Top 10 Amateur MMA Prospects in Australia & New Zealand

#1 Ayden Todoroff (8-2)

Featherweight

20 Years Old – Base MMA

 

Ayden Todoroff is a skillful, aggressive striker with exponentially developing grappling fundamentals and an overall exciting style. He has excelled on the feet and showcased an ability to effectively diversify his targeting, utilise feints, cut the cage off, and apply relentless pressure. Todoroff, in particular, has a series of really nasty body shots in his arsenal that he often utilises to great effect, in a similar style to what we’ve seen from Jack Della Maddalena in the UFC.

 

Somewhat paradoxically, despite being quite aggressive on the feet, Todoroff does display an impressive level of patience, particularly when chasing the finish. He does a very good job of balancing when to go and when to pull back, and he isn’t afraid to eat strikes to land his own, backing his power, speed, and chin to allow him to get the better in those exchanges.

 

A couple of areas that I think Todoroff could improve in arein his head movement, as with his fight style, he will need to better incorporate this into his game. Secondly, while he does at times work behind his jab, I’d like to see him utilise it more as it will better set up his follow-up strikes. These are types of small adjustments Todoroff will need to incorporate into his game, alongside naturally further developing his ground game both offensively and defensively, if he wants to make an impact at the UFC level (which I think he can).

 

At only 20, I’d expect to see further great exponential improvement from Todoroff fight-to-fight as he continues to physically mature and further develop his skillset. He has a deep and steady foundation beneath him already, and with the natural improvements you’d expect him to make, Todoroff has the world at his feet. While he isn’t a finished product yet, he doesn’t need to be at his age and has done everything you’d want to see him do as an amateur entering the sport. Ayden Todoroff is someone who will be a real problem when he turns Pro, which I’d think will be sometime in the near future.

 

Honourable Mentions:

• Laurence Whitesmith (7-2)
• Jack Cameron (7-1)
• Tomas Schellhammer (6-3)
• Isaac Richards (4-1)
• Nima Behrouz (7-0)