Mixed martial arts is a sport in a constant state of turnover. Fighters rise from obscurity, reach their peak and then fall off precipitously. It's also a star-driven sport. No matter how invested fans might be in the UFC or Bellator brands, they really tune in to see fighters they know and care about. If 2015's pay-per-view rebound for the UFC proved anything, it's that: Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor sold to the public. Stardom is a real thing, and it matters. As McGregor and Rousey rose to prominence, older stars have faded. Georges St-Pierre has retired, and Anderson Silva is long past his prime. A new generation of young and exciting fighters is on the way to the top, though. In this piece, we'll take a look at the 10 most promising up-and-comers. The only criterion is that the fighter in question cannot have headlined a pay-per-view show. Let's dive in. The UFC has poured a tremendous amount of resources into developing its presence in the Latin American, and especially the Mexican, markets over the last several years. Reality shows, a UFC network and several events have formed the core of this strategy. Finding and developing talent is the second piece of this, and Invicta FC's Alexa Grasso fits that bill nicely. The Guadalajara, Mexico native is 3-0 under the Invicta banner and was twice scheduled to compete for the promotion's strawweight title in 2015. Injuries knocked her out of both bouts. Grasso's combination of looks, charisma and style makes her a coveted commodity. Following her last fight, a three-round victory over Mizuki Inoue in February 2015, the UFC clearly wanted to bring her on board. She expressed[3] a desire to fight on the promotion's next card in her home country in an interview with MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani, and Dana White[4] tweeted[5] about her. That momentum has cooled somewhat due to the injuries and long layoff, but it won't take much to light the fire once again. The 22-year-old is a serious talent with a penchant for exciting fights, not just a product of the desire for a promotable face in an up-and-coming market. High-output boxing is Grasso's wheelhouse, with a slick jab, hard right hand and smooth combination work. She's technically skilled in the pocket and willing to exchange shots at close range. Aggression and a willingness to go for submissions on the mat make her a dangerous threat there as well. If she can improve her wrestling skills and most importantly stay healthy, Grasso could be a contender in a new division sooner rather than later. It's only a matter of time before she ends up in the UFC, and once she gets the promotion's public relations muscle behind her, stardom beckons. Wrestling fans have known about Darrion Caldwell for the better part of a decade. The North Carolina State standout won a national title back in 2009, defeating two-time national champion and future worlds medalist Brent Metcalf along the way. Injuries, however, reared their ugly head at several points. He missed the entire 2009-10 season after a stint on the senior-level freestyle team and reinjured himself in the second round of the 2011 NCAA tournament. He had been the top seed and favorite to win it all. After he failed to make the Olympic team in 2012, Caldwell transitioned to MMA and has since compiled a 9-0 record. He took out Joe Warren on March 4 of this year, taking down the 2006 Greco-Roman world champion and then choking him out in a surprisingly uncompetitive fight. That win showed just how far ahead of the curve Caldwell's wrestling is; if not for the injuries, he might have been one of the all-time great collegiate wrestlers, and with a little time to adjust to freestyle rules, he might have been world-class there as well. Wrestling's loss is MMA's gain. "Darrion Caldwell is the most talented wrestler I've ever seen," wrote[6] wrestling analyst Mike Riordan of Bloody Elbow back in 2012 when Caldwell entered MMA. His takedown game simply has to be seen to be believed. Suplexes, superb chains of singles and trips, ankle picks—you name it, he can do it and do it with style. Caldwell combines that takedown game with a slick top game and a smooth move to the back in transition. His southpaw striking is coming along nicely as well. There's every reason to view Caldwell as the favorite to hold Bellator's bantamweight title in the near future. Bleacher Report's annual MMA prospect list named him the fifth-best[7] in the world, and after the one-sided win over Warren, that seems conservative. The winner of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America at 145 pounds, Mexico's Rodriguez stands on the cusp of stardom. The UFC has poured a lot of money and resources into Latin America and marketing potential