countering which he used to hit Sopai with effectively every time he got a bit carried away. Also showed good anti-wrestling, solid guard off his back and even decent offensive wrestling and top control later in the fight."

Record since : 1-0-0-1
Current promotion : PFL
23

Benardo Sopaj
"The Lion King" | 11-3-0

Albania - Bantamweight - 2000

Hyped on 26th March 2021
Age at time - 20
Record at time : 8-2
Promotion at time - BRAVE

At the time I said - "For a 20 year old, All Stars product Sopai was also extremely impressive. No can crushing for him as he fights other top prospects already. Showed good stand up, cardio, wrestling and came extremely close to winning a fight which honestly could have gone either way."

Record since : 3-1
Current promotion : UFC
24

Muhammad Mokaev
"The Punisher" | 11-0-0, 1 NC

England - Flyweight - 2000

Hyped on 26th March 2021
Age at time - 20
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - BRAVE

At the time I said - "Uber prospect Mokaev took a step up in competition against fellow former IMMAF world champion in the more experienced Abdul Hussein and handled it pretty well. I'd like to see him try and do more damage on the ground but his positional scrambling between positions is just incredible. He can be a little too aggressive with his grappling at times and go for things when he shouldn't and end up in bad positions, but he has the skill to get out of them and turn them into good positions again. A guy with this style of top grappling who can also work really well off his back is going to be trouble."

Record since : 7-0-1
Current promotion : UFC
25

Ikram Aliskerov
15-1-0

Russia - Middleweight - 1992

Hyped on 26th March 2021
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 11-1
Promotion at time - BRAVE

At the time I said - "Ikram would still be unbeaten if he hadn't had the misfortune to run into another up and coming BRAVE prospect by the name of Khamzat Chimaev a couple of years ago. This guy is a combat sambo world champion and is an animal in there, decent stand up punctuated by an absolutely terrifying top game where he just floats into positions and beats guys to a pulp until they beg him to submit them pretty much. Scary dude."

Record since : 4-0
Current promotion : UFC
26

Benoit Saint-Denis
"God of War" | 13-2-0, 1 NC

France - Welterweight - 1995

Hyped on 26th March 2021
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 7-0
Promotion at time - BRAVE

At the time I said - "I'm not really sure whether this guy will end up being a WW or a LW as he competes in the Super Light Weight division that BRAVE has. Anyway he had a step up in competition to deal with in former champion Luan Santiago and he dealt with him pretty easily, managing well enough against an unorthadox guy on the feet before realising that he could absolutely dominate him on the ground and going that route instead and getting the sub."

Record since : 6-2
Current promotion : UFC
27

Islam Omarov
15-0-0

Russia - Featherweight - 1997

Hyped on 27th March 2021
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 10-0
Promotion at time - ACA

At the time I said - "The absolute revelation of the weekend for me. I've seen Omarov fight before, but for some reason he's never really stuck out to me. This fight was absolutely his coming out party in my eyes as he comfortably dealt with the #1 FW on my hype list, Bibert Tumenov.

Yes, he controlled him with the wrestling and there was maybe a few moments in there which you could call wall and stall, but the way he managed to effectively stand with a striker as good as Tumenov, go backwards on the feet, countering and then choosing the perfect movements to circle out around an advance to where Tumenov was the one against the cage and shoot from there was so well executed.

Really the only thing I can criticise him for is I'd maybe like to see him have controlled Bibert a little better once he got him on the floor and I'll be looking for more finishes from him going forward, but other than that this was pretty much a flawless performance."

Record since : 5-0
Current promotion : ACA
28

Apti Bimarzaev
19-4-0

Belarus - Featherweight - 1992

Hyped on 27th March 2021
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 17-3
Promotion at time - ACA

At the time I said - "I've always given credit to Apti for being a true warrior who tends to get into amazing fights (his fight with Ramazan Kishev), but now perhaps it's time I give him credit as a top fighter period. He's now on a 13 fight win streak after a slow start to his career and put on a one sided performance against a very dangerous opponent in Tural Ragimov. Used his wrestling more than usual to dominate the fight and looked good on the feet too. Also didn't get knocked down and have to come back in this one, but I already know everything I need to know about his heart."

Record since : 2-1
Current promotion : ACA
29

Muslim Magomedov
13-0-0

Russia - Light Heavyweight - 1995

Hyped on 27th March 2021
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 9-0
Promotion at time - ACA

At the time I said - "I maintain that this guy is actually an out of shape MW, but while he keeps winning at LHW I would guess he's going to stay there. Seems to have a way of winning fights without it actually looking like he's trying particularly hard. Beat an experienced Brazilian in Leandro Silva without really breaking a sweat. Probably due a title fight next."

Record since : 4-0
Current promotion : ACA
30

Amirkhan Guliev
"The Lion" | 12-2-0

Russia - Light Heavyweight

Hyped on 27th March 2021
Age at time - 29
Record at time : 10-1
Promotion at time - ACA

At the time I said - "I had to put this dude on for the pure disdain he had for his opponents skills in this fight as he just kicked the **** out of his leg until he fell over and then walked over and basically stood over him and pulled his leg until he tapped."

Record since : 2-1
Current promotion : ACA
31

Solomon Renfro
"The Black Dragon" | 11-5-0

USA - Welterweight - 1997

Hyped on 2nd April 2021
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 7-1
Promotion at time - CFFC

At the time I said - "Holy **** am I ever firmly back on the Renfro hype train after last night! He had to prove himself again after his loss to Mike Mallott in his last fight (a fight he was winning until he got caught), but this was the perfect way to rebound from that.

He took on tough Nick Alley (who was coming off a convincing win over the previously hyped John Gotti III) and just went at him with offence. The kid has speed and hits super hard, he's maybe a little bit reckless sometimes and that might mean he has to tighten things up at a higher level but the potential is all there. Athleticism, speed, power, strength, he has it all.

Crazy amount of personality too. I think he gets on the contender series this summer and potentially becomes the star of the season."

Record since : 4-4
Current promotion - PFL
32

Anton Turkalj
"The Pleasure Man" | 8-4-0

Sweden - Light Heavyweight - 1996

Hyped on 2nd April 2021
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 7-0
Promotion at time - BRAVE

At the time I said - "Oh my word, this performance, this performance!

I was already impressed by Turkalj in his last fight, but he took his hype to the stratosphere with this one by getting himself a 15 second spinning back fist knockout. He has an air of a fighting Zlatan Ibrahimovic about him in that he's very calmly ****y about his abilities, but then goes out and does exactly what he said he would do.

I really felt that I could be watching a future superstar when I was watching this fight.

Record since : 1-4
Current promotion : Free Agent
33

Jarrah Hussein Al-Silawi
"Jordanian Lion" | 19-6-0

Jordan - Welterweight - 1992

Hyped on 3rd April 2021
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 16-3
Promotion at time - BRAVE

At the time I said - "Good performance by Al-Silawi in beating a promising young ex-UFC fighter in Ismail Naurdiev by possibly breaking his leg with leg kicks. He's a weird one in that whenever I watch him he doesn't seem to do anything spectacular, but he keeps breaking guys down and winning and in doing so to Naurdiev and Abdoulragimov he's done it to some quality guys. Probably deserves a big league chance."

Record since : 3-3
Current promotion : PFL
34

Adriano Moraes
"Mikinho" | 20-5-0

Brazil - Flyweight - 1989

Hyped on 8th April 2021
Age at time - 31
Record at time : 19-3
Promotion at time - ONE Championship

At the time I said - "Yeah, so obviously this guy just knocked out Demetrious Johnson so he clearly has to get a mention. In doing so he showed a good heavy top game, good patience and excellent counter striking, followed by an excellent killer instinct once he had DJ hurt.

I'm not entirely sure what to do with him in the rankings, as I'm not sure he could actually make 125 these days, but I'll have to think about it."

Record since : 1-2
Current promotion - ONE Championship
35

Magomedrasul Gasanov
20-2-0

Russia - Middleweight - 1994

Hyped on 12th April 2021
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 16-2
Promotion at time - ACA

At the time I said - "Gasanov extended his win streak to 12 at the weekend in claiming the ACA title with an easy win against a guy who'd been on a very good run of form in Nikola Dipchikov. Utterly dominant with wrestling, grappling and ground and pound as he repeatedly took down and wore out his opponent before finishing him early in the 2nd round. Looked like an absolute killer in there.

Can't wait for a unification fight with Salamu.

Record since : 4-0
Current promotion : ACA
36

Magomedgadzhi Sirazhudinov
10-2-0

Russia - Bantamweight - 1996

Hyped on 15th April 2021
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 9-1
Promotion at time - Fight Nights Global

At the time I said - "Oh look, it's another Russian BW prospect! This guy dominated every second of a fight against a dude with a decent record, slammed him on his face at one point, showed good back control for a portion of the fight and then ultimately KO'd him with brutal ground and pound."

Record since : 1-1
Current promotion - Alash Pride
37

Christian Lee
"The Warrior" | 17-4-0

USA - Lightweight - 1998

Hyped on 15th April 2021
Age at time - 22
Record at time : 15-3
Promotion at time - ONE Championship

At the time I said - "One of the more obvious hype train posts I was going to do after a fight.

There can't be any doubt that Lee is the best LW prospect in the world anymore, in fact it may be time to consider that he might be the best LW outside the UFC full stop.

This time he decided to showcase excellent counter punching in taking out a dangerous opponent in Timofey Nastyukhin, who again had people thinking Lee was going to get beaten. That's consecutive dominant victories over Aoki, Dagi, Lapicus and Nasty, all he really needs is Eddie Alvarez and he's completely cleaned out the division.

Striking, grappling, finishing instinct, warrior spirit, this dude has it all. My only concern with him is that he's so central to ONE's plans that he might end up staying there, when to me if he beats Eddie he really needs to move on.

Although I am sure that the UFC would do whatever needs to be done to get him on board, this kid is a future superstar."

Record since : 2-1
Current promotion : ONE Championship
38

Hugo Cunha
"Silverback" | 8-1-0

Brazil - Heavyweight - 1993

Hyped on 21st April 2021
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - Open Fighting Championship

At the time I said - "Cunha had a late opponent change so the guy he ended up fighting wasn't the same quality as the dude he was originally supposed to face, but he was still a bomb chucker on a win streak, albeit a fat one.

Anyway Hugo engaged in the standup for a bit and did okay, defended some flurries quite well from a guy throwing bombs at him and caught everything on his guard before eventually deciding to take him down. Once he gets on top of you though, holy **** does that ever look like an unpleasant experience. Just controls with wrestling to move to dominant positions and smashes the **** out of you while he's doing it until you give him his neck.

Not nice.

Should be on this more international contender series they're doing this year imo."

Record since : 2-1
Current promotion - LFA
39

Canaan Kawaihae
9-2-0, 1 NC

USA - Featherweight - 1997

Hyped on 24th April 2021
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 6-1
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "Man, does it seem like this dude has changed in the couple of years he's been away. Last time I saw him he was a young kid in the Contender Series and in Bellator and now he's a grown man absolutely running through Jake Childers. It took someone as good as Justin Gonzales 4 rounds to get Childers out of there, so for Canaan to do it in about 20 seconds is ridiculously impressive. Even in that 20 seconds he showed good looking stand up and insane reactions and finishing instincts when Childers shot on him and he quickly wrapped up a ninja choke to get the tap. Can't wait to see him get booked again."

Record since : 3-1
Current promotion : United Fight League
40

Piera Rodriguez
"La Fiera" | 9-1-0

Venezuela - Strawweight - 1992

Hyped on 24th April 2021
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "What a violent lady this is. Managed to get the better of a violent battle with another great prospect in Sveltana Gotsyk (who also went up in my estimation in the fight). Piera is an extremely aggressive fighter, who pays little attention to defence, but throws bombs on offence and is always pressing forward looking for a finish. Gradually by pressing and throwing she broke the will of Svetlana and got the finish. I can see that happening to quite a lot of girls throughout her career."

Record since : 3-1
Current promotion : UFC
41

Azamat Bekoev
"King Pin" | 17-3-0

Russia - Middleweight - 1995

Hyped on 26th April 2021
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 12-2
Promotion at time - ACA

At the time I said - "Another impressive young ACA Middleweight here. Had a very tough fight against a seasoned Bellator vet in Chris Honeycutt and had to really battle through some difficult spots in the first round. He managed to survive and then turn the tables on Honeycutt, subbing him in the 2nd round. Consider that Honeycutt is a dude who went the distance with Lovato."

Record since - 5-1
Current promotion : LFA
42

Alexander Kovalev
11-4-0

Belarus - Featherweight

Hyped on 26th April 2021
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 9-0
Promotion at time - ACA

At the time I said - "I'd like to see Kovalev in action against a better opponent, but I really, really liked what I saw from here. Just constantly pursuing sub after sub and being ready to transition to the next one when it looked like his opponent might be able to get out of one. Very exciting all action grappling style to watch."

Record since : 2-4
Current promotion : ACA
43

Josh Silveira
"Coninha" | 13-2-0

USA - Light Heavyweight - 1992

Hyped on 1st May 2021
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "Being the son of the head coach of ATT is always going to give you access to some top quality training and adding a solid college wrestling career to that is going to make you a major prospect. Josh shows quality wrestling, mixed in with a top quality grappling game to make for a proper prospect. I imagine that he'll be a MW if he makes it to the UFC rather than a LHW, though."

Record since : 8-2
Current promotion : PFL
44

Michael Morales
16-0-0

Ecuador - Welterweight - 1999

Hyped on 1st May 2021
Age at time - 20
Record at time : 11-0
Promotion at time - UWC

At the time I said - "This dude looks potentially incredible. I loved how absurdly calm, almost nonchalant he was during the fight. Worked well behind jabs and leg kicks while gradually turning the screw on the pressure to the point where he'd make his more fight ending attempts. Also sensible enough to realise when he wasn't going to end the fight and re-set and start pressuring again without blowing too much energy. Great looking defence, I think he absorbed maybe one shot over two rounds. Very mature for a 20 year old fight wise too."

Record since : 5-0
Current promotion : UFC
45

Denis Goltsov
"The Russian Bogatyr" | 33-8-0

Russia - Heavyweight - 1990

Hyped on 7th May 2021
Age at time - 30
Record at time : 26-6
Promotion at time - PFL

At the time I said - "Goltsov is a UFC quality heavyweight period. I've always been impressed by his jab, but the way he adapted to a late replacement who seemed to have specifically planned for the jab and just decimated him with body kicks instead to wear him down was truly impressive. It's a shame the Willis fight got cancelled as that would have been a great indicator of how he'd perform against a ranked quality UFC heavy. With Werdum looking his age, Delija having a bad gameplan and losing points and Willis and Isaev not fighting, he must be the clear favourite for the PFL title this year."

Record since : 7-2
Current promotion - PFL
46

Kayla Harrison
17-1-0

USA - Lightweight - 1990

Hyped on 7th May 2021
Age at time - 30
Record at time : 9-0
Promotion at time - PFL

At the time I said - "The only threat to Amanda Nunes at FW really. Utterly dominant performance from Kayla as she just buzzed through her opponent with consummate ease. That judo is obviously on another level but the ground and pound is getting scary too. Allow her to add elbows in to her mount and that's a recipe for pain."

Record since : 8-1
Current promotion : UFC
47

Daniel Zellhuber
"Golden Boy" | 15-1-0

Mexico - Lightweight - 1999

Hyped on 8th May 2021
Age at time - 21
Record at time : 11-0
Promotion at time - LUX Fight League

At the time I said - "He was fighting a late replacement, but even so it looked as though Zellhuber has levelled up to me since last time I saw him. Showed really varied offence with a nice array of kicks, straight shots, flying knees etc, which all seemed accurate and all seemed to have power behind them. I'd like to see him maybe take a fight in the LFA against a solid US regional LW next, but this guy has all the skills in the world offensively."

Record since : 4-1
Current promotion : UFC
48

Mana Martinez
"Manaboi" | 10-5-0

USA - Bantamweight - 1996

Hyped on 17th May 2021
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 8-2
Promotion at time - Fury FC

At the time I said - "This dude is the hardest hitting Bantamweight I've ever seen. It may be that he has some deficiencies in other areas of his game but that power is the great equalizer. It's almost Ngannou like in relation to his division, if he catches someone remotely clean, they hit the deck and it's clear they've never felt power like that before.

This Fury show had Dana in attendance filming Looking For a Fight and when that airs if this dude isn't a UFC fighter, I'll eat my hat."

Record since : 2-3
Current promotion : Fury FC
49

Gregory Rodrigues
"Robocop" | 15-5-0

Brazil - Middleweight - 1992

Hyped on 23rd May 2021
Age at time - 29
Record at time : 9-3
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "I was all about his opponent Josh Fremd going into this fight, but man did Gregory ever derail that hype train in style. An extremely powerful and accurate puncher, he took advantage of Fremd being wild to crack him and once he hurt him he showed good composure to not rush in and mess up a finish, instead carefully picking his shots for maximum impact en route to a finish. He had a blip on the Contender Series, but he looks big league ready."

Record since : 6-2
Current promotion : UFC
50

Saygid Izagakhmaev
22-2-0

Russia - Welterweight - 1994

Hyped on 1st June 2021
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 18-2
Promotion at time - ONE Championship

At the time I said - "Saygid fights with a steady methodical grappling pace, but he's pretty effective at doing it. He also fights to finish and tries to do damage to people, so while his style isn't always thrill a minute, it's not like he's Danny Sabatello or Brant Moore or anything. He rebounded nicely from his loss to Carlston Harris infront of Dana and Harris' success in his UFC debut might have spurred him on a bit.

I'm not actually sure he'll be able to quite get over the hump with top level competition with his style as I'm not sure he has a plan B if it isn't working, but I'd quite like to see him given a chance. He's one of Khabib's guys, so that'll go in his favour."

