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 examine the lightweight division, a weight class that is loaded with talent and is constantly providing fans with new top fighters.
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: Mairbek Taisumov, Lukasz Sajewski, Alexander Sarnavskiy, Guillaume de Lorenzi, Gordon Bell
2013: James Krause, Jesse Ronson, Luiz Firmino, Jadambaa Narantungalag, Jonatas Novaes
2014: Lowen Tynanes*, Ivan Buchinger*, Marcus Edwards, Mansour Barnaoui, Musa Khamanaev
2015: Mateusz Gamrot*, Darrell Horcher, Lowen Tynanes*, Murad Machaev*, Ramazan Esenbaev
2016: Mateusz Gamrot*, Marc Diakiese, Gregor Gillespie, Bekzod Abdurakhmonov, Milan Zerjal
2017: Chris Fishgold, Thiago Moises, Khusein Khaliev*, Murad Machaev*, Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov*
2018: Chris Fishgold, Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov*, Nate Andrews*, Robert Watley, Joseph Lowry
2019: Arman Tsarukyan, Nate Andrews*, Yusuf Raisov, Soren Bak, Luiz Gustavo*
2020: Jai Herbert, Mason Jones, Max Rohskopf, Rafa Garcia, Natan Schulte
2021: Rafa Garcia, Mateusz Rebecki, Brant Moore, Tofiq Musayev, Anthony Romero*
2022: Mateusz Rebecki, Nariman Abbasov, Roberto de Souza, Rodrigo Lidio, Jackson Loureiro
2023: Arthur Estrazulas*, Luiz Gustavo*, George Hardwick, Aaron McKenzie, Anthony Romero*
2024: Arthur Estrazulas*, Amru Magomedov, Jefferson Nascimento, Cristian Perez, Manoel Sousa
Note: Bold denotes fighter was signed by UFC; * denotes fighter ineligible due to two years on list.
In 2023, there weren’t many fighters that had more momentum behind them than George Hardwick. He had won the Cage Warriors Championship and done so in a wild path of destruction, but a loss on the Contender Series was a slight roadblock that kept him from the UFC.
Hardwick is known for his aggressive, impressive striking, which has led to five of his eight finishes in thirteen wins. He is good at mixing up his shots up top and to the body, including having multiple finishes by body shot. His Contender Series bout showed a little bit of a hole in his wrestling, though Hardwick does have solid submissions. He fought just one in 2024, where he retained his Cage Warriors title with a unanimous nod over Cristian Iorga.
Hardwick’s crowd-pleasing style and resume, combined with the fact that he’s the Cage Warriors Lightweight Champion, should be more than enough to warrant a call from the UFC. He would deepen their pool at 155 pounds and bring on another quality talent from the UK, where the UFC makes yearly visits.
The increase of presence of African-born European fighters in MMA has boomed lately, with one of the best prospects being Losene Keita, a Guinea-born Belgian fighter tearing up the European regional scene. The Oktagon MMA Champion has been perfect in his career, outside of a loss due to a foot injury in 2023.
Keita is a savage on the feet, possessing strong striking technique and blistering knockout power. Nine of his fifteen wins come by way of knockout, showing his strong Muay Thai skills. He stayed busy in 2024, scoring decision wins over fellow prospect Mateusz Legierski and Agy Sardari, as well as a brutal body shot knockout of Predrag Bogdanovic.
This guy is definitely a fighter who should be on the UFC’s radar, especially with their continued interest in African-born fighters. He does have a year-ending fight with Ronald Paradeiser for Oktagon, so if he can snag another win there, he should be on the fast track to the UFC.
The pipeline from top-level amateur wrestling to MMA is well-documented, with some of the best fighters in the world making that transition. Richie Lewis is a guy that has taken that route as well and looks to be a top prospect in any weight class in MMA right now.
Lewis has wrestled at an international level, which has translated into the cage, where he is obviously wrestling heavy. He has top-notch athleticism, strength and explosiveness. He has fought exclusively for Titan FC and LFA, which are two of the top regional MMA organizations. He fought just once in 2024, where he won the LFA Lightweight Championship over Kegan Gennrich. He was supposed to end the year fighting Richie Miranda but had to pull out of that fight.
The Rutgers alum is obviously talented and only getting better, as he runs with a great camp in Kill Cliff FC. He’s in his athletic prime at 30 years old, so should he win one or two more fights, he should be UFC bound.
For the second year in a row, Khabib Nurmagomedov disciple Amru Magomedov has graced this list, as he’s a guy that many are mapping out to be a top lightweight in the next few years. There aren’t many takers on the regional scene who want to fight him, which is an earned reputation for a killer like Magomedov.
Like many of the followers of Khabib’s late father Abdulmanap, Magomedov is a dominating grappler with excellent wrestling, insane physical strength and great submission abilities. Five of his eight career wins come by way of the tapout, all of which are rear-naked choke (4 of 5 in the first round). That is an absolutely dominating style. He fought just once in 2024, but defended his UAE Warriors Lightweight Championship by second-round choke of Ali Kabdulla, a solid opponent.
Amru is just 25 years old, so the fact we’re already talking about his potential greatness at a young age shows he’s the real deal. If you throw in that he’s a Khabib guy and combine that with the fact he’s a UAE Warriors Champion, there’s no doubt you should see him on the UFC’s roster very soon.
Since the legalization of MMA in France, it seems like the country has become the biggest hotbed for the sport in the world. They have also supplied some very good fighters and prospects, including one of their top prospects in the form of lightweight Axel Sola.
Sola is a very experienced fighter, having fought over 20 amateur bouts before turning pro in 2021. He’s a well-rounded fighter, having solid striking to go along with his stifling ground game. He started off his 2024 with a “superfight” with top Ares featherweight Daguir Imavov, which ended up being a draw. However, he came back and defended his lightweight belt with a second-round buzzer beater knockout over previously undefeated prospect Soslan Gagloev.
Sola is 27 years old, so he’s approaching his prime. Seeing that he’s the Ares FC Champion and has dominated inside that promotion, one would think he’d be a great fit for the UFC lightweight division.