Just cuz I haven't seen him mentioned in the comments yet. Diego Lopes has all the makings to be one of the most exciting featherweights in history imo
Something to note with Saint Denis is that, that loss to Dos Santos was at Welterweight and Dos Santos is a natural 170er and has never fought at 155 (Denis natural weight class). So the guy debuted at 170 before now dropping back down.
What he showed in that fight, the toughness...combined with the skills & brutality he has shown since, make me want that Gaethje fight so bad. The bloodlust is real. And this guy has charisma too so you know the build up b/t he & Justin would be respectful but intense AF. But he's gotta go earn that. I honestly think Justing fights Islam next for THEE BELT. So either way, if he wants to give the ppl that fight, he's definitely got his work cut out for him. The man is literally a super soldier though, so he's beyond up for that challenge. Fingers crossed folks, that is a bucket list fight. How about Fiziev next though?? 🔥🔥 🔥
All of those guys out of chutebox are lethal. Their all coached by charles oliveira with an awesome coaching staff, I have have high hopes for those guys
I was waiting on his name. 3/0 in the UFC. Absolute dog fights every single time he's in there. One of the nastiest KOs of the year. The most incredible come from behind win against Guram when he was setup as a stepping stone/tune-up. I think he breaks top 10 this year, top 15 at minimum. He just has the grit to make wins happen.
We as an MMA community need to rally behind Roman Kopylov. 3 fights/ 3 brutal finishes in 2023. We gotta see this man's potential before he ages out of his prime.
I love seeing really promising East Asian fighters - there's so much history in MMA from Japan etc seeing new and promising Japanese and South Korean fighters is super cool, since it seems like they just disappeared for a long time. (Obv outside of ONE basically, tho the growth of that promo probably helps too)
For real, I feel like Tatsuro Taira is going to lead a revolution for the eastern Asian fighters. You can tell with the Apex in China and Road to UFC, the UFC is trying really hard to strengthen the talent in those markets. They’ve done well in China so far with Weili, Xiaonan, and Li Jingliang. A new wave of Japanese or Korean stars would be awesome to see
Couldn't agree more. I love the global ethnic diaspora of talent in general in MMA, but that historic connection to martial arts that is distinctly and uniquely East Asian is indeed a very special thing to be respected and honored. I love to hear the fighters talk about representing their people and their families.
@@treyabersonI LOVE things like the Road to UFC. Tbh, I think they should be doing it on every continent, IMHO. Perhaps there are plans, who knows. If not, I'd say there should be.
@@treyaberson Tatsuro has better upgrade his sloppy stand-up quick. Given his slim build and only-average wrestling, he's not taking elite, strong guys down, unlike Rinya, who is an actual elite Greco Roman wrestler with Tatsuro like BJJ skills. But unlike slim Tatsuro, Rinya is a well built, strong, very capable stand-up guy, too! At 5'7" Rinya is ideally suited to be a 135 all-arounder... I think of all the dozen or so very promising guys 1-3 years into their UFC career, shown on this video and others like it the last year, Bo and Rinya have the most potentials.... simply because they (at their respective 180 & 135 divisions) are well built, strong wrestlers, who also are really good (even early on in their UFC/MMA careers) both standing and on the ground, with strength, agility, and all around athleticism: they could hang with the more polished strikers and, then, they easily overpower almost all in their next level wrestling skills. Both Rinya and Bo also show great BJJ on the mat beyond their elite Greco Roman skills.
I feel bad for Caio Borrahlo. Guy is on i think a 5 fight win streak and changed up his style to be a bit more exciting in his last fight yet there's no talk about getting him a ranked opponent or fan buzz.