Record since : 4-0
Current promotion : ONE Championship
51

Terrance McKinney
"T.Wrecks" | 15-6-0

USA - Lightweight - 1994

Hyped on 8th June 2021
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 10-3
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "McKinney looks much improved to me lately. He's very reckless, but he's so fast and throws with such power that he can get away with it. Whether that'll translate to a higher level of competition is difficult to say. After winning both his last two fights in about 15 seconds, it took him just over a minute to dispose of Michael Irizarry, knocking him out from punches from within the guard, which shows what kind of power he has."

Record since : 5-3
Current promotion : UFC
52

Denis Maher
12-1-0

Belarus - Welterweight - 1994

Hyped on 1st June 2021
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 8-0
Promotion at time - BRAVE

At the time I said - "Another guy where I'm liking him mainly for having eviscerating power. He fought a sensible fight against his opponent before just utterly crushing him with a devastating uppercut. His opponent was a 9-0 guy, so it wasn't like he was in there with some mug. Definitely one to keep an eye on."

Record since : 4-1
Current promotion - ACA
53

Roberto de Souza
"Satoshi" | 16-3-0

Brazil - Lightweight - 1989

Hyped on 15th June 2021
Age at time - 31
Record at time : 12-1
Promotion at time - RIZIN

At the time I said - "Hugely impressive performance from Souza in subbing Tofiq Musaev. A guy like him who's prepared to pull guard and throw up quick and decisive sub attempts is always going to be exciting to watch. The way he quickly threw up the triangle and had the angle and pressure before Tofiq had a chance to react was Charles Oliveira like.

I really need to see him Vs Shinya Aoki somehow."

Record since : 4-2
Current promotion : RIZIN
54

Kai Asakura
21-4-0

Japan - Bantamweight - 1993

Hyped on 15th June 2021
Age at time - 27
Record at time : 17-3
Promotion at time - RIZIN

At the time I said - "My favourite thing about Kai is that he's just ******* violent. There aren't many fighters in the world with the raw aggression and intent to hurt people that Kai has. The way he was throwing bombs on Watanabe from guard to get the stoppage it seemed like there was a willingness to kill if need be. Anything I say about Kai is probably a bit biased because I'm a huge fanboy of his, but I thought it was a great performance.

Still my boy."

Record since : 4-1
Current promotion : RIZIN
55

Daniel Skibiński
"Skiba" | 21-9-0

Poland - Middleweight - 1990

Hyped on 22nd June 2021
Age at time - 30
Record at time : 18-5
Promotion at time - UAE Warriors

At the time I said - "Skibinski had a very tough assignment against Acoidan Duque who was 16-2 and coming into this fight off a win against UFC vet Carlo Pedersoli in Bellator. He passed it with flying colours moving onto 11 wins in a row, in the first round he almost decapitated Duque with an uppercut which he somehow survived and after a closer 2nd round he did this to him in the third, surely the contender series beckons."

Record since : 3-4
Current promotion : Khan Fight
56

Jaqueline Amorim
"Jacque" | 8-1-0

Brazil - Strawweight - 1995

Hyped on 3rd July 2021
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "I probably wouldn't normally make a hype post for someone beating a 1-0 fighter, but on this occasion **** it. My primary reason is that this is a world class grappler who's medalled at the no gi worlds, so she has an insane pedigree and threat on the mat. In this fight she decided to show that she also has one punch KO power at SW by absolutely flatlining Megan Owen. A grappler of this quality who also has KO power on the feet is a problem."

Record since : 4-1
Current promotion : UFC
57

Santo Curatolo
6-4-0

USA - Flyweight - 1995

Hyped on 4th July 2021
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 6-1
Promotion at time - CFFC

At the time I said - "My favourite power manlet is back in style boys. It seems he learned from his loss to Trujillo where he went all out looking for the KO and got gassed and finished himself. This time he took his time, mixed in the wrestling for some good control positions and when the big shot landed naturally it still utterly flattened his opponent. This is against a solid opponent in Zaripov too.

I honestly don't think I've ever seen a flyweight in MMA who hits as hard as this guy."

Record since : 0-3
Current promotion : CFFC
58

Sergey Bilostenniy
12-3-0

Russia - Heavyweight - 1995

Hyped on 5th July 2021
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 7-2
Promotion at time - Open Fighting Championship

At the time I said - "This dude is just a different type of HW. He's fast, agile and with super accurate and powerful boxing which is quite different from a lot of the more plodding HW's you find in the world today. His takedown defence didn't get tested too much in this fight, but if that's got better in the last couple of years since his last fight then he's a massive problem because he was lighting Vakhaev up on the feet when they fought. Needs to be on the Contender Series imo, UFC can't pass on this dude."

Record since : 5-1
Current promotion : PFL
59

Tatsuro Taira
15-0-0

Japan - Flyweight - 2000

Hyped on 14th July 2021
Age at time - 21
Record at time : 9-0
Promotion at time - Shooto Japan

At the time I said - "I haven't actually caught Taira's latest fight yet, but while waiting for it I've checked out his last two fights against super experienced guys in Shimizu and Maeda and I can only say I'm massively impressed with the guy. He has pretty solid standup with nice distance management and aggressive countering (I like the way if the other guy makes contact his instinct is to come forward at them rather than recoil and take further shots) but it's the grappling where the dude truly shines.

He seems to be one of the best back riders in the world already and actually does some **** I haven't really seen before in terms of getting the guy to the mat from the back against Shimizu and against Maeda it was just ridiculously smooth the way he took his back and dealt with him."

Record since : 6-0
Current promotion : UFC
60

Yusuf Raisov
"Wolf" | 21-3-0

Russia - Lightweight - 1995

Hyped on 15th July 2021
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 18-2
Promotion at time - RNC

At the time I said - "Looks like Yusuf's been working on his boxing, because this was by far the best I've ever seen it. He just looked lovely working behind the jab to piece his opponent up and opening up with more powerful punches when the opportunity presented itself. He seems to have gotten over the tendency to spam spinning back kicks and looks like an all round better fighter. I was particularly impressed with the accuracy of his shots when he had his man hurt."

Record since : 3-1
Current promotion : ACA
61

Gabriel Bonfim
"Marretinha" | 15-1-0

Brazil - Welterweight - 1997

Hyped on 19th July 2021
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 11-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "It was pretty unfortunate that Bonfim made basically one **** up in his fight against fellow undefeated prospect Brenner Alberth which lead to him getting concussion symptoms and being unable to compete in the tournament final as I felt he was easily the class of the field.

Other than that mistake (in a fight he won by finish anyway) he just looked superb, with crisp and powerful hands and neat little judo trips and drops whenever his opponent tried to engage him in the clinch because he was sick of being punched in the face. Shot selection with this dude is something else and I believe he has a very bright future."

Record since : 4-1
Current promotion : UFC
62

Rafael Estevam
"Macapá" | 12-0-0

Brazil - Flyweight - 1996

Hyped on 19th July 2021
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 10-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "It's been a while since I've been able to get truly excited by a Nova Uniao fighter, but this seems to be the time to do it again. Ramos was taking on a national wrestling champion in Filipe Esteves and thoroughly out wrestled him as well as dominating every other aspect of the fight. Constant forward pressure, making takedowns look easy against the fence and ruthless guard passing and ground and pound. Made an opponent who certainly wasn't bad look like he was nowhere near his level."

Record since : 2-0
Current promotion : UFC
63

Daniel Lacerda
"Miojo" | 11-6-0, 1 NC

Brazil - Flyweight - 1996

Hyped on 25th July 2021
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 11-1
Promotion at time - Shooto Brazil

At the time I said - "This dude is really ******* aggressive. Looks calm, then chains things together really quickly. He misses a spin kick, but before you have the chance to register that's actually happened he's in on the takedown and relentlessly grounding and pounding on you. All his wins are by finish and his only loss was to a weird shoulder injury."

Record since : 0-5-0-1
Current promotion : Free Agent
64

Adam Masaev
10-0-0

Russia - Lightweight - 2000

Hyped on 26th July 2021
Age at time - 21
Record at time : 7-0
Promotion at time - ACA

At the time I said - "So this dude opened up his fight with some measured leg kicks and a nice jab and looked like he was one of those striking Dagestanis, then he decided to shoot, turned the corner, took the back, slammed the dude on his ******* face and I figured he's one of those wrestling Dagestanis. Then he takes the back again quickly handfights and gets under the chin for a rear naked choke which the ref stopped early, but he was clearly going to win anyway.

All this happened in less than 2 minutes.

Interesting dude."

Record since : 3-0
Current promotion : ACA
65

Thomas Petersen
"The Train" | 8-2-0

USA - Heavyweight - 1995

Hyped on 31st July 2021
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "Petersen seems to be another one of those modern younger HW's like Aspinall or Bilostenniy that values speed over more lumbering power. We knew he had good wrestling and top control going into this, but the way he threw a quick 1-2 to KO a solid regional gatekeeper in Vernon Lewis and capture the LFA title was extremely impressive. It might be wise for him to have one defence of his title in LFA before making the UFC jump because he's quite inexperienced, but I can't see him not ending up there by mid 2022 at the latest."

Record since : 3-2
Current promotion : UFC
66

Alden Coria
"Cobra" | 7-3-0

USA - Flyweight - 1998

Hyped on 31st July 2021
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "Yet another exciting Flyweight in what is undoubtedly one of the premier divisions in the world for exciting prospects at the moment. Took a step up in competition against a much more experienced guy and made it look pretty easy with relentless pursuit of submissions once he got the opportunity before having the confidence to snatch a standing guillotine and drop to his back once he knew he had it.

Says he wants current LFA interim champ Charles Johnson at the moment and I think that makes sense."

Record since : 2-3
Current promotion : LFA
67

Tereza Bledá
7-1-0

Czech Republic - Flyweight - 2001

Hyped on 2nd August 2021
Age at time - 19
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - Okatagon

At the time I said - "Certainly the best 19 year old female fighter I've ever seen and one I think has the potential to go on and be a UFC champion one day. Bleda's strength and grappling are his biggest assets, with her being dangerous from every position and seemingly able to get fights to the ground whenever she wants (she was ragdolling ex-UFC fighter Pudilova in an exhibition match before even turning pro).

She's fighting much more experienced opponents too. As a 19 year old in her 4th pro fight she fought a Brazilian with 18 pro fights under her belt and tapped her with a triangle armbar in the first round from the bottom. She needs to tighten up her striking and transitions a little bit, but once those holes are plugged she's going to be extremely hard to stop."

Record since : 3-1
Current promotion : UFC
68

Lucia Szabová
"Silent Killer" | 7-0-0

Slovakia - Bantamweight - 1997

Hyped on 2nd August 2021
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - Oktagon

At the time I said - "The other one of the female Oktagon uber prospects. Szabova is primarily a striker but can grapple a bit too. What's really impressive about her is her attitude and her willingness to come forward and throw more and more as the fight goes deeper. Seemingly a girl destined to swim in deep waters who's not afraid to appease the just bleed gods. Gets caught a little bit now and again, but she can work on that. For now her solid offence, good TDD and cardio and heart should take her pretty far anyway."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : Oktagon
69

Francesco Patrón
"Babyface" | 10-2-0

Mexico - Bantamweight - 1999

Hyped on 8th August 2021
Age at time - 20
Record at time : 8-0
Promotion at time - LUX Fight League

At the time I said - "Another one of these exciting lighter weight classes Mexican prospects, Patron is both dangerous both on the feet and on the ground. He showed a nice variety of shot selection on the feet in this fight as well as a nice variety of subs on the ground, attacking with a kneebar, toehold, heel hook, rear naked choke and finally getting the finish with an armbar."

Record since : 2-2
Current promotion : LUX Fight League
70

Ray Cooper III
"Bradda Boy" | 25-10-1

USA - Welterweight - 1993

Hyped on 14th August 2021
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 23-7-1
Promotion at time - PFL

At the time I said - "I'm not normally one for throwing out hype train posts after pretty boring performances, but I'm going to make an exception here. I'm making an exception because I simply haven't seen anyone dominate Rory MacDonald as comfortably as that since he fought Wonderboy*. Even though Rory doesn't seem to have the fire in his belly anymore, he's still a consummate martial artist and he couldn't get into this fight at all, when he's been competitive with just about everyone else he's fought.

Ray showed really solid wrestling and top pressure to go along with the KO power we already knew he had. I knew he had wrestling and a top game in his back pocket, but I didn't know it was good enough to dominate someone like Rory.

*apart from Mousasi, I forgot about that fight when I was typing this, but I guess that was at a higher weight class."

Record since : 2-3
Current promotion : PFL
71

Milson Castro
"Barão" | 17-5-0

Brazil - Lightweight - 1990

Hyped on 14th August 2021
Age at time - 31
Record at time : 14-3
Promotion at time - RCC

At the time I said - "Maybe a bit on the older side for a prospect in the lighter divisions but I'm going with him anyway. Last time I saw him, he showed an interesting grappling game, getting a nice heel hook on a solid opponent. This fight was different as he showed an awesome stalking striking game, just constantly walking down a really solid opponent in Timur Nagibin and hitting him with good shot variety all over the body. Dude was throwing hands, elbows, feet, knees and causing a fighter as good as Timur to spend most of the fight shelling up.

Brazilians never get matched easy in Russia either and since going there he's now beaten 14-1 Gordeev, 12-2 Palchenkov and now 18-5 Nagibin. I hope he gets his UFC opportunity before time passes him by."

Record since : 1-2
Current promotion : Coari Champions
72

Lydell Poag
2-2-0

USA - Middleweight - 1998

Hyped on 15th August 2021
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 1-0
Promotion at time - CFFC

At the time I said - "I think this is the first time I've hype trained someone after their pro debut. This is a lanky guy fighting out of Jackson/Wink with split shorts and a really long wing span. He then brutally finished his opponent with smashing them with vicious elbows on the ground.

Remind you of anyone?"

Record since : 1-2
Current promotion : CFFC
73

Yazmin Jauregui
11-1-0

Mexico - Strawweight - 1999

Hyped on 15th August 2021
Age at time - 22
Record at time : 8-0
Promotion at time - Combate Global

At the time I said - "Very impressive performance from Yasmin in winning the 115 8 woman tournament in Combate, getting two wins by stoppage and another by easy decision. She has insanely fast hand speed and the combination of her being tough to take down, good at using the cage to get back up and the way she blitzes girls against the cage until they don't want any more reminds me a little bit of Joanna Jedrzejczyk."

Record since : 3-1
Current promotion : UFC
74

Tae Kyun Kim
"Ares" | 10-1-0

South Korea - Featherweight

Hyped on 23rd August 2021
Age at time - 27
Record at time : 9-0
Promotion at time - BRAVE

At the time I said - "This fight was Kim's coming out party and his worthy entrance into the pantheon of South Korean just bleed featherweights alongside Korean Zombie and Superboy.

Kim got hurt badly in the first minute against Nurzhan Akishev, so badly that I thought the fight was over for a second. He managed to survive the onslaught, get his brain to focus again and had badly hurt his opponent by the end of the round. What followed was him using a really educated jab to piece Akishev up, brutal knees from a Thai plum whenever he came too close and nasty calf kicks, straights and hooks too in a complete striking performance in one of the best fights of the year.

In his last fight he showed excellent grappling both from the guard and on top, so adding this kind of striking to it as well as showing this kind of heart to come back and win from a difficult position is going to be a tough thing to deal with for a lot of people. UFC hire worthy performance imo."

Record since : 1-1
Current promotion : UAE Warriors
75

Vasiliy Takhtay
"Naruto" | 9-0-0

Kazakhstan - Lightweight

Hyped on 23rd August 2021
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 9-0
Promotion at time - BRAVE

At the time I said - "This dude is a bit of a weird one. He went 8-0 before the age of 21, then randomly didn't compete for 4 years until the weekend. I have no idea why he did that, but he looked incredible, beating up a decent Brazilian opponent with all manner of offence on the feet and on the ground. He probably landed about 20 different types of technique before ultimately choking him out. Can't wait to see him again."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : BRAVE
76

Azat Maksum
"Qazaq" | 15-1-0

Kazakhstan - Flyweight - 1995

Hyped on 23rd August 2021
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 13-0
Promotion at time - BRAVE

At the time I said - "Another impressive performance from a Kazakh fighter on the BRAVE card. This guy just felt his opponent out for a while before deciding to one punch KO him. That kind of power at Flyweight is always going to get my attention."

Record since : 5-1
Current promotion : UFC
77

Vitor Petrino
"Icão" | 11-0-0

Brazil - Light Heavyweight - 1997

Hyped on 5th September 2021
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - UAE Warriors

At the time I said - "Sky is the limit with this dude. He'd been pointed out to me by @Thesnake101 in this thread before, but I didn't have him ranked as after beating ranked Rodolfo Bellato early in his career he'd been can crushing for some reason.

So I was interested to see how he'd do against Gadzhimurad Antigulov in his first fight since the UFC and a former ACB champ who's obviously much more experienced and has fought at a very high level.

Petrino didn't have it all his own way, after he tired a bit after nearly finishing Antigulov early he had to tough it out a bit and show a good chin to take a couple of shots when he decided to throw down and also had to dig deep to get the KO when tired.

I think it's good to see a prospect face a bit of adversity though. In this fight he showed me superb athleticism (throwing flying knees as a LHW), good power, good strength, good speed, good killer instinct and an ability to get back up off his back against a Dagestani wrestler. Still a little rough around the edges perhaps, but the potential is massive."

Record since : 5-0
Current promotion : UFC
78

Ramazan Kuramagomedov
12-0-0

Russia - Welterweight - 1996

Hyped on 5th September 2021
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 9-0
Promotion at time - UAE Warriors

At the time I said - "Ramazan has come extremely close to the UFC in the past, once winning on the Contender Series against current roster member Jordan Williams and once being signed as a late replacement to fight Alex Cowboy but then being released when he had to drop out without fighting for the organisation.

