The Unranked Fighters Game 2025 Edition [Under new management: *NO* prize for winner yet]

[Mohawk Banditó]

What a cover piece

Thanks, I try.

I thought I finished them?

Also quoting a few guys in case you wanna add some women for more chances at points. No one is so detached from MMA that they can't take a gamble on Nunes

 

[deanambrose]

Thanks for continuation of this awesome game @Mohawk Banditó I really appreciate it and love it.

This game taught me that you can't pick too many safe picks and not so many crazy picks. It must be perfect balanced mix.
At this point I will go with :

FLW:
Muhammad Mokaev - 1 or 2 wins in other orgs and he will be back in top5 in UFC.

Honorable mention - Ramazan Temirov - Who has booked fight with charles johnson who is ranked, but I will go crazy. Muhammad will be back.

BW:
Payton Talbott - who is new rising star and have some skills. 3-0, there is buzz about him. Is booked against Barcelos next.

Honorable mention - Farid Basharat. His brother lost but Farid is still undefeated and 4-0 in UFC's one of the best divisions.

FW:
Jakub Wikłacz - former KSW champion who relinquished his title is coming to UFC. Skilled young man will have ranked match as his debut and he will win.

Honotable mention :
Jean Silva - fighting nerds, so hot right now. He has great test with Melsik Baghdasaryan in February then if he win can get ranking but I will go crazy with my pick,
Youssef Zalal - booked fight with dangerous albeit slowed down Kattar who is ranked #10. Hard fight but can do it.

LW:
Mateusz Rebecki - my boy Matt has awesome skillset with cardio being his only problem. After recent performance he is hot commodity. 4-1 with only bangers. I believe he is just outside ranking. Might get someone soon or 1 fight after that.

Honorable mentions :
Grant Dawson - was #15 but got replaced with Alvarez recently so he is most likely #16 but has hard test against CDF who is old but tricky.
Carlos Diego Fereira - I believe he is ranked #17. Crafty vet who can get it done again.
Fares Ziam - after coming back to UFC has nice win streak with some good performances.
Brian Ortega - rumor says that T-City wants to go up. He will certainly have someone ranked to face as his first bout at LW but we don't know if he will win.

WW:
Brian Battle - Explosive and charismatic (and having great name) fighter is 7-1-1NC with some exciting fights. No fight booked but his only loss is against Rinat. Unfortunate No Contest doesn't help him either. But I will believe in him. Not so safe pick.

Honorable mentions :
Gabriel Bonfim - 3-1 in UFC thus far. Has some buzz going for him but his hype slowed down because of Dalby loss. Next fight versus Rinat who was ranked not long time ago.
Rinat Fakhretdinov - 5-0-1 in UFC (albeit with some pauses) and two asterisks (robbery in last fight and draw) he now faces dangerous Bonfim brother. I think UFC punishes him a little - he was ranked #15 not long time ago. He must but somewhere in range 15-20.
Roberto Soldić - I don't know what to make of Robocop. Unnecessary signing with One stopped his carreer greatly. Then baffling fights - NC, then unexpected KO loss versus C level fighter and now booked for February altough at MW.

MW:
Gregory Rodriguez - 8-2 in UFC and on 3 fight winning streak. Robocop is dangerous and will fight next ranked #8 Jared Cannonier who is not getting younger.

Honorable mentions :
Ikram Aliskerov - he might be booked soon versus Paulo Costa but it is dangerous fight for him. I've had high hopes for him but he failed the test against Whittaker. My bad - he is booked against Andre Muniz - another failed prospect.
Iron Turtle - 8-3 in UFC. Not bad. Unfortunately not long time ago lost to Muniz then went back on track against Tavares but with split decision.
Andre Muniz - I've had high hopes but he failed me hard.
Jiri Prochazka - Czech Samurai said himself that he will descend to MW soon. If that's right then he is so big name that he should have ranked fight at middleweight and he should win.
Bo Nickal - hype train but somewhat maybe not so skilled in MMA like we thought. Still - undefeated, hyped by UFC and going strong 7-0 with 4 in UFC.
Roberto Soldić (again) - can debut in MW in UFC if contract with One will be eliminated.
Joe Pyfer - another hypejob by UFC. Once they wanted to fasttrack him maybe he will be again.
Paul Craig - once ranked but after recent run got dethroned from top15.
Brunno Ferriera - worth mentioning with his wild style.

LHW:
Oumar Sy - undefeated frenchman is on 2 fight winning streak and is already booked against #15 Menifield where he has great chance of success. Quite 'safe' pick.

