Welcome to a new monthly column here on Creative Minds, where I’ll shine a spotlight on one of the most captivating aspects of MMA: undefeated fighters. There’s something magnetic about a fighter who’s never tasted defeat. Khabib Nurmagomedov’s dominance was amplified by his perfect record, and today, Ilia Topuria’s rise as an unbeaten, two-division champion has only reinforced the mystique of the zero.
But this column isn’t about the established stars like Topuria, Khamzat Chimaev, or Shavkat Rakhmanov. Instead, I’ll be tracking over 500 undefeated fighters across every men’s weight class — with a focus on those competing outside major promotions. The goal is to identify the next wave of potential superstars before the rest of the MMA world catches on.
The Rankings
For the last five years, I’ve been keeping extensive (maybe excessive) rankings on Tapology, which can be viewed here. I use a rating system that goes from 0.5 to 100;. Fighters in the 0.5 to 9.5 range are not yet considered international-level and ranked in increments of 0.5. A grade of 10 and above is international-level, and these fighters are tiered in increments of 5 (10, 15, 20, 25, etc) to reflect how big the skill gap is between this level and the prospects in lower tiers. To save you all the time of combing through the many gatekeepers, inactivity, and various veterans that I’ve got ranked, I’ve compiled a spreadsheet for each men’s division with every athlete that meets the following criteria:
- No professional losses. This is an obvious one, but it’s important to note that amateur losses or exhibition fights like TUF won’t disqualify someone from this list.
- Graded in my rankings. I automatically rank every fighter who gets to 6-0 or better, even if they’ve beaten terrible cans six straight times. In many cases, I won’t watch them fight until they face a good opponent, and can-crushers often lose before that happens. If I find prospects with potential before they have six wins, I’ll rank them too, especially if they’ve had good amateur careers.
- At least three professional fights. There are fighters in my rankings who have just made their pro debuts after excellent amateur careers, but being 1-0 or 2-0 feels a little silly on a list like this. Once they get a little pro experience, I’ll add them here.
- At least one fight in the last two years. In the spreadsheets, you’ll see a column with the month/year of each fighter’s most recent fight (not including No Contests). If a fighter is inactive for two years, they’ll be removed. If someone has been inactive and fights again, they’ll be added back to the rankings.
- In their most recent weight class. Regardless of what weight a fighter usually fights at, to keep things simple, I rank them in whatever division they most recently competed in. For catchweights, I choose whichever class is closest.
The Reports
So, what will I be writing about? There are far too many fighters ranked for me to watch all their fights. That’s not even accounting for guys who fight in the depths of the Brazilian or Russian regional circuits, where finding tape is often impossible. Instead, I will emphasize prospects who are getting major improvements in their grade from stepping up in competition or particularly impressive performances. I’ll provide scouting reports on these risers based on the tape I’ve watched. I will try to highlight guys who are ready for a call-up to a major promotion or a top-level regional challenge. I’ll also include a brief report on higher-level undefeated fighters who’ve competed and at least a quick sentence for low-level guys who I didn’t watch. For each weight class, I’ll make a note of any new fighters joining the list in the past month and briefly summarize why they’ve been added. Then list those who’ve been removed for losing or inactivity as well.
Ranking Details
A few more things to clarify about the rankings:
- Ages are accurate as of a fighter’s most recent fight. Some don’t have a birthdate listed online, so I go off what’s listed pre-fight or leave a “?”.
- Nationality is based on what is listed on Tapology, which sometimes conflicts with Sherdog or other databases. This includes some disputed territories. Please don’t take any of this as a political statement.
- The listed record is mostly based on Tapology, though I will include wins only listed on Sherdog and some modified-rules fights if I can verify that they were essentially the same rules as MMA. I mark these cases in the notes column.
- I disagree with Tapology’s policy of not counting some wins when they’re squash matches or in shady organizations. Those are the realities of regional MMA in many countries. I still count those fights as wins even though they don’t add much to a prospect’s grade. I put these discrepancies in the notes column, where “1?” means that Tapology has made one of their wins ineligible. 3?s means three ineligible fights, and the current record holder Khanzala Magomadov has an unbelievable 9?s.
- If a fighter’s grade has a * next to it, it means I haven’t had time to update it from his most recent fight.
Is there someone I missed? Do you disagree with my ratings and think your favorite prospect should be 10 tiers higher? Leave a comment or send me angry messages @JamesLikesMMA on Twitter.