On this evidence he's ready for the big leagues. Taking on a 12-3 guy, Ramazan dominated every moment of the fight with his grappling. Initially it's a little bit positional, but he gradually turns up the pace, pressure and strike volume as the fight progresses as he starts to work towards a finish. I know I bag on controlling grapplers a lot, but if you're being active with strikes and working towards a finish I have no problem with it. Ramazan got the finish right at the end of round two here and I'm hoping he gets another UFC chance at some point."

Record since : 3-0
Current promotion : Bellator
79

Josefine Knutsson
"Thunder" | 7-0-0

Sweden - Strawweight - 1996

Hyped on 5th September 2021
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 2-0
Promotion at time - Fight Club Rush

At the time I said - "Josefine doesn't seem like a very nice lady at all. Going into this fight as a K-1 kickboxer, her opponent could reasonably have expected that grappling her was probably the best idea. Unfortunately for her, every time she did that she got ragdolled, elbowed in the face and had her face mashed in with ground and pound. Obviously things weren't going much better on the feet either.

Looks a scary prospect, can see a little Joanna Jedrzejczyk in her."

Record since : 5-0
Current promotion : UFC
80

Manoel Sousa
"Manumito" | 11-0-0

Brazil - Lightweight - 1997

Hyped on 7th September 2021
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 7-0
Promotion at time - SFT

At the time I said - "Unreal potential on this guy, the one thing he needs to continue to work on is TDD and get ups because everyone is going to try and wrestle**** him. They're going to do that because you can't afford to stand with this guy as he's a tank with unreal power and when I've seen guys in there with him you can kind of see the "oh ****, I need to take this guy down immediately" realisation once they start trading with him.

He's got decent enough TDD to make people work for it at the moment and good sub awareness and is good at explosively getting back to his feet when he gets the opportunity, but I'd like him to work at being a tiny bit more technical with it (which I'm sure he is doing). If he gets that aspect of his game right, then I think we could be looking at a future UFC champion."

Record since : 4-0
Current promotion : PFL
81

Cristian Pérez
"Puas" | 13-1-0

Mexico - Lightweight - 1995

Hyped on 12th September 2021
Age at time - 22
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - Combate Global

At the time I said - "Another one of this special generation of Mexican lighter weight class fighters, Perez seems to be a submission machine with all but one of his wins coming by first round sub. His opponent Dumar Roa is an experienced guy who's been in there with a few decent level fighters and been competitive, but Perez made him look like an absolute bum in there. Awesome pressure grappling and constant sub hunting until he finds one, the kid doesn't give anyone a minute to rest and gather their thoughts.

Big league talent imo."

Record since : 7-1
Current promotion : Combate Global
82

Eduard Vartanyan
"Lionheart" | 25-4-0

Russia - Lightweight - 1991

Hyped on 12th September 2021
Age at time - 30
Record at time : 23-4
Promotion at time - Open Fighting Championship

At the time I said - "This was more the Hollywood performance that Eduard needs to achieve his goal of getting that UFC contract. Just an absolutely vicious beatdown interrupted briefly by having to fend off a few takedown attempts. Some of those elbows from the top were deadly"

Record since :4-0
Current promotion : ACA
83

Timur Khizriev
"Imam" | 15-0-0

Russia - Featherweight - 1995

Hyped on 19th September 2021
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 11-0
Promotion at time - EFC

At the time I said - "I've been meaning to check this guy out for a while as he was the only blemish on Bibert Tumenov's record before he lost to Omarov and it's safe to say I wasn't disappointed. He looks a fantastic fighter with great wrestling, control, standup and subs. Really the complete package and he could well have an incredible career."

Record since : 3-0
Current promotion : Bellator
84

Nariman Abbasov
"Bayraktar" | 29-5-0

Azerbaijan - Welterweight - 1994

Hyped on 19th September 2021
Age at time - 27
Record at time : 27-3
Promotion at time - Fight Nights Global

At the time I said - "I've been a little underwhelmed by Abbasov on occasions before, but I have to give him credit here as he came out all guns blazing against an experienced and high level opponent in Shamil Zavurov and got him out of there without too much issue. Zavurov only tends to lose against top level opposition, so dealing with him this comfortably is a bit of a statement."

Record since : 2-2
Current promotion : RIZIN
85

Anatoly Malykhin
"Spartak" | 14-0-0

Russia - Heavyweight - 1988

Hyped on 24th September 2021
Age at time - 33
Record at time : 10-0
Promotion at time - ONE Championship

At the time I said - "33 is kind of old to be starting a hype train, but heavyweights tend to peak a bit later than smaller fighters so **** it. Malykhin utterly crushed Amir Aliakbari in their fight and while some of that was Aliakbari looking bad, we still have to consider that he had a good record coming in and had beaten some decent guys, Malykhin made him look like a can, wobbling him early, dominating the world class wrestler in the grappling exchanges and then spectacularly dispatching of him.

Arjan Bhullar must be ****ting himself."

Record since : 4-0
Current promotion - ONE Championship
86

Marcus Buchecha
4-1-0

Brazil - Heavyweight - 1990

Hyped on 24th September 2021
Age at time - 31
Record at time : 2-0
Promotion at time - ONE Championship

At the time I said - "This is only the 2nd time I've hype trained someone after their pro-debut, but the only real question as to whether Buchecha deserved to be hyped was whether he could translate his BJJ to an MMA setting. The early signs looked promising as he took Anderson Silva (not that one) down with ease before dominating him on the ground in a methodical fashion en route to a sub. Of course the challenge will be against people with decent TDD and we didn't really see anything of his standup, but so far, so good."

Record since : 2-1
Current promotion - ONE Championship
87

Rae Yoon Ok
17-4-0

South Korea - Lightweight - 1991

Hyped on 24th September 2021
Age at time - 30
Record at time : 16-3
Promotion at time - ONE Championship

At the time I said - "Now while I didn't think Ok won the fight against Christian Lee, I still think he deserves credit for an excellent performance in staying competitive enough to have a debateable decision with someone I think of highly of as Lee. Ok showed nice crisp striking, excellent takedown defence, great submission defence and good cardio to give Lee the toughest test in his recent career. A rematch seems inevitable so he'll get a chance to prove to me that he's the better fighter."

Record since : 1-1
Current promotion : ONE Championship
88

Jae Woong Kim
"The Fighting God" | 13-8-0

South Korea - Featherweight - 1993

Hyped on 24th September 2021
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 12-4
Promotion at time - ONE Championship

At the time I said - "Another spectacular performance in an evening of great performances on the ONE card. Kim has impressed me with his hands before but he took it to the next level here in using his crisp hands to dispatch of former FW champion Martin Nguyen. His next fight could well be against the winner of the Le Vs Tonon match for the title."

Record since : 1-4
Current promotion : ONE Championship
89

Edwin Cooper Jr.
6-1-0

USA - Featherweight - 1993

Hyped on 28th September 2021
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 5-1
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "Cooper is a highly impressive wrestler in an MMA setting. The other thing that makes him impressive is how aggressive he is with his ground and pound which really separates him from the lay and pray guys. He's very good at isolating a hand and throwing vicious GnP with the other hand causing severe damage to his opponent. Dominant at moving from position to position and seems to be able to take guys down at will.

In short, he's a problem."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : PFL
90

Jesse Urholin
8-2-0

Finland - Welterweight - 1989

Hyped on 2nd October 2021
Age at time - 32
Record at time : 8-0
Promotion at time - Cage Warriors

At the time I said - "Another impressive performance from the man with the most magnificent mullet in the fight game. Urholin has hugely impressive grappling, positional sense and top control and once he's on top of someone he doesn't really seem to give them a chance to get back into the fight, just casually riding from position to position constantly throwing shots. I think a fight for the CW WW title that Garry vacated has to be next really. It'll be interesting to see how his stand up holds up against someone he finds hard to take down, but so far so good."

Record since : 0-2
Current promotion : Cage Warriors
91

Mateusz Figlak
"Matt" | 8-2-0

Poland - Welterweight

Hyped on 3rd October 2021
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 6-1
Promotion at time - Cage Warriors

At the time I said - "Exceptionally violent performance by Figlak who gives their family the highly impressive and sought after distinction of being the first two brothers to both get hype train posts from hellowhosthat from the Sherdog karate forums.

Just constant violence and intent to hurt his opponent, battering him with violent ground and pound constantly in a performance that kind of brought Jack Hermansson to mind. He's 6-1 and on an upward trajectory and with his only defeat being to Ian Garry that's not really much of a blemish either. I'd like to see some combination of him/Urholin/Rhys McKee for the WW title next."

Record since : 2-1
Current promotion : Cage Warriors
92

George Hardwick
12-2-0

England - Lightweight - 1996

Hyped on 3rd October 2021
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 8-1
Promotion at time - Cage Warriors

At the time I said - "An absolutely career best performance from Hardwick as he battered a 9-1 Czech opponent in Jakub Donhal. Hardwick's forward pressure was absolutely relentless and his combination punching all over the body looked awesome, showed really nice offensive grappling when the opportunity presented itself too and really dominated in every facet of the fight en route to a sub victory."

Record since : 4-1
Current promotion : Cage Warriors
93

Phumi Nkuta
"Turbo" | 7-0-0

USA - Flyweight - 1995

Hyped on 3rd October 2021
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - CFFC

At the time I said - "Phumi is the latest product off of the Serra/Longo production line and he's certainly an impressive prospect. Although he's pretty inexperienced, he doesn't really have any obvious weaknesses to his game. He has really nice movement on the feet, very quick hands, is very quick at moving in and out, has excellent wrestling, is good at floating from position to position on top and seems to have an excellent gas tank too. That's the kind of combination that could cause problems for anyone. Now he's the CFFC champ it'd be nice to see him defend the title against Curatolo, or perhaps fight a more experienced Flyweight like Eric Shelton or something to give him that big pre-UFC test."

Record since : 3-0
Current promotion : CFFC
94

Rustam Kerimov
19-1-0

Russia - Bantamweight - 1992

Hyped on 5th October 2021
Age at time - 29
Record at time : 15-0
Promotion at time - ACA

At the time I said - "In all honesty it's a bit of an embarrassment that Kerimov isn't in the UFC already, the guy is probably a top 5 BW in the world. He made his return from a couple of years of inactivity while trying and ultimately failing to secure a UFC contract. The first round he was a little more rusty than Rustam, but he still won the round, after that he settled back in and showcased the same dynamic striking and the best takedown entries in the sport that make him what he is. Put on a show of utter dominance over Daniel Jubileau, and anyone who knows how good Jubileau is knows how impressive it is to thoroughly dominate the guy."

Record since : 4-1
Current promotion : ACA
95

Abdul-Rakhman Dudaev
"The Warrior" | 32-9-0

Russia - Bantamweight

Hyped on 5th October 2021
Age at time - 30
Record at time : 27-6
Promotion at time - ACA

At the time I said - "Man, did Dudaev ever show up in killer mode for this one. Normally, he's a lot of fun to watch with his creative striking mixed with wrestling and entertaining scrambly grappling, but on this occasion he decided to just come and kill the guy. Maybe a more ruthless of Dudaev will be even more successful than he has been already. I doubt he'll ever move to a major Western promotion and I think he's an ACA lifer, but he's still worth highlighting."

Record since : 5-3
Current promotion : ACA
96

David Onama
"Silent Assassin" | 12-2-0

Uganda - Lightweight - 1994

Hyped on 9th October 2021
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 8-0
Promotion at time - FAC

At the time I said - "I've been meaning to catch this dude fight for a while and man, did he not disappoint. Absolutely loved everything about his performance against a 5-1 performance. Just great patience, seeing all the offence coming and deflecting it all while gradually moving forward, keeping pressure on and getting his reads. Everything he threw was for a purpose and then when he felt he had an opening he wobbled him with the first jab he threw before absolutely crushing him with a cross and showing killer instinct to follow in with ground and pound to get the stoppage immediately. Really tough to make a better first impression on me than this in all honesty.

8-0 with 7 finishes as a pro and was 10-0 as an ammy so has a decent amount of experience. Training with a good camp under James Krause, this guy is UFC ready imo."

Record since : 3-2
Current promotion : UFC
97

Aleksandr Vasiliev
"Мugiwara" | 11-2-1

Russia - Welterweight - 2000

Hyped on 16th October 2021
Age at time - 21
Record at time : 7-0-1
Promotion at time - RCC

At the time I said - "Keeping an eye on this dude. I really liked his performance in RCC against Sadonshoev, he absolutely broke him down with volume punching and kicking over the course of the fight. I started thinking part way through it that the way he looks and fights reminds me a little bit of Nate Diaz. Once he knew the guy wanted out he relentlessly threw shots at him until the ref stepped in to put him out of his misery too so good killer instinct."

Record since : 4-2
Current promotion : RCC
98

Vladimir Mineev
16-1-1

Russia - Middleweight - 1990

Hyped on 18th October 2021
Age at time - 31
Record at time : 16-1-1
Promotion at time - Fight Nights Global

At the time I said - "Mineev is the ******* don and I think at this point probably the best fighter outside the UFC. The big test for him was always going to be the rematch against Magomed Ismailov who is one of the absolute best fighters outside the UFC in his own right. In a clash of two guys who are top 10 in the world, it was Mineev who prevailed, outlasting Ismailov, managing to avoid damage when taken down by constantly moving (Magomed takes HW's down, so hard to hold that against him) and gradually dealing more and more damage and starting to stuff the takedowns as he took over the fight en route to a TKO win.

Someone with this kind of mix of ability and mentality is hard to find. The UFC need to make him a good offer, they're running out of credible challengers for Adesanya and it looks like they'll have to recycle opponents for him, Mineev is a credible threat."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : Fight Nights Global
99

Levi Mowles
"The Guy" | 16-4-0

USA - Bantamweight - 1995

Hyped on 18th October 2021
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 16-4
Promotion at time - Fury FC

At the time I said - "A bit of a breakout performance from Mowles as he absolutely dominated Sherdog worldwide favourite Johnny Cupcakes Campbell. He just looked better in every facet of the fight, winning the striking and just absolutely dominating when it came to the grappling. He made Campbell look like a bad fighter, which anyone who saw him beat Henry Corrales in Bellator knows isn't the case."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : Fury FC
100

Mateusz Rębecki
"Rebeasti" | 19-1-0

Poland - Lightweight - 1992

Hyped on 22nd October 2021
Age at time - 29
Record at time : 14-1
Promotion at time - FEN

At the time I said - "It took forever for me to torrent this fight off the one other guy that seemed to have it and then when I put it on after all the anticipation of waiting to catch a Rebecki fight, he just mows over and starts winging bombs like a prime Wanderlei Silva and knocks his opponent dead in 15 seconds. That would have got him a contract on the Contender Series for sure.

Only negative is the dude has absolutely horrible taste in walkout music."

Record since : 5-0
Current promotion : UFC
101

Sebastian Przybysz
"Sebić" | 12-3-1

Poland - Bantamweight - 1993

Hyped on 24th October 2021
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 9-2
Promotion at time - KSW

At the time I said - "Sebastian deserves a hype train at this point. He's the kind of guy that slips under the radar a little bit, but he's just a good fighter everywhere. Finishing a BJJ black belt in Bruno Santos with an inverted triangle is pretty cool too. But yeah, now a champion in a decent organisation with a defence under his belt and also has the plus of having avenged both his defeats. Solid fighter."

Record since : 3-1-1
Current promotion : KSW
102

Max Holzer
"Stifler" | 7-0-0

Germany - Bantamweight - 2002

Hyped on 1st November 2021
Age at time - 19
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - National Fighting Championship

At the time I said - "Super impressed by this kid. I actually watched the fight to see his opponent, Alexander Luster who was 5-0 with 5 finishes going into this one, but I came away all about this kid.

For some reason the judges scored this as a split decision, I have no idea how they did that as this kid dominated every round. The thing I was most impressed with was the sheer pressure this kid puts on people, he doesn't so much walk people down as just float in the perfect range to do what he wants to do and his footwork is just excellent. With his footwork being so good he's able to just be wherever his opponent is and it just seems impossible to create any space from the guy, it just looks exhausting to fight him.

His wrestling is on point and I was also impressed with his head movement which allows him to stay in that range and unload on you while you fail to hit him. My one criticism is that his offensive positional jits needs a bit of work as he allowed his opponent to reguard too easily, but this kid is 19 so I'm sure that will come.

But yeah, 19 years old beating a 25 year old undefeated guy with all finishes who was clearly bigger than him (I'm pretty sure he's really a Flyweight).

Super impressed."

Record since : 3-0
Current promotion : Oktagon
103

Alessandro Costa
"Nono" | 13-4-0

Brazil - Flyweight - 2002

Hyped on 7th November 2021
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 10-2
Promotion at time - LUX Fight League

At the time I said - "Excellent defence of his flyweight title in a fun fight against a tough **** Gonzalez who came to scrap. Costa actually got hurt a couple of times in a close first round but also hurt his opponent in a wild back and forth affair. From there though he really took over, showcasing a mix of speed, power and excellent grappling in order to finish his opponent. Feels like he's close to being ready for the big show."

Record since : 3-1
Current promotion : UFC
104

Denis Lavrentyev
"Lavrik" | 13-3-0

Russia - Bantamweight - 1988

Hyped on 7th November 2021
Age at time - 33
Record at time : 12-2
Promotion at time - Parus FC

At the time I said - "It looked like Lavretyev was being a bit tentative in this fight and I even thought his opponent Jesse Arnett was doing pretty well in the first round until Denis decided to step it up a gear and spinning back fist his head off before ground and pounding the **** out of him leaving him a bloody mess. At 33 years old it feels like it's now or never for a UFC run, as the main training partner of Petr Yan I'm surprised he hasn't been sneaked in yet."

Record since : 1-1
Current promotion : RCC
105

Nikolay Kovalenko
8-2-0

Russia - Light Heavyweight

Hyped on 7th November 2021
Age at time - 30
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - Parus FC

At the time I said - "This dude just isn't very nice. Check out what he did to poor Yuri Fraga."

