Dark Horses of Each Division?

[EnthusiastCultivator]

In your opinion what are the fighters are the dark horses of each division in the UFC? I won’t include WMMA or the men’s FLW division as I don’t really follow them personally

BW - Cody Garbrandt. People forget how skilled and athletic this guy is. I honestly think his only problem is his impatience and recklessness. At his best he is a world class mixed martial artist.

FW - Edson Barboza. Despite being so low in the rankings his last fight showcases how good he can be at FW. I also believe he got robbed against Dan Ige. So realistically he’s a top 10 imo.

LW - Carlos Diego Ferreira. This guy is a monster. Currently on a 6 fight winning streak. He has a fight with Beneil Dariush coming up which I think CDF will emerge the victor. The way this guy shutdown Mairbek Taisumov was so impressive considering how dangerous Taisumov is.

WW - Vicente Luque. In my opinion he’s the hardest hitting guy in the division. Tough as nails yet no one really talks about him.

MW - Kevin Holland. Super active, super dangerous and crafty. I think he beats everyone except Izzy and Whittaker.

LHW - Nikita Krylov. Master of sports in Karate. Very well balanced. I see a good chance of him holding that belt in the next 2 years.

HW - Overeem

 

[markys00]

Manel kape.

I only listed flyweight cause I don't follow anything else

 

[I_IZ_BACK]

HW: Gane
LHW: Jiri / Rakic
MW: Marvin / Gastelum
WW: Chimaev
LW: Fighter Kevin Lee
FW: Ryan Hall
BW: Merab

 

[Hellowhosthat]

HW - Juan Espino
LHW - Jamahal Hill
MW - Sean Strickland
WW - Sean Brady
LW - Damir Ismagulov
FW - Lerone Murphy
BW - Jack Shore
FLW - David Dvorak
WBW - Julia Avila
WFLW - Miranda Maverick
SW - Marina Rodriguez

 

[Raymundo Alvarado Guevara]

Prochazka is allways the answer

 

[Blond]

I feel that RDA went back to being the darkhorse of the division. LW belt in general is up for grabs nowadays, and I can see at least 5-6 guys winning it.

 

[Herwald]

145 Josh Emmett
155 Drew Dober
170 Vicente Luque
185 Marvin Vettori... might not be that dark of a horse anymore
205 Jar Jar Prichoska or what's his face... seems promising
HW Marcin Tybura... I mean, he keeps winning

 

[BabaluLusegoose]

Heavyweight...

Too many to name. Lots of parity after Stipe.

 

[BEATDOWNS]

I was super high on Edmen Shahbazyan and Dan Hooker. I'll see myself out.

 

[Herwald]

I was super high on Edmen Shahbazyan and Dan Hooker. I'll see myself out.

Hooker's still in the mix.

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

Depends how dark and how much horsepower. In other words, how unheralded does he have to be and does he have to be a potential champion?

I don’t think I’d completely sleep on Geoff Neal. Wonderboy makes virtually every striker in the division look tentative and mediocre. Even when he’s lost the opponent has looked befuddled and only landed a few meaningful shots. He made Jorge and Rory look like total amateurs and both went on to compete in and win very big fights on the strength of their striking. Neal was also coming off less than idea circumstances in that fight. I don’t know if he could keep guys like Usman, Colby and Chimaev off of him, but I could see him rocking basically anyone.

Someone already mentioned Luque. I still think the most likely outcome is that he remains a really tough guy who loses to the elite and serves as a ruthless gatekeeper, but you never know. RDA and Lawler both seemed like solid but unspectacular grinders for several years before hitting a new gear and becoming champions (Jan and Stipe are poster boys for that too). Definitely not impossible.

Randy Brown a bit more of a stretch to make it to the elite but I’ve always liked his potential and could see him becoming ranked if he keeps working hard. Slightly old but not terribly so (31).

I would like to see more of Fiziev. Lots of flashy strikers end up having trouble against the top well-rounded guys in their division (Pettis, Barboza, even someone like Diakese who ripped out even lower). Still, he’s got a lot of skill.

Beneil has been lurking around the top ten for awhile, but I could see him being the next guy to beat a couple big names and find himself in or around the top five. Let’s say he beats CDF this weekend — does anyone doubt that he could beat Felder/RDA/Hooker/Conor/Tony if he got that fight next? I think he could do any of them in on the right night.

Arman is a little obvious, and the weight miss is a concern at only 24, but he’s got a great base of skills. He still has room to grow but I don’t think there are too many guys at 155 that definitely beat him right now.

Rather than listing another half dozen lightweights, suffice to say that division is loaded.

At feather, maybe Topuria. I feel like that division’s latest wave of prospects just arrived at the top (Volk, Zabit, Ortega, Yair, etc.) and might be steady for awhile.

Bryce is an obvious name but he just barely beat Fili. He loses to almost everyone ahead of him right now IMO.

