Next round of prospects

[ZafroTexas]

Of everybody named here the only special ones I see being champion one day are Talbot and Nickal.

Talbot would require slick match matching, ie the Omalley treatment

Nickel would probably be fine with whoever is I front of him

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

I also think Montel Jackson is a good prospect, he has hands bigger than Ngannou in size and 1 punch ko power, he made a solid BW like Blackshear go to sleep in 20 seconds

Those have to be the biggest mitts in BW history

 

[tritestill]

A lot of love for Payton Talbott, I need to go back and watch him fight clearly. Google story said he preferred going for MMA over wrestling in college where he was described as an accomplished record. From what I can see he was like 24-7 record as a senior in high school in Nevada (not a great wrestling State).

Unless he has out of this world natural striking it's hard for me to to think he could be a above average wrestler from America who reported didn't like watching or care about MMA until his senior year of high school and didn't have a youth background in striking or jitsu and yet at a young age is being viewed as a potential champ already.

I'll throw on some tapes I'm sure and change my mind I'm sure but.... by his reading the bio he doesn't have anything that jumps out as a young future champ status. (Also graduated college so increased odds he didn't have some rough upbringing to harden him).

Man wtf, just watch him fight bro, the guy is 135 lbs Terminator with an aura that speaks to him being a champion. Only bad style match-ups will derail him or if he has a mental weakness that hasn't shown itself yet that your post could allude to during his career tbh.

 

[fortheo]

Who are the next up and coming fighters that aren’t ranked yet in each division. I can’t really think of any except for maybe Bo Nickal(he may actually already ranked)Whose got a list of some fighters that will rise through the ranks in 2025.

I remember watching guys like Topurai early in his ufc career and knowing he was going to be a champion one day. I can’t think of anyone unranked now that’s going to rise through the ranks, whose got some?

Here's some from the lighter weight classes in the UFC

Flyweight: Rei tsuruya, Andre lima, clayton carpenter, Ramazan Temirov, Hyun Sung Park
Bantamweight: Rinya nakamura, Cody haddon, Vinicius oliveira, payton talbott, Jean matsumoto, Farid basharat
Featherweight: Jean silva, Youseff zalal, william gomis, Felipe lima (is he staying at FW?)

 

[The_Renaissance]

Looking at the current divisions, the guys I see making breakthroughs in 2025 are (trying to avoid better known names):



Flyweight - Rafael Estevam, Andre Lima, Ramazan Temirov, Lone'er Kavanaugh

Bantamweight - Rinya Nakamura, Payton Talbott, Bernardo Sopaj, Cody Haddon

Featherweight - Sean Woodson, Farid Basharat

Lightweight - Nurullo Aliev, Estevan Ribovics, Mauricio Ruffy

Welterweight - nobody stands out, who isn't already well known (guys like Battle)

Middleweight - Joe Pyfer, Mansur Abdul-Malik, Marco Tulio.

Light-Heavyweight - Mingyang Zhang, Ibo Aslan, Oumar Sy, Navajo Stirling.

Heavyweight - nobody stands out.

 

[Tweak896]

Woodson, Payton, Robocop, Alverez, Jean Silva, and probably some random Dagastani

 

[Meathead Jock]

Man wtf, just watch him fight bro, the guy is 135 lbs Terminator with an aura that speaks to him being a champion. Only bad style match-ups will derail him or if he has a mental weakness that hasn't shown itself yet that your post could allude to during his career tbh.

I said I need to watch him. But when everyone is calling for the guy to be a champ and he is young it makes me want to know his backstory. I'm sure if I read O'Malleys background I'd say the same thing, so sometimes a fighter just has 'it'.

 

[GordoBarraBJJ]

That dakota chick that thirsty sherdoggers' keep making threads about.

 

[Harlekin]

Those have to be the biggest mitts in BW history

Crazy built. 1inch shorter than OMalley, but has 3,5 inches in reach on him.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Crazy built. 1inch shorter than OMalley, but has 3,5 inches in reach on him.

The Anti-Artem

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

Montel Jackson seems a bit old to be a prospect. he's a 32 yr old BW that's been in the UFC for like 6 yrs.

 

[KhabibPink]

I see Oban Elliot as a prospect outside of Morales and Prates at Welterweight and Cody Haddon at Bantamweight. Oban Elliot has shown impressive takedown defence so far (something he’ll definitely need if he ever ends up top 10)
Cody Haddon’s only loss was to Steve Erceg on his 3rd pro fight, dropped and subbed Billy Brand on the contender series and easily beat an 2.5 lbs over the weight limit Dan Argueta.

 

[kingmob6]

Payton Talbott.

Future champ..

I like him a lot, but his style is very risky. He is going to get KOed at some point, he is too defensively loose and goes forward with disregard for his own safety.

 

[Ara tech]

90% of the most best prospects are not even in the UFC but in rivals organization, PFL/Bellator, ACA, One, KSW and smaller ones, or free agents.

 

[Bubzeh]

UFC?

Soft spot for Jordan Vucenic. Robbed might be strong but I’m going with it, he was robbed of his debut W a few months back.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

I like him a lot, but his style is very risky. He is going to get KOed at some point, he is too defensively loose and goes forward with disregard for his own sasafety.

what if he has an absolutely granite chin? Not a ton of power hitters at 35

UFC?

Soft spot for Jordan Vucenic. Robbed might be strong but I’m going with it, he was robbed of his debut W a few months back.

I'm high on Vucenic too, seems like a great kid. Getting Guram for your debut is an incredibly tall task.

 

[tritestill]

I said I need to watch him. But when everyone is calling for the guy to be a champ and he is young it makes me want to know his backstory. I'm sure if I read O'Malleys background I'd say the same thing, so sometimes a fighter just has 'it'.

Yea, he's looked great against lower comp. If he has a mental deficit or lack of enthusiasm or heart it would come out against higher comp and that background would check out. If he gets matched up against Merab, I would take that into consideration.

 

[EricSpider]

Jean Silva is the biggest prospect in my opinion

 

[kingmob6]

what if he has an absolutely granite chin? Not a ton of power hitters at 35

I'm high on Vucenic too, seems like a great kid. Getting Guram for your debut is an incredibly tall task.

that granite chin can only take you so far. he has already taken a lot of power shots early in his career. if he works on defense a bit, and learns to be a bit more cautious, he can go a lot further. That rock em' sock em style that he has going, is trouble without some wise pull backs.

 

[TCE]

Everyone has mentioned the fighters I was going to say, but since no one has mentioned a HW, I'd say Mick Parkin. He looked great in his last fight with the KO. Training day in, day out with Tom Aspinall, you can only get better, right?