Record since : 3-2
Current promotion : RCC
106

Sam Patterson
"The Future" | 11-2-1

England - Lightweight - 1996

Hyped on 10th November 2021
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 8-1-1
Promotion at time - BRAVE

At the time I said - "It's time I gave Sam some hype for the recent run he's been on. First he knocked out UFC vet Felipe Silva, then he clearly beat Ylies Djiroun who's only other recent losses were close decisions in the PFL. I thought he might be in trouble this time against a 14-1 Dagestani but he proved me wrong by managing to roll with the wrestling and work through the positions he needed to before snapping up his opportunity for a choke and getting the finish. He's extremely tall for the division and he's getting really good at using his length to his advantage in both striking and grappling.

What I like about his development is that by fighting in BRAVE he's getting exposed to a variety of different opponent types, so rather than coming up through Cage Warriors generally fighting Western European fighters he's already mixing it with good Brazilians and Dagestanis.

He had a draw with current champ Ahmed Amir a couple of years ago, so it probably makes sense to run that back and give him that title opportunity."

Record since - 3-1
Current promotion : UFC
107

Mansur Azhiev
7-0-0

Russia - Featherweight

Hyped on 14th November 2021
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 7-0
Promotion at time - Armia Fight Night

At the time I said - "Much more impressed with Azhiev this time out as he absolutely dominated a Brazilian opponent who's been in there with the likes of Brendan Loughnane. Controlled every second of the fight and looked like he could do what he wanted at any point. It was nice to get more of a look at his striking which is really polished, with a good creative shot selection which he seems adept at picking well from to get things to connect. Looks to have decent power too.

I knew the grappling was there from the last time I saw him, but he has the wrestling and top control you'd expect from a top Dagi prospect."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : Retired
108

Jack Becker
11-5-0

Australia - Lightweight - 1992

Hyped on 20th November 2021
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 10-2
Promotion at time - Eternal MMA

At the time I said - "I started paying attention to Jack when he beat another prospect in Daniel Hill to win the Eternal MMA title after going into fight to look at Hill. He defended his title against tough veteran Brentin Mumford and showed excellent BJJ to add to the KO power he displayed when he beat Hill.

Really nice, methodical style of passing, floating from position to position, switching between back and mount and snatching up the sub once he'd created a situation where his opponent had no option but to give it to him.

He had a three year layoff after losing 2 fights to decent competition in UFC vet Callan Potter and ONE champion Ok Rae Yoon but has now won three in a row since returning, all against opponents with solid records and has won and defended the belt.

Looks to me like the Aussie in the best position to get a UFC call."

Record since : 1-3
Current promotion : Eternal MMA
109

Felipe Lima
"D'Ouro" | 12-1-0

Brazil - Bantamweight - 1998

Hyped on 21st November 2021
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 11-1
Promotion at time - Fight Club Rush

At the time I said - "Another incredible member of the All Stars Wolf Pack is Brazilian import Felipe Lima, who won the Bantamweight title of FCR with an awesome flying knee to the body. Seeing that made me want to go and check out his other fights and this is an exciting fighter with varied offence and the cardio to keep throwing **** at people round after round.

Looked like a UFC standard fighter to me."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : Oktagon
110

Mafalda Carmona
"Monstrinho" | 5-2-0

Portugal - Bantamweight

Hyped on 24th November 2021
Age at time - 20
Record at time : 3-0
Promotion at time - European Beatdown

At the time I said - "Seems to be a female believer in smesh. From what I've been able to catch of her she just takes girls down and basically beats them up while throwing sub attempts in there too. She's also only 20 years old and I think she's going to develop into quite the problem. 3-0 with 3 wins by ground and pound stoppage, one by the ref, one by the doctor and one by the opponent's corner."

Record since : 2-2
Current promotion : Kingdom Fighting
111

Alfonso Leyva
"Sniper" | 7-1-0

Mexico - Welterweight - 1993

Hyped on 27th November 2021
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - UWC

At the time I said - "A two time Mexican Olympic wrestler (not sure what that's worth in real terms) who seems to have bricks for fists. Very athletic and strong and while the striking is still coming together technically everything looks powerful and he seems to have one shot KO power. Not sure how good the wrestling is as he just decided to strike instead, I get the feeling if he can implement that and use ground and pound with his power then he'll be a problem."

Record since : 2-1
Current promotion : LFA
112

Shara Magomedov
"Bullet" | 12-0-0

Russia - Middleweight - 1994

Hyped on 27th November 2021
Age at time - 27
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - Fight Nights Global

At the time I said - "Very active fighter who looks better every time I see him. After the Kadiev fight I thought "this guy looks pretty good", then he murdered Allakhverdian with a brutal elbow and I thought "this guy looks like a top prospect" and now he's followed that up by sending Joel Dos Santos to the astro-plane with a front hook kick I'm thinking the dude looks like a potential world champion.

Just insane levels of skill, can turn the pressure on when he wants to, can fight off the back foot when he wants to, can wrestle well offensively, defensive wrestling is on point, can finish guys in a variety of different ways. Really everything you look for in a prospect.

The one different coloured eye looks ******* cool too."

Record since : 6-0
Current promotion : UFC
113

Yusaku Kinoshita
"Wonderboy" | 6-3-0

Japan - Welterweight - 2000

Hyped on 28th November 2021
Age at time - 21
Record at time : 4-1
Promotion at time - RIZIN

At the time I said - "Had a clear finish taken away for grabbing the cage in a bit of a Matt Hamill Vs Jon Jones "well it was technically illegal but he'd kind of won by then anyway" moment. I'm still going to be considering him undefeated. Showed good aggression, power and finishing instinct when he hurt his opponent (okay maybe too much), looked in control when grappling on top and put a constant pressure on his opponent. Also worth considering that he's 21 in his 5th pro fight against a 19-7-1 guy too."

Record since : 2-2
Current promotion : UFC
114

Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev
"Dagi" | 9-2-0

Turkey - Lightweight - 1994

Hyped on 3rd December 2021
Age at time - 27
Record at time : 9-2
Promotion at time - ONE Championship

At the time I said - "A really solid bounce back performance from Dagi in an absolute shootout against Timofey Nastyukhin. Impressive belief in power and chin to stand there and trade bombs with someone like Nasty and come out on top. Took a couple of solid shots, but ended up dishing out far more punishment than he took."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion - ONE Championship
115

Stamp Fairtex
11-2-0

Thailand - Strawweight - 1997

Hyped on 3rd December 2021
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 8-1
Promotion at time - ONE

At the time I said - "Obviously having held both the ONE kickboxing and Muay Thai titles we knew that Stamp had the striking chops, but she's really developing well in the grappling to go with it. She's developed solid takedown defence against the fence and if someone does get her down she's now extremely dangerous off her back, throwing up triangles and armbars with solid set-ups and techniques.

An outstanding striker being able to throw without worrying too much because they know they have a dangerous guard if they get taken down is always a nice combination."

Record since : 3-1
Current promotion : ONE Championship
116

Clayton Carpenter
7-0-0

USA - Flyweight - 1996

Hyped on 6th December 2021
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "Really spectacular performance this time out from Clayton as he absolutely blew through Rodney Kealohi with a spectacular head kick which completely stiffened him. I was already high on his grappling, but adding this kind of dynamic, quick and powerful striking makes him a different level of threat entirely. Trains out of a good gym in MMA Lab so you know he's getting quality rounds on. Called for a shot at the belt after the fight and although Charles Johnson is tricky and much more experienced I think Clayton could well have the skills to beat him."

Record since : 2-0
Current promotion : UFC
117

Losene Keita
"Black Panther" | 12-1-0

Guinea - Lightweight -1997

Hyped on 16th December 2021
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 7-0
Promotion at time - Oktagon

At the time I said - "******* hell, it's rare that people have this kind of first impression on me but this guy seems to have the goods. He made his Oktagon debut which was a serious step up in promotional quality and opposition, took a ranked opponent there and just made him look like an absolute can.

Just crazy fast, moving in and out with his head moving nicely and throwing quick and powerful combinations, looking almost like he's fighting in a different dimension to his opponent. I need to see someone test him in the grappling department, but this guy is a serious, serious problem on the feet."

Record since : 5-1
Current promotion : Oktagon
118

Tony Laramie
8-2-0

Canada - Flyweight - 1999

Hyped on 16th December 2021
Age at time - 22
Record at time : 6-2
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "He may look about 12 years old but this dude is bloody good. The main thing that sticks out to me about him is just the speed of the guy, he moves and throws combos so quickly that he's hit you about 4 times and is back on the outside before you know what's happened.

Great cardio and constant offensive output too, always in the face of the opponent. He's able to get away with constantly pushing forward because he has a quick and strong sprawl when people try reactive takedowns so it's very hard to stop his momentum.

He's 6-2, but both losses are from when he was 18 years old, so don't let that fool you."

Record since : 2-0
Current promotion : BTC
119

Abdoul Abdouraguimov
"Lazy King" | 18-1-0, 1 NC

France - Welterweight - 1995

Hyped on 4th January 2022
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 12-1
Promotion at time - ARES

At the time I said - "Nothing, this was my lazy post Christmas period, but I did say he deserves one for his fight with Luciano Contini where he choked him easily and did a million backflips"

Record since : 6-0
Current promotion : PFL
120

Seika Izawa
13-0-0

Japan - Atomweight - 1997

Hyped on 4th January 2022
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - RIZIN

At the time I said - "Nothing, this was my lazy post Christmas period, but I said she deserved one for beating Ayaka Hamasaki in impressive fashion"

Record since : 8-0
Current promotion : RIZIN
121

Dakota Ditcheva
"Dangerous" | 11-0-0

England - Bantamweight - 1998

Hyped on 4th January 2022
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 3-0
Promotion at time - UK Fighting Championship

At the time I said - "Nothing, this was my lazy post Christmas period, but I'd recently caught up on her 2021 fights and was massively impressed with her striking, pace wrestling and GNP"

Record since : 8-0
Current promotion : PFL
122

Charlie Campbell
"The Cannibal" | 9-2-0

USA - Lightweight - 1995

Hyped on 4th January 2022
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 5-1
Promotion at time - CFFC

At the time I said - "Nothing, this was my lazy post Christmas period, but I said he deserved one for his dominant victory over Vadim Ogar"

Record since : 4-1
Current promotion - UFC
123

Evan Elder
"The Phenom" | 8-2-0

USA - Lightweight - 1997

Hyped on 4th January 2022
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 7-0
Promotion at time - FAC

At the time I said - "Nothing, this was my lazy post Christmas period, but I said that I liked what I saw from his all round skill set in a fight against an admittedly overmatched Marcus Andrusia"

Record since : 1-2
Current promotion : UFC
124

Mariusz Ksiazkiewicz
"The Iron Pol" | 11-2-0

Canada - Middleweight - 1989

Hyped on 4th January 2022
Age at time - 32
Record at time : 9-1
Promotion at time - Unified MMA

At the time I said - "Nothing, this was my lazy post Christmas period, but I said he deserved a post for his absolute smashing of Unified Light Heavyweight champion Graham Park in a catchweight affair."

Record since : 2-1
Current Promotion : Iowa Fight Series
125

Igor Severino
8-1-0

Brazil - Flyweight - 2003

Hyped on 8th January 2022
Age at time - 18
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - Jungle Fight

At the time I said - "I was impressed with this kid the first time I saw him, solely on him being an 18 year old beating up a journeyman grown bloke, but this time he was fighting Davi Souza who is 25 and I had down as a great prospect himself. Igor seemed stronger, won the wrestling exchanges, edged the BJJ exchanges and then showed he could do it on the feet too by folding Davi with a shot to the kidneys and then having the fight IQ to throw his finishing ground and pound to the body which I thought showed great composure for an 18 year old."

Record since : 3-1
Current promotion : UFC
126

Matěj Peňáz
"Money" | 9-1-0

Czech Republic - Middleweight - 1996

Hyped on 9th January 2022
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - Oktagon

At the time I said - "Really nice potential in this guy. Outstanding output, just throws and throws, I think at the moment he has a tendency to over extend his combos a little bit which could get him in trouble but I think he'll figure that out. Also got stuck against the cage for extended periods, but at the same time never close to being taken down. What I love is the accumulative damage he was putting out with straight, accurate and high volume shots which is going to drown a lot of people.

Not quite UFC ready at this stage, but give him another year and he could well be."

Record since : 4-1
Current promotion : Oktagon
127

Asu Almabaev
"Zulfikar" | 19-2-0

Kazakhstan - Flyweight - 1994

Hyped on 15th January 2022
Age at time - 27
Record at time : 14-2
Promotion at time - Naiza FC

At the time I said - "This dude is the real deal imo. Great skills both on the feet and on the mat. Great spinny ****, tremendous uppercuts (some of the best I've seen in the sport), great entries, great ground control, great ground and pound. Speed, strength, power.

UFC needs to sign this dude yesterday."

Record since : 5-0
Current promotion : UFC
128

Sedriques Dumas
"The Reaper" | 9-2-0

USA - Middleweight - 1995

Hyped on 24th January 2022
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - iKON

At the time I said - "Pretty special looking prospect imo. Has a kickboxing base and the speed, variety and lack of tell on his kicks is insane, just very difficult to read where he's going to hit you. Last fight I watched he absolutely chopped some poor dude's leg into mincemeat to get a leg kick stoppage, this time he countered a dude rushing forward with a highlight reel KO headkick.

My only slight concern about him is that he did get wrestle****** as an ammy, but it looks like he's improving in that aspect as he scrambled up quickly this time rather than accepting bottom position. Also I do need to see him against some better competiton. Jared Gooden fights in the same organisation and would be good.

Reminds me of a Jamahal Hill who's more kicking based."

Record since : 4-2
Current promotion : UFC
129

Jose Perez
8-1-0

USA - Featherweight - 1995

Hyped on 31st January 2022
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 6-1
Promotion at time - CFFC

At the time I said - "I was more interested in Jose's opponent Paul Capaldo coming into this one, but left impressed by Perez. I thought of him as more of a grappler, but he was working really nicely behind his jab in this one and putting really good pressure on his opponent on route to a comfortable win against a highly touted prospect who was due to be on DWCS last year were it not for a positive covid test. All this while working through a massive cut that was basically pissing blood all over the cage."

Record since : 2-0
Current promotion : CFFC
130

Dan Argueta
"The Determined" | 9-2-0, 2 NC

USA - Bantamweight - 1993

Hyped on 5th February 2022
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 7-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "Dominating bullying performance of up and coming Brazilian performance Mairon Santos on last nights LFA show. Just looked much stronger and more aggressive than his opponent, repeatedly dragging him down and basically beating the **** out of him and dominating every position. I scored the first two rounds as 10-8 before he drowned and finally finished his opponent in the 3rd."

Record since : 2-2-0-2
Current promotion : UFC
131

Mikey England
9-1-0

USA - Welterweight - 1991

Hyped on 7th February 2022
Age at time - 30
Record at time : 6-1
Promotion at time - FAC

At the time I said - "I thought this dude might be a bust after he screwed up and got quickly finished by a can last year but he seems to have used the experience to refocus on his wrestling and turned in an excellent performance against lowish level journeyman Zak Bucia. Basically just wrestling and heavy ground and pound throughout the fight, defending subs (although he probably does need to shut those entries down a bit earlier) and pounding away until the ref gave a mercy stoppage. Kind of a bit of a Chael Sonnen like performance."

Record since : 3-0
Current promotion : FAC
132

Erik Silva
"King" | 9-3-0

Venezuela - Welterweight - 1987

Hyped on 18th February 2022
Age at time - 34
Record at time : 8-1
Promotion at time - LUX Fight League

At the time I said - "I don't usually list prospects over 33, but this dude excited me so I'm doing it. Not only does he have the same name as everyone's favourite eternal prospect, he's also very interesting himself. Very aggressive on the feet and even moreso on the ground. Opened up a massive cut on his opponent, decided to call the fight himself to let him get checked out and then beat him up again and choked him when they medical team disagreed with him that the dude could continue.

Needs to get a move on at 34, but I like him."

Record since : 1-2
Current promotion : UFC
133

Anzor Chakaev
6-0-0

Russia - Featherweight

Hyped on 24th February 2022
Age at time - 27
Record at time : 7-0
Promotion at time - Fight Nights Global

At the time I said - "This guy is a sanda style fighter with a good output and a great variety of offence. In his fight against Khairulin he was throwing hook kicks, spinning heel kicks to the body and head, back fists, all sorts. He also has nice quick tight boxing to go with it and is able to get multiple shot combos off quickly. Decent wrestling too, although I would say the entries are better than the actual takedowns.

I'd like to have maybe seen him go for the finish a bit more, but a really pretty style and one that's great for racking up points. A little bit like a Featherweight Muslim Salikhov."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : Fight Nights Global
134

Mo Miller
"Mo Show" | 8-3-0

USA - Bantamweight - 1992

Hyped on 2nd March 2022
Age at time - 29
Record at time : 7-1
Promotion at time - Fury FC

At the time I said - "I'm officially hopping back on the Mo train. After his screw up against Jose Johnson in front of Dana he really needed this one to get back on track. Get back on track he did with some nice long striking followed by the trademark double leg and ground and pound for the finish. Poor Evers Andersen didn't stand a chance. Hopefully he sticks at what he's good at and quickly gets back among his true level of competition."

Record since : 1-2
Current promotion : Caged Thunder
135

Adam Soldaev
"Czhonkur" | 8-2-0

Poland - Featherweight - 1997

Hyped on 2nd March 2022
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 6-1
Promotion at time - KSW

At the time I said - "Nice, dynamic and powerful striker who seems a nightmare on the feet. Really made previously unbeaten Pascal Hintzen look pretty low level as he was completely unable to deal with the accuracy and power of his shots. Good use of elbows on the fence when Hintzen tried to pin him up against it helped him open up space for his striking. A flying knee hurt his opponent and a well timed counter as his opponent tried to come in faceplanted him."