Wouldn’t mind seeing Burgos move up. He’s solid but the FW’s are all as quick as him and his size isn’t translating into sparking people.

Nothing jumps out at him at BW and fly.

 

[Kyojiro Kagenuma]

In your opinion what are the fighters are the dark horses of each division in the UFC? I won’t include WMMA or the men’s FLW division as I don’t really follow them personally

BW - Cody Garbrandt. People forget how skilled and athletic this guy is. I honestly think his only problem is his impatience and recklessness. At his best he is a world class mixed martial artist.

FW - Edson Barboza. Despite being so low in the rankings his last fight showcases how good he can be at FW. I also believe he got robbed against Dan Ige. So realistically he’s a top 10 imo.

LW - Carlos Diego Ferreira. This guy is a monster. Currently on a 6 fight winning streak. He has a fight with Beneil Dariush coming up which I think CDF will emerge the victor. The way this guy shutdown Mairbek Taisumov was so impressive considering how dangerous Taisumov is.

WW - Vicente Luque. In my opinion he’s the hardest hitting guy in the division. Tough as nails yet no one really talks about him.

MW - Kevin Holland. Super active, super dangerous and crafty. I think he beats everyone except Izzy and Whittaker.

LHW - Nikita Krylov. Master of sports in Karate. Very well balanced. I see a good chance of him holding that belt in the next 2 years.

HW - Overeem

I would actually say it's Volkov for HW.

 

[Azrael40]

It used to be Poirier at LW and then he went on a tear for three years and beat every man not named Khabib in the top 10. Much to my joy.

 

[BEATDOWNS]

Hooker's still in the mix.

One more loss sets him back pretty far imo. Not sure if it's the cut to 155 (can't believe he ever made145) or not but he's looked Pretty flat out there...

 

[Prologue]

125: Askar Askarov
135: Askar Askar

 

[Herwald]

One more loss sets him back pretty far imo. Not sure if it's the cut to 155 (can't believe he ever made145) or not but he's looked Pretty flat out there...

He galloped away expecting a take down, got caught. I don't even think a rematch goes the same way. Didn't have his coach with him for the entire time there either, which probably didn't help. I still think he's dangerous for anyone in the TOP 15.

He says he's got no issues with the weight cut, by the way. But a more jacked version of him at WW could be interesting.

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

I was super high on Edmen Shahbazyan and Dan Hooker. I'll see myself out.

Lol. Hooker won the first two rounds against Dustin Poirier and lost a nail biter due exclusively to having a slightly inferior gas tank to one of the best and most durable LW’s of his generation. He got sparked by Chandler, it happens.

Shab, at a very young age, gassed and wilted against a strong, powerful veteran who employed a smart gameplan.

I don’t think you need to feel sheepish about either of those calls. Not everyone becomes a champion. Hooker is excellent and Shab still could be.

 

[Cowboy787]

WW - Erick Silva of CM Punk

 

[kirsky]

In your opinion what are the fighters are the dark horses of each division in the UFC? I won’t include WMMA or the men’s FLW division as I don’t really follow them personally

BW - Cody Garbrandt. People forget how skilled and athletic this guy is. I honestly think his only problem is his impatience and recklessness. At his best he is a world class mixed martial artist.

FW - Edson Barboza. Despite being so low in the rankings his last fight showcases how good he can be at FW. I also believe he got robbed against Dan Ige. So realistically he’s a top 10 imo.

LW - Carlos Diego Ferreira. This guy is a monster. Currently on a 6 fight winning streak. He has a fight with Beneil Dariush coming up which I think CDF will emerge the victor. The way this guy shutdown Mairbek Taisumov was so impressive considering how dangerous Taisumov is.

WW - Vicente Luque. In my opinion he’s the hardest hitting guy in the division. Tough as nails yet no one really talks about him.

MW - Kevin Holland. Super active, super dangerous and crafty. I think he beats everyone except Izzy and Whittaker.

LHW - Nikita Krylov. Master of sports in Karate. Very well balanced. I see a good chance of him holding that belt in the next 2 years.

HW - Overeem

Sure not bad setup; exept Gabrant ( lol dark horse really)...and LHW biggest dark horse in this division is a champ now. Since Volkov gained some mass, mabe him in HW ?, still prefer more Reem, you never know what will happen in his fights

 

[Trax]

HW Gane. Volkov
LHW Rakic/Jiri
MW Till
WW Edwards
LW Drew Dober, Fereira, idk

Those are not so much of dark horses but a fighters who I consider really big threats. Few of them just need to get shit together, they are already one or two fights away from TS. And some of them may become really good top5 or 3 and give a lot of trouble to everyone.

But I can agree that all of them deserve more and higher position on rankings.

And almost all of them are having fight that is breaking point, big shot. So not much of a dark horses, but sorry I dont explore divisions much deeper than top20 maybe..