There’s a good amount of guys at middleweight that deserve shots at a ranking. Roman Kopylov, Caio Borralho fluffy Hernandez I think those 3 guys are on a 4 or 5 win streak in the company each iron turtle as well deserved a ranking on his win streak but he got his leg humped by Andre Muniz and lost a split decision a couple weeks ago
Michael Morales will be a spectacle in a few years. A slow ascend to the top will assure him all the adversity needed to be fighting the top guys. At 24 years of age, 4-0 ufc record, judo background, AND A 79” REACH AT WELTERWEIGHT!! THAT MAN WILL BE A PROBLEM FOR THE DIVISION
Sadykhov is gonna be one of those must-see action fighters in the next years. I don't see title hopes but he's very good and very very VERY entertaining. I welcome being proven wrong though because I'd love to see him in the top 15.
I thought Cody Garbandt was gonna be the king for a generation, man I was wrong about that🤣 but in my defense, I also predicted he would be champ the first time I saw him, when he was still pretty under the radar. So I get 1 point for the right prediction, and minus 1 point for the terrible prediction.
Based on the HGH block face and obvious visits to the Brazilian CVS's for their patented fun juice, I'd like to see how good Moura looks in a year or two of UFC drug testing. There's a reason these Brazilians start indestructible and then disintegrate into ash in a few years. Think about it.. Name any of the hulking Brazilians that have looked good for more than a year or two post-USADA. I can think of one, and she retired last year. (I should clarify I'm talking about the ones that look obviously unnatural, not just workout freaks like Jailton. You can tell by the abnormal bone growth accompanying a hulking physique)
i been on the bsd hype train for over a year, glad he’s getting the hype he deserves now. as soon as i saw him on the first paris card and looked into his background and watched his earlier fights i knew he was special
Very suprised not to see Elves Brenner on this list, hes my favourite up and commer currently undefeated in the ufc on a 3 fight win streak with a sub, a ko and a decision with every single performance being fight of the night worthy
@@kamrankhandevil hopefully he is because I was suprised to see a guy like Talbot on this list with only 1 ufc fight and a relatively untested ground game while someone like Brenner gets left out
This time last year, I had just started getting into MMA and have never watched a single PPV in my life. I did not know a single person on your list for 2023 when I first found your channel... Now I proudly nod along and go "same" to all your picks for 2024. Thank you for helping me get into this sport that has quickly became my favorite past time.
Dont worry, ive only watched like 4 or 5 ppvs and it was at other peoples house. Ultimate fighter season 1 was the only season i watch nearly all the way through,,flew to georgia for 3 months,.im like you, Its never too late to be a fan!
Fuck Bo Nickal. Ain't no way you actually like that guy. He's such an NPC, no personality whatsoever and thinks he's the best already. Guy has fought nothing but cans and will get annihilated the second he goes higher in competition. Give him any ranked fighter and they crush him.
so glad you guys put in Rinya, by far my most hyped up prospect. Gets me really excited for the future of MMA. He's still pretty untested though but If he tightens up his striking I feel like he's going to be a real problem
this list is perfect, despite the fact that you forgot to mention chase hooper could have a seriously impressive year at lightweight. makes bjj look like poetry in motion, and is super young with all that talent.
I’ve actually had the honour to train alongside Mike Malott and can say he’s legit all around, just watching the speed and technicality of his striking is insane. Definitely hoping we get to see more of him in the UFC cage in 2024 and just by the intensity he trains at I know he’s hungry to keep climbing the rankings 🇨🇦
He might be a good fighter but I need to see more, much more from him before I can consider him an elite talent. All of his wins other than Mickey Gall are against guys who don't have Wikipedia pages, and Mickey Gall isn't very good. Neil Magny (his next opponent) is pretty washed if we're being honest, so if Malott doesn't blow him out of the water its difficult to see Malott being a top Welterweight.