Record since : 2-1
Current promotion : KSW
136

Vitaly Slipenko
16-6-0

Ukraine - Welterweight - 1994

Hyped on 2nd March 2022
Age at time - 27
Record at time : 14-4
Promotion at time - ACA

At the time I said - "Back on form with an excellent performance after his disappointing loss to Ustarmagomed. Took a UFC veteran in Stefan Sekulic and made him look absolutely leagues below him with dynamic and quick striking, covering distance quickly to get his strikes in without anything coming the other way being really close to him. Upped the ante as the fight continued and finished with a great spinning back fist to put the cap on an outstanding performance."

Record since : 2-2
Current promotion : ACA
137

Bibert Tumenov
"Headhunter" | 13-2-0

Russia - Featherweight - 1997

Hyped on 2nd March 2022
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 11-2
Promotion at time - ACA

At the time I said - "Time for Bibert to finally get his hype train as he continues to look amazing when not fighting Omarov or Khizriev (arguably the best two FW prospects in the world). Put Diego Brandao to the sword as he continues to showcase some of the best boxing in the sport, mixing things up well throughout the fight before finishing with a beautiful shot to the liver."

Record since : 2-0
Current promotion : ACA
138

Gadzhimurad Amirzhanov
5-0-0

Russia - Welterweight - 1995

Hyped on 2nd March 2022
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 3-0
Promotion at time - Fight Nights Global

At the time I said - "He's pretty early in his career but this dude looks damn impressive. I really liked the way he was timing knees up the middle every time his opponent tried to shoot, very difficult to get in on this guy. Looks to do damage and trip constantly in the clinch too so it's difficult to get any respite against him there. Eventually his opponent did manage to get him down but when he did he just got immediately triangle and finished. Beat Alexander Chernov in easy fashion in only his 3rd fight, who's a guy who's given some ACA roster staples decent workouts."

Record since : 2-0
Current promotion : ONE Championship
139

Reinier de Ridder
"The Dutch Knight" | 16-2-0

Netherlands - Middleweight - 1990

Hyped on 2nd March 2022
Age at time - 31
Record at time : 15-0
Promotion at time - ONE Championship

At the time I said - "A performance that really put De Ridder over the top as he took WW champ Kiamran Abbasov and made him look absolutely nowhere near his level. Every takedown seemed to work for him and his top grappling is some of the best in the sport, controlling position well and gradually advancing towards a finish in a methodical fashion that almost brings to mind the top control of someone like Demian Maia. I'm not really sure what there is left for him in ONE, he's talked about going up to HW but those are some big dudes, ideally he can come over and test himself in the UFC."

Record since : 1-2
Current promotion : ONE Championship
140

Fabricio de Andrade
"Wonder Boy" | 9-2-0, 1 NC

Brazil - Bantamweight - 1997

Hyped on 2nd March 2022
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 7-2
Promotion at time - ONE Championship

At the time I said - "Now he's a fully focused MMA fighter, Wonderboy just looks more and more outstanding every time I see him. Terrific kickboxer with good power and unreal handspeed. Also able to throw in combinations that pick the opponent apart and target weak spots in the defence. Very hard to stop once he gets on the front foot."

Record since : 2-0-0-1
Current Promotion : ONE Championship
141

Otar Tanzilov
9-0-0

Georgia - Bantamweight - 1998

Hyped on 3rd March 2022
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - GFC

At the time I said - "I checked out this GFC card because it had Amiran Gogoladze smashing some can as the main event, but I thought I might as well check out some of the other fights.

Anyway, I thought this dude seems to be moving pretty well, confidently closing the distance on his opponent. Then I thought he's doing a good job of showing the left and then throwing the right and switching stances and using his kicks well. Then he hits the dude with an uppercut and nearly finishes him, then he lets him back up and knocks him down again with a spinning back kick to the body, then he follows that up by knocking him out with a ******* flying switch kick in my favourite KO of the year which left the other dude disorientated for a good 5 minutes.

I need to see him against better comp as he does have some sketchy looking ammy losses, but a flying switch kick is a good recipe for getting hype from me."

Record since : 3-0
Current promotion - UAE Warriors
142

Cameron Saaiman
"MSP" | 9-2-0

South Africa - Bantamweight - 2000

Hyped on 6th March 2022
Age at time - 21
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - EFC

At the time I said - "Massively impressive performance from this young man against a much older and experienced opponent in De Beer. Really has impressive power for this division, seemed to hurt his opponent every time he cracked him. Unleashed absolutely vicious GNP as soon as he got the chance to get the finish. One to keep an eye on."

Record since : 5-2
Current promotion : UFC
143

Maria Silva
"Viúva Negra" | 10-1-0

Brazil - Bantamweight - 1995

Hyped on 11th March 2022
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 8-0
Promotion at time - ARES

At the time I said - "Rather than choose to can crush to try and pad her record after not getting a contract on the Contender Series, Silva instead opted to fight fellow top prospect Ewelina Wozniak for ARES in what I figured would be a pretty tough fight for her.

Silva absolutely dominated Wozniak, looking stronger, faster, fitter and generally superior, routinely dragging her opponent to the mat, beating her in striking en route to choking her through her chin in the third round.

If she'd done this on the show she'd be in the UFC already, as it is I expect she should be in by the end of the year and I suspect she beats a lot of girls on the roster already."

Record since : 2-1
Current promotion : KSW
144

Ismael Bonfim
"Marreta" | 19-4-0

Brazil - Lightweight - 1995

Hyped on 13th March 2022
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 17-3
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "Almost as impressive as Gabriel Bonfim is his big brother Ismail. Like Gabriel he's got great hands although he takes a more measured approach than the pressure style of his brother, preferring to pick his opponents apart at range. I'd been very impressed with his opponent Andrey Augusto when he won a title in Russia, but Bonfim made him look very average in this fight, shutting down his grappling and landing at will.

Now on an 11 fight win streak and with his last loss being a 2014 loss to Renato Moicano, he should get the chance to come to the big show with his brother."

Record since : 2-1
Current promotion : UFC
145

Eduardo Neves
"Bebezao" | 7-3-0

Brazil - Heavyweight - 2000

Hyped on 13th March 2022
Age at time - 21
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "Another LFA appearance and another impressive destruction from Neves. Last time he fought a 1-0 opponent, this time he took a 5-0 Andre Vieira and destroyed him just as easily. Seems to have genuine power and good speed for the divison and at just 21 years old, seems to have a bright future."

Record since : 3-3
Current promotion : LFA
146

Rodolfo Bellato
"Trator" | 12-2-0

Brazil - Light Heavyweight - 1996

Hyped on 13th March 2022
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 8-1
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "Yet another beast from the LFA Brazil show. Looked okayish on the feet but absolutely shone on the ground, absolutely dominating his opponent and going for a triangle from mount with a few seconds left in the round that was so tight his opponent still had to tap. Top control seemed exceptionally high level. Only loss is to fellow hype boy Vitor Petrino."

Record since : 4-1
Current promotion : UFC
147

Anuar Aburto
"Tarzan" | 6-1-0

Mexico - Welterweight - 1997

Hyped on 19th March 2022
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 3-0
Promotion at time - LUX Fight League

At the time I said - "Going in early on this guy. First off he's a six foot six welterweight. That's absolutely ridiculous. Secondly he seems to be able to use that reach well, landing strikes at range and then punishing opponents when they have to try and close the distance against him somehow. The dude who tried this time got spectacularly knocked out by a high kick that he turned into a knee when the opponent tried to shoot.

Only fought very low level opposition so far, but looks a potential gem to me."

Record since : 3-1
Current promotion : LUX Fight League
148

Jack Jenkins
"Phar" | 12-3-0

Australia - Featherweight - 1993

Hyped on 20th March 2022
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 9-2
Promotion at time - Eternal MMA

At the time I said - "This guy already looks like one of the best boxers in the sport. Watching him for 5 rounds against Rod Costa was impressive as **** as he showed he can both box going forward with pressure and counter box when his opponent comes to him equally well.

Beautiful combination punching, working the body just as well as the head, a great stiff jab, a steady output and mixing in high kicks and leg kicks in beautifully so the opponent has no idea what he's going to get hit with next.

Also seems to be able to keep it on the feet by defending takedowns well using an underhook and a turn whenever an opponent tries to engage the upper body and a quick sprawl and disengagement whenever they shoot.

The only reason he didn't get a finish is that his opponent was tough as ****, but to give you some context of how dominant a performance it was, I scored it 50-42.

Ridiculously impressed with this dude."

Record since : 3-1
Current promotion : UFC
149

Andrey Goncharov
17-4-0

Russia - Featherweight - 1997

Hyped on 30th March 2022
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 16-3
Promotion at time - ACA

At the time I said - "Excellent performance by Goncharov after a year and a bit out in ending Apti Bimarzaev's 14 fight win streak. Got him out of there quickly and efficiently having backed up for a bit and waiting for his moment and then getting Apti out of there with a superb left hook. Still only 25 with nearly 20 fights worth of experience, he's probably going straight back into the crowded title picture in the excellent ACA FW division."

Record since : 1-1
Current promotion : ACA
150

Abdula Aliev
"The Dagger" | 11-1-0

Russia - Flyweight - 1996

Hyped on 30th March 2022
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 11-0
Promotion at time - UAE Warriors

At the time I said - "I've been keeping an eye out for this guy for a while as every half decent Chinese flyweight prospect seems to lose to this guy, even the ones who've made it to the UFC or been on the Contender Series. Fighting UFC vet Jenel Lausa he didn't disappoint with good spin kicks on the feet and excellent entries and control on the ground. Had a slightly underwhelming end to his fight winning a technical decision after a low blow, but the level of this guy is obvious."

Record since : 0-1
Current promotion : UAE Warriors
151

Angela Lee
"Unstoppable" | 11-3-0

USA - Atomweight - 1996

Hyped on 30th March 2022
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 11-2
Promotion at time - ONE Championship

At the time I said - "She's been up there in the rankings for ages, but it's time for Lee to claim her hype train. She's simply never in a boring fight, having another entertaining one with fellow prospect Stamp Fairtex, getting hurt to the body before taking over with her grappling and dominating with her high level BJJ. She's got the all round skills to be able to have a striking advantage over grapplers and a grappling advantage over strikers. Will probably fight Seo Hee Ham next, after that it's difficult to see what else there is to do in ONE."

Record since : 0-1
Current promotion : Retired
152

Kai Tang
19-2-0

China - Featherweight - 1996

Hyped on 30th March 2022
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 14-2
Promotion at time - ONE Championship

At the time I said - "Fought former hype train Jae Woong Kim and took all his hype with a spectacular KO. Now on a 9 fight win streak with 3 KOs in a row and amusing developing English promos the sky is the limit for this guy. Probably gets a title fight next."

Record since : 2-0
Current promotion : ONE Championship
153

Christian Leroy Duncan
"CLD" | 10-1-0

England - Middleweight - 1995

Hyped on 18th April 2022
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - Cage Warriors

At the time I said - "I've been impressed by Duncan everytime I've seen him and have been fortunate enough to have been able to catch all his pro fights, the ones against fellow prospect Will Currie being especially impressive.

Dude really turned it up a notch in becoming the newly minted Cage Warriors Middleweight champ though in the way he dealt with another rated prospect in Djati Melan. Knowing Djati was going to come after him with a relentless grappling attack, he simply spent the first round making sure that he didn't get properly flattened out and made sure Melan had to work for the entire round. Once he'd got through that and got his man tired he started opening up with his diverse and powerful offence, finishing with a spectacular flying knee.

With a 22 fight amateur career, he's much more experienced than it looks at first glance and now he's 6-0 against opponents with a combined 35-8 record he seems ready to take the next step in his career."

Record since : 4-1
Current promotion : UFC
154

Melissa Amaya
"La Mamba" | 6-0-0

USA - Flyweight

Hyped on 18th April 2022
Age at time - 27
Record at time : 3-0
Promotion at time - Combate Global

At the time I said - "This might be kind of an early call as she's still fighting low level competition, but this girl seems absolute hell on wheels once the fight hits the mat. Very dominant grappling, always a step ahead on every positional change, constantly switching between mount and back to keep an advantage. What I particularly enjoy about her grappling is that most fighters seem to focus on just grappling when trying these positional changes, whereas this girl beats the absolute **** out of you when doing it. You're in turtle? She's punching you. She's on your back? She's punching you. Backpacking on the feet where most people are doing everything to hang on? Sorry, still punching you."

Record since : 3-0
Current promotion : Combate Global
155

Iasmin Lucindo
15-5-0

Brazil - Flyweight - 2002

Hyped on 19th April 2022
Age at time - 20
Record at time : 13-4
Promotion at time - Cage Fight Series

At the time I said - "I still find it absolutely wild that this girl has had 17 pro fights at 20 years of age. Anyway, because of that, most of her losses are from when she was 16 or 17 so don't read too much into that.

Fighting former Contender Series fighter Lucrezia Ria, Iasmin showed some really incredible grappling for her age in this fight. She has a nice variety of takedowns to allow her to get the fight into her realm with trips, doubles, singles, valley drops etc all in the arsenal. Once there she has incredibly tight top control, passing at will and threatening subs. Very difficult to get off as she stuck to her opponent through transitions and held onto the back through quite advanced techniques in positions where I think most fighters would have been shaken off or turned into.

All this while being a 20 year old fighting outside South America for the first time against a 29 year old with a decent record."

Record since : 2-1
Current promotion : UFC
156

Cezary Oleksiejczuk
13-3-0

Poland - Welterweight - 2000

Hyped on 19th April 2022
Age at time - 22
Record at time : 8-2
Promotion at time - FEN

At the time I said - "This one is a catch up one from getting hold of a slighty older card, but I wanted to mention him. Yes he's the younger brother of Michal and yes he has a fairly similar fighting style on the feet, with nice tight hands and decent speed, taking a primarily boxing based approach. Where I think he differs a bit is he has excellent takedown defence, consistently sprawling on his Dagestani opponent here, quite often timing pushing his hips forward to actually end up on top which is a nightmare for wrestlers. Having such good takedown defence allows him to put constant forward pressure on too as he's not so worried about the takedown.

Another one who's fought a lot at a young age and both his losses are from when he was a teenager."

Record since : 5-1
Current promotion : FEN
157

Magomed Kabardiev
10-1-0

Kazakhstan - Lightweight - 1995

Hyped on 22nd April 2022
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 8-0
Promotion at time - Naiza FC

At the time I said - "Pretty impressive performance against UFC vet Valmir Lazaro by this dude. One of those very casual fighters who just waits for their opportunity and then goes with meaningful offence. It was amusing watching Lazaro try and take him down too. Dude is just ridiculously calm in there, topped it all off by the most calm spinning back fist in history which Bubzeh posted a few posts back which was basically just "Guess I'll knock you out now"

Record since : 2-1
Current promotion : Nashe Delo
158

Irakli Kuchukhidze
4-1-0

Georgia - Welterweight

Hyped on 22nd April 2022
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - WEF Global

At the time I said - "Moar Georgians. I like the look of this dude. He's one of those wrestlers that looks to do constant damage with ground and pound. Just got his opponent down and started beating the absolute **** out of him, absolutely painted the canvas with his blood before getting the stoppage. Good times."

Record since : 0-1
Current promotion : Eagles FC
159

Waldo Cortes-Acosta
"Salsa Boy" | 11-1-0

Dominican Republic - Heavyweight - 1991

Hyped on 22nd April 2022
Age at time - 30
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said - "Waldo has been carving out a path for himself as one of the view promising up and coming heavyweights on the regional scene for a while now, but in beating hype train alumni Thomas Petersen, he really set himself apart from the rest.

Primarily a boxer, but against Petersen he showed that he seems to have perfected his own version of the Derrick Lewis "Just get up bro" defensive grappling style as every time he got taken down by the wrestler he just turtled and stood up again. Add to that him having a really good gas tank and a lot of people are going to tire trying to take him down before getting knocked out on the feet once they can't do it anymore like Petersen did."

Record since : 5-1
Current promotion : UFC
160

Felix Klinkhammer
9-0-0

England/Germany - Welterweight - 1991

Hyped on 22nd April 2022
Age at time - 29
Record at time : 8-0
Promotion at time - ARES

At the time I said - "Not sure if this dude is actually English or German or both, but he trains out of London Shootfighters and has the MVP karate style on the feet. Now the dude isn't as explosive or powerful as MVP, but he's elusive and what sets him apart is he's able to chain the in and out karate style into some really good wrestling and then dominate the grappling exchanges when he gets there. I've seen him twice now and both times as soon as he's managed to take his opponent down he's dominated then en route to a first round submission finish, once by kneebar and once by RNC."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : ARES
161

Ivan Tena
"The Titan" | 6-2-0

USA - Featherweight - 1999

Hyped on 22nd April 2022
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - Combate Global

At the time I said - "Babyfaced prospect who looks good everywhere. He has powerful striking, he has good wrestling, he has a good sub game, he puts tremendous pressure on his opponents and he has the cardio to do it for the full fight. He fought Geraldo Almonte who's better than his record suggests and trains at Sanford and just broke him before knocking him out to follow up the win that got him on my radar against fellow prospect Timothy Cuamba. Maybe a bit green for the likes of the Contender Series yet, but next year I suspect he'll be ready."

Record since : 2-2
Current promotion : LFA
162

Simeon Powell
"Smooth" | 9-1-0

England - Light Heavyweight - 1999

Hyped on 22nd April 2022
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - PFL

At the time I said - "Simeon is still a little rough around the edges, but there's an undeniable athleticism, speed and power to his fighting. In a division with a lot of slower fighters like LHW those skills could take him far. Fighting for the 2nd time in about three weeks, he had to handle the attempts of Fortis MMA's Clinton Williams to cram him against the cage and grind out a win, but he responded by managing to get up whenever he was taken down and then casually knock him out with a sneaky knee that the camera barely even caught."