Spanish-speaking stars there. The promotion even hired[8] a specialist public relations agency specifically to elevate the profile of fighters such as Yair Rodriguez, according to UFC PR head Dave Sholler. Rodriguez got his initial burst of exposure through the reality show, and since then the promotion has done its best to put him front and center. He fought Charles Rosa at UFC 188 in Mexico City in front of rabid home-country fans and then faced Dan Hooker at UFC 192 in Houston, a city with a large Latino population. In other words, the UFC has done its level best to place him in front of receptive audiences. Why go to all that trouble for the winner of a lackluster international TUF season? Because Rodriguez is worth the push. The 23-year-old is a potentially transcendent talent with off-the-charts athleticism and blazing speed, a flashy striking arsenal of spinning kicks, aggressive submissions on the mat and surprisingly stout wrestling. He has improved at a rapid pace, picking up new skills and integrating them into a complete, dangerous game with breathtaking ease. If he continues to get better in every fight, Rodriguez is a potential future champion. A Mexican titleholder would be a license to print money for the UFC, and if he can pass his next few tests, Rodriguez stands to get a McGregor-esque media push. Rodriguez is set to face former top prospect Andre Fili at UFC 197 next month. That's a stiff test for the younger fighter, but if he gets through Fili, he's officially on track for big things. It might seem strange to classify Hawaii's Max Holloway as a rising star after 14 UFC bouts and four years in the promotion. Considering he entered the UFC at the tender age of 20 and has done most of his recent work out of the public eye, however, it makes sense to see the present as the moment when the Hawaiian is breaking through to the elite. After losing to Conor McGregor in August 2013, Holloway fell to 3-3 in the UFC. He had lost two in a row, and his most recent victory was a contentious split decision over Leonard Garcia. Holloway was a good young fighter, but there was a sense in the air that he was a known commodity. Just shy of three years later, it's clear how wrong that was. Holloway has since run off eight consecutive wins, six of them inside the distance. In hindsight, his loss to McGregor was the most competitive of the featherweight champion's vicious run up to the Jose Aldo fight and the hardest fight the Irishman had before Nate Diaz finally shut him down. Holloway's breakthrough came when he finally returned to the bright lights of a major show last April after several years of competing mostly in Fight Night events on Fight Pass and Fox Sports 1. The Hawaiian blew through the veteran featherweight Cub Swanson in the most impressive performance of his career, lighting him up on the feet before finishing him with a slick guillotine on the mat. In a way, Holloway is a representative of how spread out the new age of the UFC is. Between a main-card bout with Andre Fili at UFC 172 and the Swanson fight, Holloway ran off three convincing wins, but all of them came at smaller events. It was possible for even dedicated fans to miss the young man's growth into a bona fide killer, and Joe Rogan's shock at Holloway's domination of Swanson last April encapsulated that under-the-radar rise. Nobody is in doubt about Holloway's talent now, as he has moved comfortably into the featherweight division's Top Five[9]. If the UFC wants to make a run in fight-crazy Hawaii, it can't find a better representative than Holloway. Violence. Violence is what World Series of Fighting lightweight champion Justin Gaethje brings with him into the cage. It's what every aspect of his game embodies. He strolls into the cage to finish fights in brutal and entertaining fashion, does his job and then does a backflip off the cage[12] for good measure, which got him into hot water[13] with the Colorado State Athletic Commission after his last fight. In case you're not familiar with Gaethje's body of work, here are a few examples. He took out Brian Foster with a series of vicious low kicks[14] in less than two minutes. Two brutal wars with Luis Palomino both ended with the challenger crumpled[15] on the mat courtesy of Gaethje's fists; you can watch the first epic matchup with Palomino in the video header for this slide. Despite his propensity for separating his opponents from consciousness or the ability to stand, Gaethje is also an accomplished wrestler. He was an All-American for the University of Northern Colorado and has no problem with viciously slamming his opponents into the canvas. That's how he finished his first pro fight. For the most part, however, Gaethje uses his wrestling to stay standing and to control his