Welcome to Year 12 of the annual “Prospects the UFC Should Sign” series, in which we’ll examine five MMA prospects per division the UFC should sign in the upcoming year.
This series started during my time as a writer for Bleacher Report, continued through my tenures at Today’s Knockout and FanSided, and now it stays alive another year here at Combat Press.
Let’s start with the heavyweight division. The UFC has added new talent at this weight class, but it needs more fighters on the roster to add depth to the division. It’s still one of the toughest classes to fill, but there is good talent available.
In picking these prospects, I’ll try my hardest to stay away from fighters who are currently in top organizations, such as ONE Championship or the Professional Fighters League, but a couple may pop up. In the past, I’ve had some great picks on the list, and some that haven’t worked out. Below are the previous year’s selections, followed by the five men the UFC should offer roster spots to in the coming year.
2012: Shamil Abdurakhimov, Jared Rosholt, Tyler East, Guram Gugenishvili, Magomed Malikov
2013: Derrick Lewis, Damian Grabowski, Smealinho Rama*, Satoshi Ishii, Maro Perak
2014: Marcin Tybura, Anthony Hamilton, Konstantin Erokhin, Dmitriy Sosnovskiy, Smealinho Rama*
2015: Marcin Tybura, James Mulheron, Cody East, Chris Barnett, Denis Goltsov*
2016: Cody East, Sergey Pavlovich, Denis Goltsov*, Denis Smoldarev*, Karol Bedorf
2017: James Mulheron, Sergey Pavlovich, Denis Smoldarev*, Ivan Shtyrkov*, Fernando Rodrigues
2018: Jeff Hughes, Amir Aliakbari*, Roggers Souza*, Michal Andryzak, Ricardo Prasel
2019: Cyril Gane, Sergey Spivak, Alexander Romanov, Amir Aliakbari*, Roggers Souza*
2020: Mohammed Usman, Hugo Cunha*, Ante Delija*, Renan Ferreira, Evgeniy Goncharov
2021: Mohammed Usman, Ante Delija* Alikhan Vakhaev*, Mukhamed Vakhaev, Tony Johnson Jr.
2022: Thomas Peterson, Alikhan Vakaev*, Kirill Kornilov*, Aleksandr Maslov*, Oleg Popov*
2023: Junior Tafa, Rizvan Kuniev, Adam Bogatyrev, Marcelo Nunes, Oleg Popov*
2024: Hugo Cunha*, Kirill Kornilov*, Aleksandr Maslov*, Alexander Soldatkin, Anton Vyazigin
Note: Bold denotes fighter was signed by UFC; * denotes fighter ineligible due to two years on list.
I am not sure why, but it appears that the UFC has continually passed on American heavyweight dog Brett Martin. That seemed to drive the now 30-year-old stud to focus on his day job and take a hiatus from MMA, but he came back in 2024 and showed why he’s a guy that could bolster a thinning heavyweight division.
Martin, who is a training partner of former UFC champ Jamahal Hill, is very good wrestler whose stock may have been initially hurt because his record has two wins by disqualification, which are not clean wins. Those were against big names Renan Ferreira and Daniel James. That said, he had scored a win over later-UFC fighter Josh Parisian, helping stabilize his record. His last fight before this year was in 2021, where in interviews he mentioned he was waiting for the UFC and would not accept a contract elsewhere, but he resurfaced this year looking as good as ever, scoring a unanimous decision over Jonathan Martin for XFC.
The UFC is bleeding heavyweight talent, as they both age and get the axe for “not exciting” performances. That can be seen with Karl Williams and Alexander Romanov. I am not sure Dana White would be a huge fan of Martin’s style, but he’s a guy that even Jamahal Hill has agreed could compete in the UFC heavyweight division. Give the guy a shot while he’s still relatively young in MMA years.
At 24 years of age, Mario Piazzon was awarded an invite to the Contender Series in an attempt to earn a UFC contract. Despite the win, Piazzon was passed on and has gone back to the regional scene to continue to build himself up and work his way into the UFC.
Piazzon is a power striker that doesn’t mind making fights ugly with clinch and heavy ground work. That was seen in last year’s Contender Series, where he grinded on Alexander Soldatkin before getting hit with an illegal knee and having to take the win by disqualification. He started off his 2024 with a submission win that was deemed record ineligible by Tapology. That was followed up by an official win over respected vet Andre Vieira, who Piazzon put down with a second-round knockout.
Piazzon is just 26 years old, so he would inject some young into a UFC heavyweight division which is by far the oldest in the company. At the very least, he should get another go on the Contender Series in an attempt to earn a UFC contract again.
Iran is a powerhouse for wrestling, so it’s somewhat curious we haven’t seen more of their amateur wrestlers not make the transition to MMA. However, Pouya Rahmani is one of the guys who has made that transition and has been dominant since doing so.
Rahmani is a powerhouse who ragdolls his opponents on the mat. He’s not just a lay-and-pray wrestler either. He’s a guy with ferocious ground-and-pound and is well-versed in submissions, especially given he has ADXC and other top submission grappling tournament experience. In addition to his pro grappling victories in 2024, Rahmani went 2-0 in MMA in the year, choking out respected Russians Yuriy Federov and Salimgerey Rasulov, the latter of whom was the former ACA Champion. Both 2024 finishes came in the first round.
Rahmani is a guy that is not only proven, but trains out of a gym in the Middle East. That makes him a no-brainer to come to the UFC, especially seeing as they go to Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia a few times a year. Get him on one of those cards.
Once one is on the Dana White’s Contender Series, that fighter is usually on the UFC’s radar, win or lose. 2023 saw Alexander Soldatkin compete on that show, losing by disqualification. He then seemingly disappeared despite that appearance, popping up only in late 2024 on a low-level regional card.
It’s a shame that Soldatkin somewhat disappeared, as he’s clearly talented. That 2023 Contender Series bout against Mario Piazzon saw him get out muscled in the clinch for a while before he outlasted Piazzon’s gas tank and turned the tables. However, an illegal knee, which many people thought Piazzon overemphasized to get out of the fight, cost Soldaktin his comeback win, keeping him from potentially earning a contract. He re-surfaced in late 2024 in a small promotion in Germany, scoring a 19-second knockout over 18-fight veteran Bugrahan Alparsian.
It’s performances like the one over Alparsian that continue to show that Soldatkin is skilled and deserves another crack, whether it be another Contender Series slot or straight to the UFC. He’s 31 years old now, so he’s at that age where he’s at his athletic peak.
Getting fighters that are under contract with KSW is pretty tough for the UFC, as they have a good pay structure and pretty rock solid contracts that have to be bought out. Given that the UFC has taken a liking to Glory Kickboxing veterans and that he’s undefeated as a mixed martial artist, I think Arkadiusz Wrzosek should be a guy the UFC heavily pursues.
Wrzosek is a monster standing at 6’7”. He is a top-level striker with excellent Muay Thai and power. He’s shared the kickboxing ring with many of the sport’s top heavyweight such as Badr Hari and Benjamin Adegbuyi. He’s yet to lose since moving to MMA, scoring finishes in all but one of his fights. Wrzosek went 3-0 in 2024 with all finishes in under a minute, knocking out Ivan Vitasovic, Artur Szpilka and Matheus Scheffel.
Wrzosek is 32 years old, so the window for him is closing faster than a prospect in their 20s. Combine that with the fact he’s under contract with KSW makes this one a longer shot to get into the UFC. However, he’s a guy that could make the UFC and cause some problems.