Record since : 3-1
Current promotion : PFL
163

Daniel Torres
"Tucanão" | 15-5-0, 2 NC

Austria/Brazil - Featherweight - 1994

Hyped on 22nd April 2022
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 13-5
Promotion at time - EMC

At the time I said - "After a fight with Max Coga and going 1-1 with Parnasse it was interesting to see how good Torres is against a normal level of fighter that I usually end up judging prospects against. He certainly passed the test of looking amazing as he kept calm fundamentals while his opponent was throwing wild **** at the start of the fight before taking over and countering harder and harder. Got to give him props on his ground and pound too as it's absolutely vicious and I particularly like the way he doesn't bother engaging in the guard if he doesn't have to so he can find angles to throw absolute hammers and huge elbows at his opponent. Fought a weight class up for this one too."

Record since : 2-0-0-1
Current promotion : KSW
164

Eduardo Henrique
"Chapolin" | 12-2-0

Brazil - Flyweight - 1995

Hyped on 1st May 2022
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 10-1
Promotion at time - SFT

At the time I said "This dude is pretty weird. I'm used to seeing flyweights be fast and technical, but this guy fights like a flyweight version of Chris Leben. He has absolutely ridiculous power for the division (only Curatolo seems to have comparable power) and just marches people down slinging absolute bombs at them. Seemingly every time he lands clean it wobbles people. He had a 21 fight veteran like 3D Araujo who's been in there with a few UFC fighters literally running some of the time.

Plus while he was running Chapolin was following him doing chicken impressions, which was pretty ******* funny. Only loss is to current UFC fighter Kleydson Rodrigues."

Record since : 2-1
Current promotion : LFA
165

Felipe Douglas
"Buakaw" | 23-6-0

Brazil - Lightweight - 1992

Hyped on 1st May 2022
Age at time - 29
Record at time : 20-5
Promotion at time - SFT

At the time I said "Buakaw continued his excellent recent run of form with a dominating performance against Alex Sandro. Starting by crowding and grappling the kicker, he gradually upped the tempo, mixing the grappling with his leg kicks and tight hooks while constantly, constantly coming forward and not giving him room to breathe. You could just see the energy sap away from Sandro as he got stopped under a barrage against the cage in the 4th. With his only recent loss being to Rafael Alves, I think he deserves a chance in a major promotion."

Record since :3-1
Current promotion : CFC
166

Bruna Brasil
"The Special One" | 9-4-1

Brazil - Strawweight - 1993

Hyped on 18th May 2022
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 7-2-1
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said "I was more interested in Yasmin Castanho coming into this fight, but boy did Bruna make her look average.

Really one of the best taekwondo style WMMA strikers I've seen. Hands down, quick movement in to strike, back out again before any counters come back and then usually back in again to counter the failed counter. Also possesses a lovely repertoire of spin kicks and gets her high kicks up beautifully. Also looked pretty comfortable when she needed to grapple with black belt opponent.

Extremely impressed, could be in the UFC immediately based on this performance."

Record since : 2-2
Current promotion : UFC
167

Fatima Kline
"The Archangel" | 6-0-0

USA - Strawweight - 2000

Hyped on 18th May 2022
Age at time - 21
Record at time : 2-0
Promotion at time - Invicta

At the time I said "2-0 is earlier than I usually go with people, but I'm going with Kline primarily because her grappling style is going to be such an issue for people. Just superb control once she gets people down, beating them to the next position and threatening with subs and ground and pound constantly. Beat Sid Trillo who was a well regarded prospect very easily.

Reminds me a bit of Erin Blanchfield in her grappling style."

Record since : 4-0
Current promotion : CFFC
168

Austin Bashi
11-0-0

USA - Bantamweight - 2001

Hyped on 25th May 2022
Age at time - 20
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - Shamrock FC

At the time I said "It's been a gradual hop on for me but I'm finally officially on board the Bashiwagon. I guess my only criticism of him so far is that as dominant as he'd looked he'd only fought low level opposition to this point. He changed that at the last Shamrock show fighting a solid 6-1 29 year old guy and making it look pretty easy.

Standup seems to be getting there but it's the wrestling where this kid stands out as he seems to be a true blue chip prospect with great takedowns, extremely fast transitions between positions, really good ground and pound and puts a crazy pace on guys which he looks to have the cardio to maintain easily.

At only 20 years old it might be a bit early for the UFC at this point, but maybe a move for a couple of LFA fights and he'll be ready to make the jump in a year or so when he'll still be extremely young.

Top class prospect."

Record since : 5-0
Current promotion : Lights Out Championship
169

Baysangur Chamsoudinov
"Baki" | 8-0-0

France - Welterweight - 2001

Hyped on 25th May 2022
Age at time - 20
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - ARES

At the time I said "Another one of those Russian/French prospects, this one out of MMA Factory. Looks extremely quick for a welterweight with very sharp hands and good kicks with good movement to avoid being in range for his opponent. Showed that he had the Chechen wrestling too when he got bored of beating his opponent up on the feet."

Record since : 4-0
Current promotion : ARES
170

Darya Zheleznyakova
"The Iron Lady" | 9-1-0

Russia - Bantamweight - 1996

Hyped on 25th May 2022
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 7-0
Promotion at time - ARES

At the time I said "Passed her UFC ready test with flying colours in beating the crap out of Liana Jojua for three rounds. Really good striking and easily fending off takedown attempts from an increasingly desperate looking Jojua. Looks hard to hold against the cage too as she uses frames to turn off the cage comfortably. Good kicks to maintain distance and good accumulation of damage over the course of the fight. Next fight should be in UFC gloves."

Record since : 2-1
Current promotion : UFC
171

Eli Aronov
"The Israeli Tank" | 6-1-0

Israel - Middleweight - 1996

Hyped on 1st June 2022
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - Unified MMA

At the time I said "Poor old Mariusz Ksiakiewicz must have thought he was getting an easy win for his record to build towards the UFC when he took a fight against this dude on short notice. Little did he know he'd accepted a fight against some kind of Israeli super soldier experiment. Dude is stacked and strong, and really ******* strong. Very good wrestling, able to hold down a dude that I've never seen outgrappled before with quite a lot of ease.

Not lay and pray style grappling either, actively ground and pounding and hunting for subs from the top the whole time. Looks an absolute nightmare to fight.."

Record since : 0-1
Current promotion - Unified MMA
172

Adam Cullen
7-2-0

England - Lightweight - 1998

Hyped on 1st June 2022
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - Cage Warriors

At the time I said "He hasn't really taken the requisite step up in competition just yet but this dude is violent which always gets points with me. His goal is basically just to get the other guy out of there as quickly as possible and this time it took him a minute and 20 seconds to launch over, start hammering the guy, dominate the grappling and quickly lace up a Darce. Nobody has even come close to getting out of the first round with him so far."

Record since :2-2
Current promotion : Cage Warriors
173

Bo Nickal
6-0-0

USA - Middleweight - 1996

Hyped on 7th June 2022
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 1-0
Promotion at time - iKon

At the time I said "Kind of an obvious one and another one where I'll give a fighter a hype train after their debut. Obviously this is primarily because of his 3 time national champion wrestling background, but usually these wrestling prospects wrestle their way through their early MMA fights, Bo decided to show he has truly devastating power in his hands by blasting his opponent out there with a big 1-2. Yes his opponent was a can and yes his striking still needs a lot of refinement before he makes the step to a higher level, but the level of potential here is undeniable."

Record since :5-0
Current promotion : UFC
174

José Delano
"Ze" | 14-3-0

Brazil - Featherweight - 1996

Hyped on 7th June 2022
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 11-2
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said "Just to get it out of the way first, this dude needs to start making weight. Failing to do so has cost him being LFA champion twice now. However in those two fights it's worth mentioning that he 50-45'd two good regional fighters in Jonas Bilharinho and Michael Stack, without either fight being particularly competitive to now be on a 10 fight win streak stacking 7 years.

He's a BTT guy, but Delano reminds me a lot of the prime Nova Uniao guys in terms of having absolutely ridiculous takedown defence and using it to allow him to work his kickboxing. His last opponent Michael Stack is a D1 wrestler and managed to briefly get him down about twice in something like thirty attempts. Just excellent framing and turning off the cage and getting his hips away.

Ridiculous cardio too, he can put a pace on and still be going the same pace in round 5 as he was in round 1, although I suppose it's debateable as to whether he could do that or not if he actually made weight."

Record since :3-1
Current promotion : LFA
175

David Martinez
"Black Spartan" | 10-1-0

Mexico - Bantamweight - 1999

Hyped on 7th June 2022
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 8-1
Promotion at time - Combate Global

At the time I said "This ************ hits like a truck. Granted he wasn't in there with the highest level opponent but given how badly he rolled people in the last tournament he was in it might be hard to find people who want to fight him at the moment. All I know was that his countering was on point and he hurt his opponent literally every time he landed clean on him, which is a pretty rare thing at 135."

Record since :2-0
Current promotion : Combate Global
176

Tahir Abdullaev
"Tank" | 16-2-0

Azerbaijan - Welterweight - 1997

Hyped on 12th June 2022
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 14-1
Promotion at time - Fight Nights Global

At the time I said "Tank is such an appropriate nickname for this dude, he's just so ******* physical. He caught my attention quickly countering and knocking out Daniel Skibinski last year and secured it in this performance against solid Russian gatekeeper Maxim Butorin.

It's the aggression and physicality that stick out, the guy just really, really wants to hurt people. Piling forward throwing bowling balls at you, effortlessly throwing you down if he wants to (he didn't really need to be techical with takedowns, I mean I think he can be, but he can just ragdoll on strength) hammering with ground and pound. Just looks an absolute nightmare to fight.

He did get taken down a couple of times because he's so aggressive, but he operates a just ******* sweep bro motto where he just seems to power the other guy over to take top position if he ends up on bottom, which looks really ******* annoying.

So to summarise, very physical, very aggressive, very exciting. Sign him up Dana."

Record since : 2-1
Current promotion : Fight Nights Global
177

Jakub Wikłacz
"Masa" | 15-3-2

Poland - Bantamweight - 1996

Hyped on 23rd June 2022
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 13-3-1
Promotion at time - KSW

At the time I said "Another dude who keeps getting more and more impressive every time I see him, Wiklacz is just turning into an exceptional grappler which he showed in a dominant performance over highly touted Bruno Santos. Takedowns were good but it was the top control and positional changes that really shone through as he floats from position to position maintaining excellent control at all times while looking for subs.

The likely rematch with Przybysz who was the last guy to defeat him should be a barnburner."

Record since :2-0-1
Current promotion : KSW
178

Melissa Tonya Mullins
"No Mess" | 6-1-0

England - Bantamweight - 1991

Hyped on 29th June 2022
Age at time - 30
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - ARES

At the time I said "I noticed this girl the other week when I saw that she'd beaten previous hype train Mafalda Carmona, but didn't actually get to see her until the weekend where she fought very solid regional gatekeeper Rizlan Zouak.

I have to say I was impressed, particularly with the way she dealt with the judo of the former Olympian Zouak. Rather than fight like **** to not get thrown and get thrown anyway, she rather worked out ways to ride the throws and end up ******* up something in the execution for Zouak that allowed her to land in the better position on the mat. This happened several times and allowed her access to the back and to work her brown belt BJJ. Particularly with the lack of depth in the BW division, you would think she'd be on the UFC radar with this one.."

Record since :2-1
Current promotion : UFC
179

Gabriel Alves Braga
13-1-0

Brazil - Featherweight - 1998

Hyped on 6th July 2022
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 8-0
Promotion at time - UAE Warriors

At the time I said "Somewhat of a breakout performance from Gabriel for me. I've seen him on LFA Brazil before but in this one he really seemed to level up as he absolutely dominated Faeez Jacobs. Just seemed to excel absolutely everywhere, dominating the fight with both grappling and striking. Excellent top control and back takes, good ground and pound to do genuine damage down there. Crisp boxing, great leg kicks which dropped his opponent on occasion. Looks a real problem.."

Record since : 4-1
Current promotion : PFL
180

Ali Taleb
9-1-0

Sweden - Bantamweight

Hyped on 6th July 2022
Age at time - ?
Record at time : 7-0
Promotion at time - UAE Warriors

At the time I said "I really thought this was going to be the fight where Lokdog got an impressive finish and went off sailing into the UFC. Unfortunately for him, Ali Taleb had no intention of being anyone's stepping stone. Yes part of it was Lokdog dropping his hands and being ****y, but he gets away with it with everyone else so you have to give credit to Taleb for having the timing and power to make him pay for it.

Said he had an offer from KSW after the fight, but he might have bigger fish to fry now."

Record since : 2-1
Current promotion : PFL
181

Kaleb Rideout
"Krazy Horse" | 7-3-0

Australia - Welterweight - 1997

Hyped on 20th July 2022
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 7-2
Promotion at time - Eternal MMA

At the time I said "This dude is a lanky offensive machine. Just constantly throwing all sorts of different stuff out there. Accurate jabs, big crosses, spinning backfists and elbows, step in elbows, head kicks. All in combos too and at a consistently high output. Did get taken down a couple of times by a good judoka so there's a question mark there, but looks like the business on the feet to me.."

Record since : 0-1
Current promotion : Eternal MMA
182

Wellington Prado
"Predador" | 13-3-0

Brazil - Featherweight - 1999

Hyped on 20th July 2022
Age at time - 22
Record at time : 13-2
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said "Yet another Brazilian prospect with a ****load of experience at a very young age who looks amazingly calm in there for his age. Main eventing an LFA card against the much older Italo Gomes and dominating a good fighter aside from getting himself a silly points deduction. Good striking but it's probably the grappling that stands out the most with this kid as he floats well from position to position, able to dominate a fellow black belt.."

Record since : 0-1
Current promotion : LFA
183

Oumar Sy
9-0-0

France - Featherweight - 1995

Hyped on 16th August 2022
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 7-0
Promotion at time - KSW

At the time I said "Sy is still a little green in some respects, but what I have to hype him for is his strength and athleticism. He has that kind of Gane aura about him where everything seems easy, even if Sy is much more of a grappler than a striker. Overwhelming opponent with a variety of takedowns, doubles, bodylock trips, singles. Dude has them all in his arsenal. Made a couple of positional errors grappling and I'd like to see him go to town a bit harder with the ground and pound but there's obvious potential here."

Record since : 2-0
Current promotion : UFC
184

Isaac Moreno
"Primetime" | 6-0-0

USA - Welterweight - 1997

Hyped on 26th August 2022
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - Fury FC

At the time I said "I was going into this fight to watch Sam Kilmer again, a wrestler who I'd been impressed with before. I came away an Isaac Moreno fan after watching him pretty much kick Sam Kilmer's ass.

Isaac seems to have real power in his punches from a squat stance which fended off most takedown attempts. Really good cardio and output to carry the power further into the fight. Did get taken down once but used butterfly hooks to minimise damage and ultimately get back up before getting back to throwing hard punches and kicks.

Seems a real athlete and a top prospect to me on first viewing"

Record since : 2-0
Current promotion : Fury FC
185

Evgeniy Ignatiev
"Grandmaster" | 21-2-2

Russia - Featherweight - 1995

Hyped on 31st August 2022
Age at time - 27
Record at time : 19-2-2
Promotion at time - RCC

At the time I said "Yet another one of those impressive Russian pressure boxer style fighters. Very impressed with this dude's performance against UFC vet Anderson Dos Santos as he put him on the back foot straight away with great boxing mixed in with nice kicks. Dude maintained a perfect range throughout the fight, landing on Anderson and not being there for counters. Then later in the round as he gets more and more comfortable he decides to up the intensity and absolutely tools him with a hook to drop him before calmly picking out another one for the finish."

Record since : 2-0
Current promotion : RCC
186

Jarret Betancourt
"Toosolid" | 5-0-0

USA - Flyweight - 1998

Hyped on 5th September 2022
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - Combate Global

At the time I said "The Goat Shed is my current pick for up and coming gym that will make the most noise in the UFC in the next few years with the likes of Cristian Perez, Ryan Kuse and Roybert Echeverria training out of there, but this kid might well be the most talented of them that I've seen so far.

I didn't really get to see his grappling tested in his fight with Rodrigo Garcia but holy **** is this dude a dynamic striker. He's pretty long for the division and has good footwork, using switch stances and pressure to get a guy who clearly wanted to pressure on the back foot.

I started out thinking he had a nice 1-2 and a dynamic high kick, but by late in the fight the guy was throwing all sorts, including a flying knee into a Showtime kick which was sweet as ****. Very athletic and great stamina to be throwing that kind of **** in the 3rd.

Remember the name with this dude."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : All in Combat
187

Ben Tynan
"Vanilla Thunder" | 6-0-0

Canada - Heavyweight - 1994

Hyped on 12th September 2022
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 3-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said "I'm trying to be a bit more careful with heavyweights until they get some stiffer competition, but I think I'm just going to have to pull the trigger on this dude seeing as I don't think anyone really wants to fight him so he's probably going to be in a major promotion when he makes the step up.

Anyway dude was a D1 wrestler, went 8-0 with 8 finishes as an ammy (7 in the first round) and is now 3-0 as a pro with 3 first round finishes in a combined time of about 3 minutes and 30 seconds. He's obviously a big strong wrestler, but he also seems to have power and actively goes for the finish.

In short I guess I can see why people are avoiding him."

Record since : 3-0
Promotion : ONE Championship
188

Giovanna Canuto
"GiGi" | 4-1-0

Brazil - Strawweight - 2002

Hyped on 23rd September 2022
Age at time - 19
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said "Now Jaqueline Amorim has signed for the UFC it's over to a girl who came up behind her in the same BJJ school to be LFA's poster girl BJJ black belt.