opponents in the clinch. He's a mauler at close range, firing off hard uppercuts, slashing elbows and punishing knees in the tie-ups. Defense isn't Gaethje's strong suit. He's hittable at every range, though he's getting better, but he operates at such a rapid pace that it practically ensures he'll eat a fair few shots. He is the rare knockout artist who also wears his opponents down over the course of the fight, and that's what makes him such an offensive powerhouse. As long as his chin holds out, and for now it's granite, Gaethje is going to be one of the most exciting fighters in the sport. He could compete with UFC-caliber lightweights right now, and with two fights left on his contract, the open market beckons soon. "I've made an investment in my career, and I love World Series and I want to stay with them, but I have two fights left. I'm going to make them impressive, win or lose," he told MMAjunkie Radio[16] earlier this month. "I'm OK staying with World Series, but I'm going to see what I'm worth." We can only hope the UFC or Bellator makes Gaethje the kind of offer that will bring him into competition with the world's elite. Violence is certain, but stardom beckons as well. The UFC's expansion into Brazil went swimmingly at first. Anderson Silva knocked out Yushin Okami in front of the Rio crowd at UFC 134 in August 2011, and earlier that evening Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira scored a shocking upset win over Brendan Schaub only a few miles from his home gym. Jose Aldo ran into the crowd at UFC 142 in January of the next year in what looked to be an iconic moment. Very little has gone right for the UFC in Brazil since then. Multiple seasons of The Ultimate Fighter have failed to produce a new star, though TUF Brazil 3's Warlley Alves might eventually be the guy. The stacked roster of Brazilian stars in the UFC has aged quickly, and most of them were past or near the end of their primes even back in 2011. The promotion has failed to develop new Brazilian talent to replace legends such as Nogueira, Silva and Shogun Rua. Aldo no longer holds the featherweight title, and Renan Barao, who never really got over with the fans, went down to T.J. Dillashaw. While the sport is hardly in danger of dying out in Brazil, the UFC's momentum has stalled and stalled badly. Sao Paulo's Thomas Almeida might be the fighter to turn it around. He's a crackling package of violence packed into a 135-pound frame. Nineteen of his 20 wins have come inside the distance, 16 by knockout. Liver punches[17], counter[18] elbows Striking is Almeida's specialty, but to this point he's been excellent at defending takedowns and scrambling back to his feet. He's at his best throwing at range, and it's an open question as to whether even fighters like Dominick Cruz or Dillashaw could keep up with his blistering pace and power. Exchanging with Almeida is a really, really bad idea, and he has the secondary skills to make his game work. Almeida's skills speak for themselves, and the UFC has given him a big opportunity in his next outing. He'll headline a Fight Night card in Las Vegas on May 29 against fellow rising prospect Cody Garbrandt in a fight that should crown the next big thing at 135 pounds and potentially in the sport as a whole. Henry Cejudo shocked the world to become the youngest American to win a gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the 2008 Olympics. The Arizona native stood on top of the world as a potentially future great wrestler and a transcendent talent, but that gold medal was the high-water mark of a stalled wrestling career. He didn't step onto the mats again until the 2012 Olympic Trials, when he came up short and retired after losing his last match. While his wrestling career ended, Cejudo made a quick transition to MMA. Questions about motivation[23] and work ethic dogged him during his run up to the 2012 Trials, and they reared their head again when he missed weight in a pair of appearances in Legacy FC and then had to be removed entirely from his UFC debut in August 2014. Cejudo's talent has never been in doubt, only whether he could put everything together into a coherent and consistent package. Since a dominant win at bantamweight over Dustin Kimura several months later, everything seems to have fallen into place for Cejudo, particularly his motivation. Though he has yet to score a finish, none of his four UFC wins has been particularly close. The gold medalist is set to face dominant champion Demetrious Johnson for the UFC flyweight title next month at UFC 197. Per Odds Shark, the oddsmakers[24] don't give him much of a shot, but this wouldn't be the first time Cejudo has defied the odds. Aside from his obvious talent—he has taken to MMA striking like a natural