@kamrankhandevil true but some men that live healthy lives and don't fall for stuff like cigs can see prime time from 18 - 42.....22 -38 is the perfect time imo gotta live right tho or this isn't relevant more like 25 to 35 if u arent and healthy as you could have been but due to choices...ya know. Sh.. some people never reach their peak because they only get 6 or 7 hrs of sleep a night whereas had they been able to get 9hrs a night and purposely put the effort in to make this happen, they would be far more powerful and fast with greater stamina as well as live a longer life
Coming back to this video right now. LOVE these videos you guys put out. But oh boy this has to be one of the lists that didn’t age as well. Maybe at least compared to the year prior, because nearly everyone on this list has had at least 1 loss this year.. not to say they can’t come back but compared to the quick rise from so many of the guys from 2023 - look how well Imavov has done for himself since this was posted.
Nicolas Dalby, the dark horse of the welterweight division. He may be 38, but he’s better than ever right now. Went 3-0 in 2023, beating Warlley Alves in January, Muslim Salikhov in June and finished off the year by beating undefeated 15-0 prospect Gabriel Bonfim in November. Don’t be surprised if he suddenly appears in the top 15 and takes out everyone.
Im personally very excited to watch Billy Goff fight, after his awesome comeback in the contender series 2 years ago and his body shot ko in Singapore I think he has a genuine chance to impress
Poor Neil Magney, they keep giving him up and coming prospects that are always gonna beat him down. The UFC is definitely using Neil Magney as a stepping stone or a gate keeper to the top 15.
He's beaten a lot of them, though. D Rod, Geoff Neal, Jingliang, Rowe, Lombard, M Griffin, etc. Plus, htf is that the UFC's fault that he loses his fights? Are they supposed to give him "easy fights" or something? You're making him out to be a Victim.
@@jayluis189he’s the most consistent gatekeeper on the roster he beats a couple prospects to keep his ranking then loses to his deserved jump in competition then a good prospect beats him then he beats a couple more guys he’s never out of the top 15 or in the top 10 he’s an incredible gatekeeper
I appreciate seeing all new fighters on this list each year but it would be cool if you did a vid on the fighters in last's list with an update of how they did in the past year and your thoughts on their current prospects now that they've had a couple more bouts against likely more seasoned opponents 👍🏻
I've met Payton Talbott, super nice guy. He mentioned training at Reno Academy of Combat, but didn't say he was a professional fighter in the UFC. That's pretty nuts though!
Thank you! This video is one of my favorite recurring vids from you. Mostly because there is SO MUCH MMA content throughout the year, that it's easy to forget some of these people that have shown up big. This helps me get rehyped for the new year of competition, and remember who I should be keeping an eye on. You da bess!
It's hillarious to see Dewey Cooper next to normal human beings and then seeing him next to Ngannou. With normal humans he looks fairly larger than usual, and then Ngannou dwarfs him.
Brito is my pick for the dark horse of the featherweight division, he beat lopes to get signed on dwcs. I’d love to see that rematch later on when they’re both bigger names.
Fine guess on Benoit Saint Denis, next fight is against number 3 contender so the title fight argument might happen in less than 3 fights actually (I'm french so I might be biased btw)
Great List thank you enjoyed watching a lot of the fighters you mentioned last year, I think Joshua Van is a fighter to watch also very young a lot of potential very well rounded and athletic, His boxing reminds me of JDM Style, His Body shots are insane!
Backflips are pretty common defense/scramble situation in grappling. Not sure he’ll be able to dodge a knee if someone decides to throw it since technically he isn’t grounded
Id say lightheavyweight is just as competitive and exciting as it was back in the day. The past 2 years have been a scramble to determine who the next top dog will be and we've had some crazy fights to get there. Jiri and Glover. Hill and Glover. Alex has had some good showcases. Now all we need is a fully recovered hill vs alex and we got ourselves an official lightheavyweight champ. Maybe ankalaev vs alex first while we wait for Hill to recover.
Feels like just watched last year edition having kids time flys, sure yous had Spinal touporia last year obv a year ago but am sure use picked a few bang on
4:20 That Payton Talbot takedown escape attempt looked cool, but ended up giving his back up instead. So actually was not a good decision. It definitely looked cool though.