Honorable mentions :
DDP - Dricus have serious ambitions to go to LHW so why not? He is not without a chances. He is very physical.
Israel Adesanya - with proper bulking Izzy can go to LHW where he can defeat few ranked fighters even if he is past his prime.
Khamzat Chimaev - if rumors are true and Borz might be next title challenger for Poatan then it is worth risking here.
Vadim Nemkov - if he is willing to come to UFC and if he still can make 205.
Robert Whittaker - past prime vet who can still make chaos in ranking. With big name he certainly deserves ranked challenge at LHW.
Dustin Jacoby - hit and miss fighter but could be ranked in near future.


HW:
Kennedy Nzechukwu - already 2-0 at HW. At no time he can get past few fat HW's.

Honorable mentions :
Rizvan Kuniev - he is going into deep water fighting Blaydes in his UFC debut but unless Curtis will have offnight I don't believe russian will have much success.
Vadim Nemkov - if he is willing to come to UFC but I have my own doubts.
Vitor Petrino - everyone thought that he is better than he is really but at HW if he wins he can be ranked fast.

Women :

WSW:
Ketlen Souza - after losing Rose and Joanna SW isn't premiere division like it was before. Ketlen is 2-1 in UFC with recently getting performance of the night bonus which can guarantee her some sweet spot in ranking in near future. Unbooked as of writing.

WFLW:
Mayra Bueno Silva - Former title challenger who came up short (but it was weight class higher). She is fairly skilled and booker against #12.

WBW: Amanda Nunes - crazy pick but she could do it.

 

[FreedomCricket]

Spoiler: Coming back to add the rest.

~~~~~~~~~

Template:
FLW: Ramazan Temirov
BW: Payton Talbott / Raul Rosas Jr.
FW: Felipe Lima / Youssef Zalal / Sean Woodson
LW: Jean Silva
WW: Rinat Fakhretdinov
MW: Gregory Rodrigues
LHW: Oumar Sy
HW: Alex Pereira / Mario Pinto

WSW:
WFLW:
WBW:

~~~~~~~~~

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Careful with the Cejudo picks. He might still go to flyweight later, but looks like he's booked against Yadong for now

 

[Banana Tree's Nemesis]

FLW: Rei Tsuruya
BW: Jean Matsumoto
FW: Felipe Lima
LW: Mateusz Rebecki
WW: Rinat Fakhretdinov
MW: Roman Kopylov
LHW: Oumar Sy
HW: Rizvan Kuniev

WSW: Alexia Thainara
WFLW: Eduarda Moura
WBW: Nora Cornolle

Spoiler: Fighters I almost picked BUT DIDN'T

FLW: Temirov - TOO OBVIOUS
BW: Said - last years pick, didn't fight the whole year. If he has more than 1 good fight this year I'll be salty.
FW: Nathaniel Wood - you'd think he'd be a decent pick...right?!
LW: Bahamondes - Basically a toss up. Momentum plays a huge factor and ranked fights at LW are damn hard to make I imagine. I hope Rebecki fights at least twice this year.
WW: Oban Elliott - good but not Rinat
MW: Engizek - not signed
LHW: Vettori - random but he's at hitting that age where the weight cuts become difficult and his head size shouldn't be allowed at MW anyways.
HW: Pereira - I play for fun. Guessing double champs is not fun.

WSW: Jaqueline Amorim - probably the wiser choice, but Thainara is a fun pick and she fights a lot.
WFLW: Dern - she's kinda thicc and lacking perspective so why not go fight Tracy Cortez at FLW

 

[UFCIsNOTRigged]

FLW: Ramazan Temirov
BW: Payton Talbott
FW: Youssef Zalal
LW: Mauricio Ruffy
WW: Gabriel Bonfim
MW: Gregory Rodrigues
LHW: Oumar Sy
HW: Ryan Spann

WSW: Ketlen Souza
WFLW: Wang Cong
WBW: Amanda Nunes

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Little more than 12 hours left to lock in your picks. Any post edited after midnight Pacific will invalidate all picks in it.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Little more than 12 hours left to lock in your picks. Any post edited after midnight Pacific will invalidate all picks in it.

Kline won and I'm going places

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Kline won and I'm going places

Good pick! When I was checking, I saw that she lost to Jasmine recently and didn't put together that she was dropping to SW.

 

[fortheo]

Of course tsuruya's opponent pulled out and didn't get a replacement. All the sudden it is looking unlikely that he'll even get enough fights in this year to make it into the rankings.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Of course tsuruya's opponent pulled out and didn't get a replacement. All the sudden it is looking unlikely that he'll even get enough fights in this year to make it into the rankings.

Annoying. Kinda worried about jacobe smith. He looked good and he called out the champ. But I'm thinking he doesn't make it inside the top 15 unless he has a monster year

 

[fortheo]

Annoying. Kinda worried about jacobe smith. He looked good and he called out the champ. But I'm thinking he doesn't make it inside the top 15 unless he has a monster year

I think he's small for 170lbs and would be better suited at LW personally. I'm interested in his development either way, though, and considering how quick his last fight was, it seems likely that he'll be able to get at least two more in this year and climb the rankings.