and is a ridiculous athlete in addition to his wrestling credentials—what makes Cejudo a rising star is his background and story. The Spanish-speaking son of an undocumented immigrant who grew up in extreme poverty, Cejudo has a compelling personal narrative that appeals to a wide variety of audiences. The UFC has capitalized by putting him on two cards in Mexico, one in Texas and another in his native Arizona. He was one of the names UFC PR head Dave Sholler explicitly mentioned[25] as someone the promotion was looking to push in the Spanish-speaking world. If he can stay motivated, Cejudo has the charisma and skills to go a long way in MMA. Aljamain "The Funkmaster" Sterling might be the most promising young bantamweight in a division packed full of serious youthful talent. We already covered Almeida, but it's Sterling who holds multiple wins over Top 10 opponents. Moreover, Sterling has the obvious charisma and an outspoken nature that make him a savvy and talented self-promoter. Nothing better encapsulates that untapped promotional potential than Sterling's recent free-agency bid. His UFC contract expired after beating Johnny Eduardo in December of last year, and he wasted no time in publicizing his decision to seek the best possible offer. "I want to have a bank account that represents me being a pro athlete," he told the MMA Hour[26] (h/t MMAFighting.com) in December. Sterling was open about his process with Bleacher Report's Mike Chiappetta in January[27], pointing to the paltry $12,000 to show and $12,000 to win that he made against Eduardo as opposed to Sage North cutt's hefty salary. "I feel like the difference [between Sterling and Northcutt] has been the PR hype machine," Sterling told Bleacher Report[28]. "When you promote a guy before he actually gets here as a phenom and a future champ, that's cool and all, but don't try to make it sound like he came in with the hype and that's why he deserves what he's getting paid because it's not so." Those are the words of a savvy fighter who understands the landscape and how to leverage the media, which he took further by announcing his decision on the MMA Hour in February[29]. Sterling has the understanding of promotion, but he also has the skills. The former Division III All-American wrestler easily adapted his funky mat skills to jiu-jitsu and has spent years training under elite coaches Matt Serra and Ray Longo. Once he gets his opponent on the mat, the fight is as good as over. The New Yorker's next booking will tell us a great deal about how the UFC views Sterling moving forward. The promotion would be well served to put its muscle behind him, because he has the talent and the charisma to reach the very top. It might seem strange to highlight a fighter who has been out of action for nearly two years, but when that fighter's last win was a dominant victory over the current champion in his division, it makes sense to keep that fighter at the top of the list. Khabib Nurmagomedov controlled Rafael Dos Anjos with shocking ease in their April 2014 matchup. Since then, Dos Anjos has run through Benson Henderson, Nate Diaz, Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone, but the Dagestani's long shadow still hangs over his title reign. It's not that Nurmagomedov destroyed Dos Anjos in a back-and-forth war; instead, the reason the loss weighs so heavily is because of how frankly ineffective the Brazilian was. Dos Anjos got nothing at all going in 15 minutes. That's the genius of the Dagestani's game. He shuts his opponents down and stifles them under a never-ending stream of perfectly technical trips, throws, shot takedowns, top rides, mat returns and control on the mat. He never gives the opponent a single inch, at least not in a way that Nurmagomedov hasn't expressly allowed for some deeper purpose. It's impossible even to breathe. It's possible that we've never seen a control wrestler and grappler of Nurmagomedov's caliber in MMA, and not a single one of his 22 opponents has succeeded in defeating the native of Dagestan. Nurmagomedov's undeniable skill dovetails nicely with his willingness to talk trash and promote his fights. "Cowboy [Cerrone] is fake," he told Ariel Helwani[30] (h/t MMAFighting.com) in 2015. "I don't think so he's really cowboy, I think he's fake. He all the time drink, drunk. I don't think so he's really cowboy. I'm really cowboy. I'm mountain guy. I'm training camp all my life, I'm wrestling with the bears...I am Dagestan cowboy, 100 percent." Injuries, not his opponents in the cage, have been the source of all the 27-year-old's problems. After defeating Dos Anjos, Nurmagomedov was scheduled to face Donald Cerrone later that year. A knee injury knocked him out of that matchup and out of another scheduled bout with Cerrone