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One of the most fun things about being a hardcore fan of the UFC is trying to work out exactly which fighters they could pick up next from the regional scene, or even from the bigger competing promotions such as Eurasian Fight Nights or the Professional Fighters League. 2017, for instance, saw two big names in Marlon Moraes and Justin Gaethje come in, as well as prospects like Tai Tuivasa and Zabit Magomedsharipov.
So who can they sign in 2018? There are absolutely tons of talented, available fighters out there – the UFC has such a strong position that they can basically pick up anyone who isn’t a current player in Bellator – but these are five that I’ve identified who if signed, could make some noise in the UFC right away this year.
#1 Vitaly Minakov
Forget about the likes of Frank Mir and Fedor Emelianenko – men far past their prime – who are competing in Bellator’s Heavyweight Grand Prix; there’s only one man right now who can lay a claim to being the best Heavyweight competing outside the UFC, and that’s Vitaly Minakov. In fact, while he hasn’t proven it due to being outside the UFC, there’s a chance that Minakov could actually be the best Heavyweight in the world, period. The man is simply a beast.
Coming from a similar Sambo background to the afore-mentioned Emelianenko and the likes of UFC stars Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev, Minakov rose to fame a few years ago in Bellator by hammering everyone in his path en route to claiming that promotion’s Heavyweight title – including current UFC contender Alexander Volkov.
Since 2015 a contract dispute has kept him away from Bellator, and the promotion has since stripped him of the title. But he’s remained unstoppable, fighting in Russian promotion Fight Nights Global and taking out the likes of Tony Johnson and Bigfoot Silva.
Minakov is a good sized Heavyweight at 6’2”, 250lbs; his grappling game is tight, allowing him to get takedowns and also work opponents over with nasty top control, and he hits like he’s got bricks for fists. Basically, I’d favour him against the majority of the UFC’s top ten right now. If he can escape the clutches of Bellator’s contract, the UFC should definitely look to pick him up in 2018, as he’d be an instant title contender in one of the promotion’s thinner divisions.
#2 Jose Torres
A two-division (Flyweight and Bantamweight) champion in Titan FC – a smaller promotion streamed on UFC Fight Pass – Jose ‘Shorty’ Torres is definitely knocking on the door of the UFC right now. In fact, the UFC already looked to book him in 2017 – according to Torres he was contacted about a fight with Justin Scoggins in the latter part of the summer but was too banged up from a fight in May to be able to accept. But since then he’s reeled off another win – his 6th as a professional and 31st including amateur fights – meaning 2018 is surely the year he debuts in the Octagon.
Touted by some analysts as the most decorated amateur fighter in MMA history, Torres honed his skills to a tee before debuting as a professional in 2016. The method clearly worked, as in just his fourth fight he destroyed UFC veteran Pedro Nobre with strikes in just over a minute. He’s a dangerous striker with plenty of kickboxing and Muay Thai experience, but he also wrestled collegiately and showed his grappling chops off in his most recent fight, choking out the tough Gleidson De Jesus.
With training experience with the likes of TJ Dillashaw and Tim Elliott – one a current UFC champion and the other a former title challenger – and so much experience under his belt, ‘Shorty’ pretty much has to be a guaranteed signing for the UFC this year. They’re short – no pun intended – on talent at Flyweight in particular and a man of his skill could make some noise there right away. After all, they don’t want to allow Bellator to slip in and sign him, do they?
#3 Jennifer Maia
2017 saw the UFC introduce another new weight class to their roster – Women’s Flyweight (125lbs) – and as they had done when they introduced Women’s Strawweight back in 2014, they used a season of The Ultimate Fighter to crown the inaugural champion. Unfortunately – and no offence to the winner and current UFC champ Nicco Montano – winning TUF doesn’t make you the best female Flyweight in the world – that title already belongs to Jennifer Maia.
The current holder of the Invicta Flyweight title, Maia fights out of the legendary Chute Boxe camp in Brazil, and while the glory days of the team – when Wanderlei Silva and Shogun Rua ran roughshod over PRIDE – are long gone now, the name alone still holds a certain gravitas with MMA fans.
Maia fights with the aggression-first style you’d expect from a Chute Boxe fighter and actually competed in professional boxing before her MMA career started. But she’s also a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt with almost as many submissions to her name as knockouts.
With wins over former UFC title challengers Roxanne Modafferi and Jessica Andrade, as well as other tough opponents like Vanessa Porto, Zoila Frausto and her most recent challenger Agnieszka Niedzwiedz, it’s clear that Maia is the real deal. With the UFC now having plenty of the world’s top female Flyweights under their umbrella, surely it’s time for them to ink a deal with the Invicta champion?
#4 Andre Harrison
The current Featherweight champion of the Professional Fighters League, if Andre Harrison were to make the jump to the UFC in 2018, he’d be following in the footsteps of three former champions of that organisation – David Branch, Marlon Moraes and Justin Gaethje – all of whom signed with the UFC in 2017 and went on to a lot of success. Currently undefeated at 17-0, Harrison is simply one of the most accomplished fighters outside of the UFC right now.
Wins over current and former UFC fighters like Steve Siler, Desmond Green and Kurt Holobaugh are highlights on his record, as is his 2017 win over former top prospect Lance Palmer – the fight that won him the PFL title in the first place. While he’s not got a reputation for putting on massively exciting fights – he’s more of a powerful wrestler who enjoys keeping top control – the former NCAA All-American has been improving his stand-up game and has become more aggressive in recent fights.
Training with the Bellmore Kickboxing Academy – a partner of Matt Serra’s gym that has produced the likes of Costa Philippou and Gian Villante – it might not be long before Harrison develops into a knockout threat. While the UFC does tend to make control-based fighters do a lot more than exciting strikers in order to get a contract with them – and Harrison’s weight division, 145lbs, is already packed full of talent – there’s no reason why he couldn’t make his way into the Octagon in 2017.
#5 Amir Aliakbari
A former Olympian in Greco-Roman wrestling representing his native Iran, Amir Aliakbari is one of the more interesting prospects in the MMA world at Heavyweight. Built like a tank at just under 265lbs, he’s about as physically powerful a fighter as you’re going to find in MMA right now – capable of throwing huge men like Heath Herring around with suplexes and able to land clubbing punches from any angle on the ground.
Aliakbari has been fighting in Japan with the Rizin organisation, where he’s beaten some tough opponents like Geronimo Dos Santos and Tyler King, all just two years into his MMA career. He’s not the finished article by any means – his physical style and aggression means he tends to slow down a little as a fight gets deeper – but he’s got all of the tools to succeed at the top level and he’s training with Mike Swick’s AKA Thailand camp, which means he’s almost guaranteed to improve.
Currently, Aliakbari is signed with the Absolute Fighting Berkut promotion out of Russia, but plenty of fighters have made their way to the UFC via that promotion before, including Magomed Bibulatov and Artem Lobov. If Aliakbari can complete his time there and continue to build his record, the UFC could come knocking in 2018 and with such an attractive style, the Iranian Olympian could become a star of the Octagon.