Taking on brown belt and DWCS vet Jamie Colleen, Gigi looked utterly dominant for a 19 year old, dominating every position, timing her takedowns well for the most part and just generally looking like an absolute nightmare on the ground. Definitely another one to add to the seemingly ever extending list of teenage prospects already making waves in the sport."

Record since : 0-1
Current promotion : LFA
189

Bruno Lopes
"Brunão" | 12-1-0

Brazil - Light Heavyweight - 1993

Hyped on 3rd October 2022
Age at time - 29
Record at time : 11-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said "This dude took it to the next level for me in his LFA title fight. I was pretty impressed with him in his LFA debut but this was next level as he methodically beat up and stopped his opponent, looking like the real deal in the process. Really nice and accurate striking, fighting at a tempo that keeps the pressure on the opponent but doesn't has himself out, landing nice and damaging blows and just basically bullying the poor guy. Looks like a big league fighter to me."

Record since: 1-1
Current promotion : LFA
190

Gabriella Fernandes
"Gabi" | 8-3-0

Brazil - Flyweight - 1993

Hyped on 3rd October 2022
Age at time - 29
Record at time : 8-1
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said "Another one returning for a title fight and levelling up in the process, Fernandes' striking just looked exceptional. Fast, accurate, good volume and decent power as she beat up Karoline Martins who I've seen be competitive with some decent girls, but who got made to look very average by Gabriella. Decided to drop and finish by guillotine just to prove she can grapple too."

Record since : 0-2
Current promotion : UFC
191

Lucas Fernando
9-3-0

Brazil - Middleweight - 1997

Hyped on 13th October 2022
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 8-1
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said "I've been steadily impressed by Fernando on the LFA Brazil cards so far, but this one he really took it to the next level.

Fighting a decent standard of opponent in Bellator vet Fabio Aguiar, Lucas had to deal with an opponent trying to press him into the cage and take him down. Through a combination of solid single defence and good arm control he held himself up, before getting off the cage going into Pedro Rizzo (his coach) mode and just utterly murdering the dude with leg kicks, straight punches, a high kick and more straight punches, leaving Aguiar a crumpled mess on the mat.

Looked big show ready to me."

Record since : 1-2
Current promotion : LFA
192

Bogdan Gnidko
10-2-0

Ukraine - Light Heavyweight

Hyped on 19th December 2022
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 9-0
Promotion at time - KSW

At the time I said "I'm not sure what happens with this dude after the first couple of minutes of a fight, but so far nobody has been able to get him there so not a problem for now. During his KSW run so far he's faced two of the other bright prospects in the 205 division in Damian Piwowarczyk and Madalin Pirvulesu and steamed through them in a combined total of 45 seconds. Extremely aggressive and with massive explosiveness and KO power, he's a guy to watch for sure, no matter what happens when he finally touches those deep waters."

Record since : 1-2
Current promotion : KSW
193

Salahdine Parnasse
19-2-0

France - Featherweight - 1997

Hyped on 19th December 2022
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 17-1
Promotion at time - KSW

At the time I said "I like to make even dudes who've been in the rankings since the start earn a hype train post and after a couple of performances which would have been fine for most people, but not for Parnagoat, he's finally claimed his hype train by moving up and absolutely dominating Seb Rajewski to take the interim Lightweight belt to go with his Featherweight one.

Although I've always thought of him as a striker, honestly his grappling might be even better than his striking now, with his bodylocks, sagging, back takes and active sub hunting proving too much to deal with. When a guy is as well rounded as Parnagoat is now, it's difficult to know what to do against him."

Record since : 2-1
Current promotion : KSW
194

Makoto Shinryu
17-2-1, 1 NC

Japan - Flyweight - 2000

Hyped on 19th December 2022
Age at time - 22
Record at time : 15-1-1
Promotion at time - RIZIN

At the time I said "The only thing that had stopped me going all in on Makoto was that I thought he lacked a bit of physicality. Now he's growing into his early 20s, that seems to be less and less of an issue for him. This was the best performance of his career as he dominated a solid fighter in Diego Paiva in both his first fight outside Japan and his first time fighting a non-Japanese fighter. Adapting that quickly to take a title in his first fight in the US has to be a sign that big things are coming. Should probably follow Tatsuro Taira to the UFC soon."

Record since : 1-1
Current promotion : RIZIN
195

Gabriel Santos
"Mosquitinho" | 10-2-0

Brazil - Featherweight - 1996

Hyped on 19th December 2022
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 9-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said "Another hype train earned for a rankings fixture in Santos as he came back in a classic fight against Ticoto in what I can only describe as a Christian Lee like performance. Dude was badly, badly hurt by a big power puncher in the 1st, but somehow managed to hang on, keep the wherewithal to stay in the fight, start to come back and open the 2nd round with an incredible head kick for a come back victory in the Featherweight championship semi final fight. An even bigger task awaits him in the final as he clashes with Jose Delano in January for 145 gold and presumably a ticket to the big leagues."

Record since : 1-2
Current promotion : UFC
196

Ilkhom Nazimov
11-3-0

Uzbekistan - Featherweight - 1995

Hyped on 19th December 2022
Age at time - 27
Record at time : 9-2
Promotion at time - UAE Warriors

At the time I said "This dude is one dextrous ************. I was really impressed with how he seemed to be able to land a huge variety of different kicks from different angles, mixing in straight and spinny ****. Keeps pressure on while keeping range at the same time, looks tough to get in on. Also seems an opportunistic grappler, jumped on a ninja choke as soon as he had his man hurt for the finish."

Record since : 1-1
Current promotion : RIZIN
197

Bruno Fontes
"Carpa" | 6-0-0

Brazil - Featherweight - 1995

Hyped on 19th December 2022
Age at time - 27
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - Jungle Fight

At the time I said "Yet another Brazilian Featherweight (do they have a factory down there or something), Fontes looked very good is dispatching of Willian Colorado who was supposed to be on the Contender Series this summer to take the Jungle Fight title. One of those fighters who doesn't seem to be excellent at anything in particular but is just very good at everything. Good solid boxing, good cardio, good composure to not get bothered by any of Colorado's taunting, good defence, good wrestling, good top game, good back takes. Just has something everywhere the fight goes."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : Bellator
198

Azamat Kerefov
17-0-0

Russia - Flyweight

Hyped on 19th December 2022
Age at time - ?
Record at time : 16-0
Promotion at time - ACA

At the time I said "Should give Azamat some shine now he's the latest dude to leave ACA to try and get into the UFC. After a while of trying he was finally able to get someone to fight him as he took on 10-1-1 Felipe Pereira and made it look pretty easy in beating someone with a good record. Clearly he's going to be far too good for most people he can fight on the regionals as he was already champ of the 2nd best Flyweight division in the world, but time will tell if the UFC decide to give him a chance or not."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : ACA
199

Joshua Van
"The Fearless" | 10-1-0

Myanmar - Flyweight - 2001

Hyped on 19th December 2022
Age at time - 21
Record at time : 7-1
Promotion at time - Fury FC

At the time I said "I don't think anyone improved more in 2022 than this dude. I caught his fight with Devon Jackson at the end of 2021 and he got pretty dominated, but fight after fight this year he's looked better and better to the point where after taking out Paris Moran and Cleveland McLean he's the man in the Fury flyweight division.

Fearless is a pretty good nickname for him because he will absolutely go for ****, maybe he shouldn't some of the time but it's ******* fun. Dude goes for calf slicers and other funky stuff. He's really good at striking off the break, has a nice varied striking arsenal and is showing much improved TDD and offensive wrestling.

Really nice jumping back take before working through good choke defence to take a decisive victory over a very solid regional flyweight who came in heavy.

Dude is kinda young, but he could be ready."

Record since : 3-0
Current promotion : UFC
200

Josiel Silva
"Açougueiro" | 19-7-0

Brazil - Bantamweight - 1991

Hyped on 20th December 2022
Age at time - 31
Record at time : 18-5
Promotion at time - ACA

At the time I said "Not really a prospect per se and someone who's had his ups and downs in ACA, but Josiel seems to be developing into a top fighter on his current run and seems to be coming into his peak.

He's recently been displaying spectacular boxing, picking people apart, mixing in shots to the head and body, but against Islam Meshev he decided to start really sitting down on his punches and he knocked Meshev out with a spectacular hook inside a minute, becoming the first man to stop Meshev in his 23 fight career and extend his win streak to 5."

Record since : 1-2
Current promotion : ACA
201

Junior Tafa
"The Juggernaut" | 5-2-0

Australia - Heavyweight - 1996

Hyped on : 6th January 2023
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - RIZIN

At the time I said "I'm a bit late with this one but I just caught up with the NYE show and I've got to give Tafa some love because he just absolutely smashed the **** out of Sudario. If people stand with him they're going to be trouble, really impressive power, accuracy and killer instinct. This fight also showed me just how tough Kevin Fitial must be to be able to withstand more than a round of this stuff. Looks better than his brother to me."

Record since : 1-2
Current promotion : UFC
202

Mitchell McKee
"Merciless" | 6-0-0

USA - Bantamweight - 1997

Hyped on : 18th January 2023
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said "As Ares mentioned, Mitch indeed looked outstanding on the last LFA show. Showcasing his Div 1 wrestling in a dominant first round before faking a level change into a big KO in the second. I think anytime a wrestler shows they can mix up level changes and top control with genuine power once they have their opponent faked out shows a ****load of potential."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : LFA
203

Magomed Magomedov
"Muhammad" | 13-0-0

Bahrain - Welterweight

Hyped on : 25th January 2023
Age at time - 27
Record at time : 11-0
Promotion at time - Octagon

At the time I said "My only real complaint with Magomed up to this point was that as dominant he'd been he hadn't really been getting finishes. He changed that at the weekend dismantling Sanjar Azhibaev with his wrestling and top control en route to a back take and finish. If he can continue to finish like this then he could start to attract the attention of the big leagues."

Record since : 2-0
Current promotion : Octagon
204

Steve Erceg
"AstroBoy" | 12-1-0

Australia - Flyweight - 1995

Hyped on : 11th February 2023
Age at time - 27
Record at time : 9-1
Promotion at time - Eternal MMA

At the time I said "Erceg was supposed to fight Clayton Carpenter on DWCS last year but had a visa issue but couldn't. Since then, he's seen two guys he's beaten in Shannon Ross and Seung Guk Choi get UFC fights while he hasn't.

Anyway he looked every inch the UFC fighter in this one as he absolutely ran through Soichiro Hirai. Granted it's the kind of guy he should be running through, but you still have to put the guy away and the back take and subsequent choke was an excellent performance from Steve. You all know I love a good fluid back taker."

Record since : 3-0
Current promotion : UFC
205

Rodrigo Vera
"El Gato Loco" | 16-1-1

Peru - Bantamweight - 1995

Hyped on : 11th February 2023
Age at time - 27
Record at time : 15-1-1
Promotion at time - Fusion Fight League

At the time I said "Gato Loco has kind of snuck up on me. I've watched his last 6 fights and I'm kind of now just realising how good he is. The dude is just so fundamentally sound. There's nothing really flashy about his striking, but everything is in the right place defensively as he marches his opponent down, while throwing simple but technically sound stuff to get to his wrestling.

Once he gets to the wrestling he's at his best, he's strong and with a really good double leg. Very good from back bodylock too and was ragdolling Zenidim with suplexes in the third round in a very comfortable win against a 13-0 Brazilian."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : FFC
206

Khalim Nazruloev
9-0-0

Tajikistan - Bantamweight

Hyped on : 13th February 2023
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - RCC

At the time I said "Impressive performance from an inexperienced fighter against a much more experiened opponent in Ricardo Dias. Looked really dominant physically with well timed doubles, mixed in with powerful leg kicks and good overhands to set up the wrestling. Decent ground and pound once on the ground too and never looked in any real danger of a sub while pounding away. Definite potential here."

Record since : 3-0
Current promotion : ONE Championship
207

Nicholas Hwende
7-1-0

Zimbabwe - Bantamweight

Hyped on : 5th March 2023
Age at time - 27
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - EFC Africa

At the time I said "EFC champ Hwende has kinda snuck up on me. I do think it's difficult to predict how these EFC Africa guys will do once they get to tougher competition, but he's been really impressive in his last few fights. Beating Zulu with basically one working eye in his last fight and then doing the EFC tradition of running through Roevan De Beer in this fight.

Seems athletic, has good power, aggressive grappling and ground and pound, seems to have good passing. Looks ready for the next level to me."

Record since : 1-1
Current promotion : BRAVE
208

Shauna Bannon
"Mama B" | 5-1-0

Ireland - Strawweight - 1993

Hyped on : 21st March 2023
Age at time - 29
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - Invicta

At the time I said "Shauna is another one that's kind of crept up on me performance by performance. Initially I thought she was kind of just an aggressive taekwondo girl but now she's shown more of her grappling she's proving she's a really well rounder martial artist.

Obviously the variety of kicks is her highlight, she keeps range with them well and hurts girls with them causing them to panic wrestle a bit. She's also got quite a good damaging top game when girls **** up panic shots on her and let her get on top of them.

Never mind Mama B, I'm gonna start calling this girl Shauna Bullet."

Record since : 0-1
Current promotion : UFC
209

Tom Nolan
"Big Train" | 6-1-0

Australia - Lightweight - 2000

Hyped on : 21st March 2023
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - Eternal MMA

At the time I said "Big Train is really, really violent and really fun to watch. Just stupid amounts of aggression and offence. It's not mindless aggression, even if it looks a bit wild at times, it all makes sense and it all batters the absolute **** out of the opponent. He's great at backing people towards the cage and then absolutely unloading on them with a myriad of violent options when he gets them there.

He absolutely smashed former Eternal champ Aiden Aguilera at the weekend and it'd be interesting to see if that sets up a clash with the also impressive prospect, current champ Blake Donnely."

Record since : 1-1
Current promotion : UFC
210

Murad Magomedov
13-0-0

Russia - Flyweight

Hyped on : 21st March 2023
Age at time - ?
Record at time : 13-0
Promotion at time - UAE Warriors

At the time I said "Got to give Murad some shine. He's on the usually failed trajectory of leaving ACA and taking some fights outside to try and get into the UFC but hopefully he's one that gets in. It's tough for someone like him to get fights, so he's having to fight lower level guys, but to be fair he's absolutely crushing them as he should be. Smashed this dude up on the feet and then took a sweet guillotine in transition.

Probably won't get signed to the UFC and will end up back in ACA like everyone else, but we can dream."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : ACA
211

Jhonata Diniz
7-0-0

Brazil - Heavyweight - 1991

Hyped on : 21st March 2023
Age at time - 32
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - Immortal FC

At the time I said "I'll take what I can get at heavyweight and although he's already 33, Diniz is a former Glory heavyweight kickboxer who seems to be adapting okay to MMA so far. His opponent was very low level but his understanding of at least defending the single leg seems to be there, which bodes well for him keeping it on the feet. Obviously if he can keep it on the feet then he's extremely dangerous, with his knees in particular being extremely nasty."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : UFC
212

Lone'er Kavanagh
6-0-0

England - Flyweight - 1999

Hyped on : 21st March 2023
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - Cage Warriors

At the time I said "Holy **** did this kid look impressive this fight. I'd previously been impressed by his boxing as he has fast hands, good combos and KO power for the division, but in this fight he barely used it, just absolutely battering his opponent with leg kicks, taking him down at will, smashing him up from there, going back to utterly ******* both legs up and then spin kick to ground and pound KOing him. Seems to have levelled up miles and I genuinely wouldn't mind him being in for the CW title already, even at 5-0.

Ridiculous prospect."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : Cage Warriors
213

Jessie Rosas
"Tachidito" | 5-1-0

USA - Bantamweight - 2002

Hyped on : 3rd April 2023
Age at time - 20
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - UWC

At the time I said "Oh ****, there's another one.

Yes this is Raul's brother, yes he can grapple, yes he pushes a pace, yes he looks like quite the prospect just like his little brother.

Really impressed that the only time in this fight he slightly ****** up he used it for an awesome armbar entry and then when his opponent defended that he turned it into a sweet triangle and then another armbar from there. So a Rosas who's got the Rosas top pressure and also a dangerous bottom game.

Probably gonna be joining his brother in the UFC."

Record since : 1-1
Current promotion : A1 Combat
214

Cédric Doumbé
"Le Meilleur" | 5-1-0

France - Welterweight - 1992

Hyped on : 13th April 2023
Age at time - 30
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - MMA GP

At the time I said "Finally got around to watching Cedric's last fight against Klimas and I've got to say I'm very impressed with how he's developing. It seems to me that his pressure style of kickboxing is going to work great for MMA, just kept Klimas on the back foot for most of the fight, letting go with varied offence and murderous body work.

Seems to be developing a decent sprawl too as he read entries well and got his hips away to stop them. Generally I think this kind of sprawl and pressure style is going to cause problems for a lot of people and he's going to be a handful at a high level."

Record since : 1-1
Current promotion : PFL
215

Si Won Park
6-0-0

South Korea - Lightweight - 2002

Hyped on : 13th April 2023
Age at time - 21
Record at time : 8-0
Promotion at time - ROAD FC

At the time I said "Finally caught his last title fight from December and the ROAD champ is pretty outstanding for his age. A pressure fighter who mixes good hands with high kicks and can wrestle when he wants. Seems strong enough to hold his own in cage grappling if someone tries to grab a hold of him to keep the pressure off. Really good output too as he was really upping the offence in the 3rd round with combination punching and only his opponent being really tough prevented him from a stoppage win.

Kind of reminds me of a better version of Mikuru Asakura in a lot of ways."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : ROAD FC
216

Payton Talbott
8-0-0

USA - Bantamweight - 1998

Hyped on : 13th April 2023
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - A1 Combat

At the time I said "While Payton's age seems to be unknown (even the promotion just had his age blank on the graphic) his talent is there. A come forward and throw a ****load dude who looks like he can be taken down but perseveres to get back up and come forward and throw a ****load again. Seems like the kind of guy who might lose a good few first rounds before wearing their opponent down with relentless offence and just a genuine attrition of pain."