in May 2015 after another injury. A fight with Tony Ferguson last December had to be scrapped due to yet another injury. Another matchup with Ferguson looms in April. Nurmagomedov has sat on the sidelines for nearly two years, and the injuries raise the question of whether he'll be the same fighter when he returns. If he is, however, it's Nurmagomedov's division in fact if not in name. Placing a UFC champion at the top of this list might seem like cheating, but the strawweights have only been part of the promotion for 16 months, and its champion has never headlined a show outside of Fight Pass. The 115-pound division is still in its infancy, but Joanna Jedrzejczyk stands just on the cusp of true stardom. She refused to play second fiddle[31] to Carla Esparza in the lead-up to their one-sided title fight last March, and she put an all-timer of a beating on Jessica Penne in her first title defense last June. Despite breaking her hand, Jedrzejczyk cruised to a clear decision win over Valerie Letourneau at UFC 193 in November. That last fight in particular opened the floodgates. Competing on the undercard of one of the biggest pay-per-views in UFC history—UFC 193 sold more than 1.1 million units, per Dave Meltzer via MMA Payout[32]—exposed Jedrzejczyk to a vast swathe of MMA viewers. The native of Poland has the fighting style, personality and charisma to become a serious draw in her own right. Although McGregor followed her soon after, she became only the third European UFC champion after Bas Rutten and Andrei Arlovski. She's the first Polish champion, and that country has become an increasingly serious market for the sport in recent years. Jedrzejczyk has a perfectly marketable personality. She's smart, insightful and brashly confident without being annoying, and she's endearing, but in a vicious way[33]. In the cage, her high-octane and technical kickboxing approach—she was a student of the great Ernesto Hoost—is exciting and dangerous. She exchanges without brawling, works at a quick pace and can finish with an insane flurry[34] at any time. The UFC is looking to capitalize on that potential by placing Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha, a colorful personality in her own right, against each other as coaches for the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter. Hopefully, even more fans will realize what a treasure Jedrzejczyk is, both in and out of the cage. Stardom beckons. Patrick Wyman is the Senior MMA Analyst for Bleacher Report and the co-host of the Heavy Hands Podcast[35], your source for the finer points of face-punching. He can be found on Twitter[36] and Facebook[37].
Can other fighters follow Ronda Rousey's lead and become stars?
Caldwell won a national championship at North Carolina State.
Yair Rodriguez is a star in the making.
Hawaii's Max Holloway is on the rise.
Thomas Almeida might be the next big thing.[19], right hands[20] and jumping knees[21] have all finished opponents for the diminutive Brazilian bomber. His flurries[22] are legendary. Hardcore fans have known about Almeida for years, and he hasn't disappointed in his four UFC outings.
Arizona's Henry Cejudo is on the cusp of big things.
Aljamain Sterling could be the next big thing at 135 pounds.
Dagestan's Khabib Nurmagomedov is on the cusp of big things.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk gestures at Claudia Gadelha earlier this month.
References
- ^ Share on Facebook (bleacherreport.com)
- ^ Share on Twitter (twitter.com)
- ^ expressed (www.mmafighting.com)
- ^ Dana White (bleacherreport.com)
- ^ tweeted (twitter.com)
- < a href="#readabilityLink-6" title="Jump to Link in Article">^ wrote (www.bloodyelbow.com)
- ^ fifth-best (bleacherreport.com)
- ^ hired (bleacherreport.com)
- ^ Top Five (bleacherreport.com)
- ^ Share on Facebook (bleacherreport.com)
- ^ Share on Twitter (twitter.com)
- ^ backflip off the cage (cdn0.vox-cdn.com)
- ^ hot water (www.mmaweekly.com)
- ^ vicious low kicks (twitter.com)
- ^ crumpled (vine.co)
- ^ MMAjunkie Radio (mmajunkie.com)
- ^ Liver punches (giant.gfycat.com)
- ^ counter (fat.gfycat.com)
- ^ elbows (cdn2.sbnation.com)
- ^ right hands (giant.gfycat.com)
- ^ jumping knees (fat.gfycat.com)
^flurries (cdn1.vox-cdn.com)- ^ Questions about motivation (www.bloodyelbow.com)
- ^ oddsmakers (www.oddsshark.com)
- ^ mentioned (bleacherreport.com)
- ^ MMA Hour (www.mmafighting.com)
- ^ in January (bleacherreport.com)
- ^ Bleacher Report (bleacherreport.com)
- ^ in February (www.mmafighting.com)
- ^ Ariel Helwani (www.mmafighting.com)
- ^ second fiddle (vine.co)
- ^ MMA Payout (mmapayout.com)
- ^ vicious way (vine.co)
- ^ insane flurry (giant.gfycat.com)
- ^ Heavy Hands Podcast (heavyhandspodcast.com)
- ^ Twitter (twitter.com)
- ^ Facebook (www.facebook.com)
