If you are looking for up and coming talent in mixed martial arts there are several emerging hotbeds. Â America is no doubt the premiere place for MMA prospects. Â There is better training and more elite prospects from the United States than anywhere else in the world. Â Brazil has always been a close second. Â Both of those countries have produced great talent in MMA. Â The UFC is full of talent from those countries and that trend will continue. Â However, there are some emerging hotbeds of upcoming MMA talent. Â The UFC has been very deliberate in places like the U.K., China, Mexico and Latin America to develop talent in the sport. Â They have openly hoped that the sport of MMA would take off in those locations. Â They have invested a lot of money to develop talent in those regions. Â Their belief has been that live events mixed with international versions of the Ultimate Fighter would spark interest in would-be fighters. Â The UFC has even sponsored fighters to train at premiere gyms in the United States in hopes of boosting talent in foreign markets. Â There is no denying that there efforts have had some impact. Â However, oddly enough it seems that the best talent is coming from a region that UFC has not really targeted. Â Eastern Europe is loaded full of talent. Â More specifically, Russia. I believe that Russia is the third best country right now in terms of prospects and is really pushing Brazil for the number two spot.
There are several reasons for this. Â One may be linked the the gritty nature of many of the Russian fighters. Â Many fighters, especially the Dagestani ones have grown up in harsh conditions. Â While it certainly would be difficult to scale “toughness” it seems that many of the up and coming Russian fighters are mentally tough. Â Perhaps we could also give some credit to early MMA pioneers like Ukrainian Igor Vovchanch or Fedor Emelianenko. Â I would also say that the popularity of combat sambo has helped as well. Â Combat sambo has proven to be a great base for mixed martial artists. Â Many of the top Russian prospects have sambo backgrounds. Â As a result they enter into MMA with a solid all around base.
It seems that UFC is aware of this boom in talent in Eastern Europe and Russia. Â It hasn’t been that long ago that the UFC had no Russian fighters under contract. Â Now they seem keen on gobbling up the top Russian prospects. Â Here are 20 of the best prospects in Russia who are not currently signed with UFC or another major MMA promotion. Â I have a feeling some of these names we will be seeing sooner rather than later.
1. Musa Khamanaev – Lightweight – 15-3
2. Bekbulat Magomedov – Featherweight – 13-0
3. Kairat Akhmetov – Flyweight – 20-0
4. Magomed Bibulatov – Bantamweight – 8-0
5. Oleg Borisov – Featherweight – 12-1
6. Ramazan Emeev – Middleweight – 11-3
7.Maxim Grishin – Light Heavyweight – 18-6
8. Anatoly Tokov – Middleweight – 16-1
9. Konstantin Erokhin – Middleweight – 7-1
10. Marif Piraev – Welterweight – 8-0
11. Sergey Khandoxhko – Welterweight – 16-1
12. Ramazan Esenbaev – Lightweight – 7-1
13. Aziz Pharudinov – Lightweight – 13-0
14. Kurban Gadzhiev – Flyweight – 9-0
15. Vladimir Egoyan – Featherweight – 15-3
16. Aigun Akhmedov – Middleweight – 15-2
17. Magomed Mustafaev – Welterweight – 11-1
18. Abubakar Nurmagomedov – Welterweight – 8-1
19. Eduard Vartanyan – Welterweight – 7-1
20. Alexey Butorin – Light Heavyweight – 8-0