Record since : 3-0
Current promotion : UFC
217

Lajuan Davis
"The Alchemist" | 5-1-0

USA - Middleweight - 1997

Hyped on : 13th April 2023
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - Fury FC

At the time I said "I'm a bit wary of JacksonWink guys as a lot of their recent prospects haven't panned out, but Lajuan passes the eye test for me to this point. He's a very relaxed fighter who's quite happy for his opponent to come at him while he tries to counter which he does well. He's got pretty hard shots and can drop his opposition if he lands clean. Takedown defence looks perfectly fine and he seems to be able to sprawl and find his way on top where he also looks good.

Could maybe be the dude to break the recent run of JW guys sucking, we'll see."

Record since : 0-1
Current promotion : United Fight League
218

Caolán Loughran
"The Don" | 9-1-0

Ireland - Bantamweight - 1996

Hyped on : 6th May 2023
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 9-0
Promotion at time - Cage Warriors

At the time I said "Jesus, I knew this dude was good but he really levelled up tonight. Going away from home to fight another hot prospect in Dylan Hazan in Italy and just absolutely trouncing him on his own turf.

Caolan is a pressure fighter who throws everything tight and hard and is stocky as **** and with a low centre of gravity and looks like he'll be super hard to take down. With that in mind the dude is coming at you throwing hard combos to the head and body with accuracy and power with front kicks up the middle whenever you think about changing levels.

Beat the **** out of a good fighter, did a lot of damage in the 1st and got him out of there in the 2nd and looked absolutely big league ready.

Record since : 1-1
Current promotion : UFC
219

Amru Magomedov
7-0-0

Russia - Lightweight - 1999

Hyped on : 21st May 2023
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - UAE Warriors

At the time I said "Fuuuuuck this dude looked good. He was fighting an 8-0 Brazilian who's beaten solid dudes like John Snake on the Brazilian scene and he absolutely ******* demolished him.

Looks to have the kicking game of Usman and Umar (although he throws the kicks with slightly more intent I feel), together with the trips and the ground and pound smashing of a Khabib or Islam.

Trust me, this dude is a massive problem."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : UAE Warriors
220

Mauricio Partida
"The Hammer" | 8-0-0

Venezuela - Bantamweight - 1998

Hyped on : 21st May 2023
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - LUX Fight League

At the time I said "This dude looks really impressive. He has a good wrestling background, but also has big natural power which he seems more keen to use. Loved the way he badly rocked his opponent at the weekend and then just grabbed his head Don Frye/Takayama style and just started hammering him in the face until he was done. Looks a real prospect with power and athleticism. Hopefully fares a bit better than the other latin American power puncher wrestler Alfonso Leyva does when he steps up a bit but looks great for now."

Record since : 2-0
Current promotion : LUX Fight League
221

Jose Ferreira
"Tiro Loco" | 11-1-0, 1 NC

Chile - Featherweight - 1998

Hyped on : 22nd June 2023
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 10-0
Promotion at time - Combate Global

At the time I said "I'm not entirely convinced this dude is from Chile. He looks like a Dagi, but apparently he is from Chile, so there we go.

Wherever he's from he's an awesome prospect. Fights at a great pace, good on the feet, good on the ground. Confident enough with his GNP to sit and pound away in a dangerous guard like Martin Bravo's without any issue in what was a step up in competition that he made look easy.

Probably outgrown Combate at this point."

Record since : 0-1
Current promotion : Combate Global
222

Eliezer Kubanza
5-0-0

DR Congo - Welterweight

Hyped on : 25th June 2023
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - BRAVE

At the time I said "This dude looks insanely promising. Fights in a very weird paced style, like he slows down, lulls guys in, then speeds up and cracks them with super athletic ****. Really, really fast at covering distance when he decides to go and really powerful too. Sprawl seems to be there too although admittedly not against a super high level guy, definitely someone to follow with interest though."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : BRAVE
223

Youssouf Binate
5-0-0

Ivory Coast - Featherweight - 1997

Hyped on : 25th June 2023
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - ARES

At the time I said "This guy reminds me of Parnasse a bit in the way he moves slickly on the back foot, drifting away from his opponents strikes and finding his own fast counters. Just very slick and hard to hit and with huge consequences when you miss.

Has clear power too and I was impressed with how easily he changed modes from drifting back and countering effectively to moving forward quickly and obliterating his opponent when he clipped him. Great killer instinct."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : ARES
224

Alibi Idiris
9-0-0

Kazakhstan - Flyweight

Hyped on : 25th June 2023
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 8-0
Promotion at time - Naiza

At the time I said "Probably about time I have Idiris the formal hype train treatment seeing as he's been in the rankings for ages at this point and now that Maksum and Almabaev have signed for the UFC he's taken their mantle as the best Kazakh flyweight on the regionals.

Naiza found him a pretty decent undefeated Brazilian who actually looked okay, but Idiris wore him down with insane cardio and great output and pressure. He mixes in some flashy stuff to go with the good fundamentals that makes him really fun to watch.

If the rumours about Bellator talking to him are true, he'd be a great start to them building a flyweight division"

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : Naiza
225

Marsel Nurlanbek uulu
12-0-0

Kyrgyzstan - Featherweight - 1997

Hyped on : 11th September 2023
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 11-0
Promotion at time - Octagon

At the time I said "This dude is pretty interesting, he just seems to very recklessly dive after submission entanglements from either the top or bottom. Dude is happy to fly into an Iminari roll to try and engage the legs and crack on a kneebar as he did in his last fight. Will it work at a higher level? I'm not sure but it's fun to watch and I'm here for it."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : Octagon
226

An Tuan Ho
"The Highlight" | 6-0-0

Vietnam - Flyweight - 2000

Hyped on : 26th September 2023
Age at time - 22
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said "Ho continues to impress. He's been great for highlight finishes up to this point but I'd held off a hype post because he'd been tooling cans. Kendrick Latchman was his first solid regional vet test though and he passed it with absolutely flying colours. Kid has speed, really good power for a flyweight, seems equally adept at striking and grappling, good feinting, timing and is also extremely explosive. He's finished 9 of his 12 fights ammy and pro combined too which is very good for a flyweight. Seems to have all the makings of a future UFC contender."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : LFA
227

Sundet Aytkul
7-2-0

Kazakhstan - Bantamweight - 1998

Hyped on : 26th September 2023
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 6-1
Promotion at time - Octagon

At the time I said "Instant love with this dude. Just all round impressive. Lost his first fight when he was very young but been on an absolute roll laying waste to people since. Impressive speed and power, athletic, throws ****loads of flying knees (maybe too many but he'll figure that out), good bodylock takedowns, brutal ground and pound with vicious elbows, great timing on straight punches down the middle that really look like they stun his opponents. Just massively impressed."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : Octagon
228

Robelis Despaigne
"The Big Boy" | 5-0-0

Cuba - Heavyweight - 1988

Hyped on : 26th September 2023
Age at time - 35
Record at time : 3-0
Promotion at time - Fury FC

At the time I said "Older than I'd usually feature but it's HW and dudes can go for longer. Anyway, Robelis is a Cuban Olympic taekwondo practitioner who won a bronze at the 2012 Olympics and has won a couple of world bronzes too. He's also 6'7, seems to hit very hard and his last two fights have lasted a combined total of 16 seconds with the last one being a 4 second KO. My only concern really is around him getting fights because who the **** wants to fight a guy like this for a couple of grand on the regionals? Seems to me that with him being 35 already the UFC might as well just bring him in and go sink or swim with him."

Record since : 2-0
Current promotion : UFC
229

Razhabali Shaydullaev
9-0-0

Kyrgyzstan - Bantamweight - 2000

Hyped on : 17th October 2023
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 9-0
Promotion at time - UAE Warriors

At the time I said "I was mainly watching the UAE Warriors show for Amru and Renat and although those two were both really ******* impressive I left even more impressed by this dude as he casually ragdolled and choked a 12-1-1 Abdulmanap trained guy. Dude's scrambling, wrestling and backtakes are just unbelievable. Loved the way he just brute forced the choke through his chin too.

I immediately went back and watched some of his older fights and the dude is just doing what he wants to people. Serious prospect this one."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : ROAD FC
230

Abdullo Khodzhaev
5-0-0

Tajikistan - Lightweight

Hyped on : 17th October 2023
Age at time - ?
Record at time : 5-0
Promotion at time - UAE Warriors

At the time I said "Abdullo is another excellent prospect on the UAE Warriors roster that keeps impressing more and more in every performance. Previously I'd noted him more for his kicking game but his opponent in this fight came to wrestle and he did a good job creating scrambles to get back up. Ultimately he managed to sprawl on top and show he's got a pretty devastating game there by managing to hold position and then unload elbows for a win. Seems to be good all round."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : UAE Warriors
231

Cong Wang
"The Joker" | 4-0-0

China - Bantamweight - 1992

Hyped on : 17th October 2023
Age at time - 32
Record at time : 3-0
Promotion at time - UAE Warriors

At the time I said "Lord knows decent prospects at women's BW are hard to come by so I'll take them where I can get them. Wang has a pretty extensive kickboxing background and actually beat Valentina in that sport. She's young in her MMA career but seems to be developing well and had a good performance here against a scrappy Australian girl.

Obviously the kickboxing is good as she kept her range well, cut off the cage nicely, keeping measured pressure on her opponent and unloading at the right times. What I think will really help her going forward is how strong she looked, every time her opponent tried to tie up with her she was dominating the clinch positions, which could well mean girls have trouble taking her down.

She slowed a bit in the 3rd but like I say her opponent was tough and scrappy, so not reading much into that."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : Kunlun Fight
232

Myktybek Orolbai
12-1-1

Kyrgyzstan - Welterweight - 1998

Hyped on : 28th October 2023
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 11-1-1
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said "I know this seems to be somewhat of a Kyrgyzstan appreciation thread at the moment but these dudes are doing well.

Anyway, Orolbai had been doing well in LFA, but some critics had suggested he was maybe a bit wrestling heavy. In this fight he decided to strike and although he was in there with a bit of a journeyman he still looked impressive doing it, throwing with power and coming forward effectively before finishing the fights with one of the most brutal uppercuts you'll ever see. He then called for his UFC shot and he probably deserves it."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : UFC
233

Quillan Salkilld
6-1-0

Australia - Lightweight - 1999

Hyped on : 28th October 2023
Age at time - 23
Record at time : 5-1
Promotion at time - Eternal MMA

At the time I said "Quillan seems to have come out of nowhere to lead the pack of the Eternal MMA Lightweights over the past year or so. He really impressed me by knocking out Blake O'Donnelly in his last fight, but showed he has more than power and a good all round game in a 5 round decision against a ridiculously tough opponent.

Really good pressure boxer, but also a good wrestler and top BJJ players with good positional control, transitions, back takes and ground and pound. Looks to be a well rounded fighter who can be a problem for a while.

Was due to be on Road to UFC for an exhibition fight before losing his opponent to a tournament weight miss earlier in the year, so we know he's already on the radar and I can see why."

Record since : 1-0
Current promotion : Eternal MMA
234

Márcio Barbosa
"Ticotô" | 15-2-0

Brazil - Featherweight - 1998

Hyped on : 19th November 2023
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 15-2
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said "Thought I'd hyped Ticoto before but he's not on my list so I'd better rectify that.

Anyway this dude has ridiculous power for featherweight, to the point where he's just able to march good fighters down and throw hands until he can get them out of there. There's some very good regional fighters who just seem completely unable to stop the swarm of offence and the battering they receive. Once he clocks people clean once it seems to be over unless the person is Gabriel Santos."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : LFA
235

Aboubakar Younousov
"Dikiy" | 4-0-0

France - Bantamweight - 2000ish

Hyped on : 22nd November 2023
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - ARES

At the time I said "Not sure where Younousov's full time camp is but he seems to spend a lot of time training with Khamzat. Anyway, this past weekend was a big step up for the dude as he went from running through guys with a similar experience levels to a 10-2 former title challenger in Moustapha Aida.

He handled the step up no problem, winning the wrestling exchanges to get ahead and putting an impressive pace on before finding an awesome spinning back elbow for the finish to take the ARES title."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : Ares
236

Juan Díaz
"Pegajoso" | 12-1-1

Peru - Bantamweight - 1998

Hyped on : 2nd December 2023
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 11-1-1
Promotion at time - LUX Fight League

At the time I said "Pegajoso looked more impressive than ever last night in beating the **** out of LUX champ Jose Roura to take the belt home. Really impressive boxing performance as he looked comfortable managing the range, putting combos together and was perhaps best at landing punches on exits and off pivots at times when Roura wasn't expecting to be landed on.

Also showed a bit of his grappling that he's shown in previous fights, easily fending off and threatening with chokes as Roura got more tired and started to try and threaten with grappling later in the fight.

Dude's only loss is a very debateable decision to the also UFC level Gato Loco Rodrigo Vera, so Pegajoso must be very close."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : LUX Fight League
237

Kamal Magomedov
11-0-0

Russia - Welterweight - 1991

Hyped on : 6th December 2023
Age at time - 32
Record at time : 11-0
Promotion at time - BRAVE

At the time I said "The main knock on Kamal has usually been lack of decent competition, however he got a good quality opponent here in BRAVE champ and former UFC fighter Marcin Bandel and he knocked him out inside a round. Not the most technical striker but comes forward with big power and in this fight was doing a great job with nailing Bandel with big knees up the middle as he came forward. Now he's champ it's probably sink or swim in a big promotion time give that he's already 32."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : BRAVE
238

Kubanychbek Abdisalam Uulu
"Omok" | 21-3-0, 1 NC

Kyrgyzstan - Lightweight - 1994

Hyped on : 6th December 2023
Age at time - 29
Record at time : 21-3
Promotion at time - BRAVE

At the time I said "Ended his last couple of dominant but boringish performances by coming out like a man possessed against Lucas Martins, to get him out of there in the first round. He was actually outboxing and catching a decent kickboxer like Martins in the first before using it to get into his grappling. If he can perform more like this he might actually attract the UFC's attention, especially now he's on a 13 fight win streak."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : BRAVE
239

Jacobe Smith
8-0-0

USA - Welterweight - 1996

Hyped on : 5th March 2024
Age at time - 28
Record at time : 8-0
Promotion at time - Fury FC

At the time I said "Former D1 wrestler who seems to find it difficult to find people willing to fight him. Had to fight another mid level dude on the last Fury Card but absolutely flatlined the poor guy in a couple of punches, looking like a prime Tyron Woodley in the process.

Seems like a lock for DWCS this year."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : Fury FC
240

Ilian Bouafia
"The Gorilla" | 4-0-0

France - Middleweight - 1999

Hyped on : 14th March 2024
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 4-0
Promotion at time - Ares

At the time I said "This dude is due a step up in competition but there's something special about him I think. He's just such sharp striker with a laser accurate jab and cross, he's got really good feinting and range management too and his opponent basically looked like he was ****ting himself every time he had to engage with him."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : Ares
241

Stewart Nicoll
8-0-0

Australia - Flyweight - 1994

Hyped on : 17th March 2024
Age at time - 29
Record at time : 8-0
Promotion at time - Beatdown Promotions

At the time I said "Really impressive grappler. Took an undefeated guy and made him look like he wasn't in the same league. Once he gets a hold of you it seems that he'll just lock his hands, take you down over and over while looking for the position that he wants and start doing damage and looking for subs when he gets there."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : Beatdown Promotions
242

Luke Riley
9-0-0

England - Featherweight - 1999

Hyped on : 20th March 2024
Age at time - 24
Record at time : 9-0
Promotion at time - Cage Warriors

At the time I said "Luke's had a bit of habit of making fights closer than he should given his talent level, but he handled his step up to a high level regional gatekeeper in John De Jesus really well in winning a very comfortable decision.

Excellent hands, keeps the pressure on well, works to the body, closes the distance to strike and keeps his man moving backwards. Looks just about UFC ready at this stage, though he might stick around and try and get a Cage Warriors title first (although tbh with the current CW 145 division it might be easier fighting entry level UFC fighters)"

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : Cage Warriors
243

Luiz Felipe Herculano
7-0-0

Brazil - Flyweight - 1999

Hyped on : 27th March 2024
Age at time - 25
Record at time : 7-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said "Holy **** is this dude ever back. Disappeared for three and a half years and to be honest I kind of forgot he existed. Came back against a reasonable opponent and just absolutely ran through him in 16 seconds. Knocking him down pretty much immediately and then carefully picking his shots to finish his opponent and separate him from consciousness. I was massively impressed by the way he was calmly and methodically picking those shots. Looks like a terror."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : LFA
244

Michael Oliveira
"PQD" | 7-0-0

Brazil - Welterweight - 1998

Hyped on : 27th March 2024
Age at time - 26
Record at time : 6-0
Promotion at time - LFA

At the time I said "Watch out welterweights, your worst nightmare has come true, it turns out PQD has cardio.

The dude he was fighting was seriously tough as **** and managed to survive a couple of the initial wild offensive flurries of death that have been getting everyone else out of there. The concern with muscular guys who just trash everyone early is that they gas, instead PQD dialled it back a bit, fought in a manner than reminded me of Michael Morales and then still had the cardio to turn it on and finish a ridiculously tough dude in the last minute of the fight."

Record since : N/A
Current promotion : LFA

Event		Start Time
ONE Fight Night 22		05.03.2024, 7:00 PM ET
OKTAGON 57		05.04.2024, 8:00 AM ET
UFC 301		05.04.2024, 6:00 PM ET
Canelo vs. Munguia		05.04.2024, 4:00 PM ET
Inoue vs. Nery		05.06.2024, 2:00 AM ET
PFL MENA 1		05.10.2024, 11:00 AM ET
UFC Fight Night		05.11.2024, 4:00 PM ET
Lomachenko vs. Kambosos		05.11.2024, 7:00 PM ET

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