The Beaten Path: Top 25 MMA Prospects for 2016, Part 1

No other sport needs prospects the way MMA needs prospects. The machine is always hungry.  

With it being a bloodsport and all, not to mention an individual sport, and an extremely difficult sport, there are a million reasons why deadly Atropos may descend with her shears to sever the thread of an MMA career. 

Fortunately, as the sport continues to grow, so, too, does the legion of men and women lured from around the world to MMA's siren song of innumerable riches, or at least glory. It definitely beats yard work. As such, there are always scores of young fighters available, champing at the bit to step into the light.

With so many prospects always grinding their way up one of the planet's many minor league fight circuits, it can be hard to separate wheat from chaff. Thank your lucky stars, then, that you have us.

We are The Beaten Path, and for a few years now at Bleacher Report MMA, we've been finding, interviewing, profiling and ranking the brightest up-and-comers around the sport. Each year, it all culminates with our list of the top 25 MMA prospects in all the land. This is that list.

Part 1 is what you have on your screen. In it, I'll take you up to No. 13 on our list. In a few days' time, Patrick Wyman, our senior analyst, will publish part 2, closely exploring the 12 best prospects, all the way up to No. 1.

Before we proceed, a few ground rules. No UFC fighters are eligible, nor is any pro fighter whose MMA career has lasted six years or longer.

Fighters from Bellator, World Series of Fighting or ONE Championship are included judiciously and are ineligible if they've ever held a title for any of those organizations. Fighters over age 30 are typically not considered prospects, though occasional exceptions are possible for those who switch over to MMA later in their athletic careers after high-level runs in other sports (like Holly Holm, for example). 

In a case where a fighter is competing for multiple promotions, the most recent promotion listed on his or her record is the one listed here. 

Ready? Ready to do this? All right. 

All record information courtesy of Sherdog.com. 

25. Aleksei Butorin

Division: Middleweight
Promotion: ONE Championship
Record: 10-0
Age: 29
Country: Russia 

Aleksei Butorin likes to do one thing. He likes to hurt people.

Butorin unleashed his vicious striking in September when he knocked out Nova Uniao trainee Leandro Ataides at ONE Championship 31. As you can see in the video, Ataides was doing his level best to extricate himself from a heavy barrage of knees and ground strikes when Butorin aimed a head kick at his retreating form for the clean KO.

The well-regarded Tiger Muay Thai camp serves as Butorin's home base, and that grounding is evident in his multi-point attack style. He's not what you'd call a volume striker, but with the power and size (both remarkable for a middleweight) that he has, maybe that's not critical. His takedown defense is nice, which is good, because he is nobody's ground wizard.

With shored-up wrestling and grappling, Butorin could be a force. 

24. Herbert Burns

Division: Featherweight
Promotion: ONE Championship
Record: 6-0
Age: 27
Country: Brazil 

If anything, Herbert Burns is too good.

The multi-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu no-gi champion has taken on the dreaded "specialist" label since moving to MMA in 2012. A master of one trade, a jack of none. Not what you're looking for when the "mixed" part of MMA is becoming more important by the month.

And yeah, Burns' calling card is submission fighting. With four of his six wins coming by tap, it's not hard to make that case, no matter why you're trying to make it.

But take a look, why don't you, at the striking he lays down against Timofey Nastyukhin here in September. Look at him use it to set up the takedown, another piece of his game you might not assume was so solid if you only went by resume.

Once Burns gets you on the mat, well, that top game is pure fear. He just breaks you down until you don't want to be there any more, at which point he senses that and obliges you.

For some time now, Burns has been calling for a date with Marat Gafurov, the ONE featherweight champ and one heck of a good competitor (and a previously ranked prospect on this list) in his own right.

“Gafurov is a very good fighter, a true champion,” Burns told Mike Miguel at DojoDrifter.com. “He unified the belt and I gave him my congratulations, but I know how capable I am. In my opinion, he made lots of technical mistakes and I was really not impressed by his performance.” 

ONE should make that fight. That's must-see TV right there.

23. Paul Craig

Division: Light heavyweight
Promotion: BAMMA
Record: 8-0
Age: 27
Country: Scotland/United Kingdom

What I'd like to have right now, is for everyone out there to give it up. Give it up for Paul Craig, or as he is nicknamed, the Bearjew. Huh.

The Bearjew bolted out of nowhere last fall to upend Karl Moore at BAMMA 22, then Marcin Lazarz two months later to take the belt. That's why the Scotsman is No. 23 with a bullet.

Both those wins and five more besides came by submission. Craig seems to have a special enmity for the throatal area, having used chokes to secure five separate victories. Only once (with Moore) did he leave the first round, and even then it only took 48 additional seconds for him to find a choke.

When he's not doing any choking, Craig teaches vocational skills to high school students. Do we have another Rich Franklin in the offing? Pffft. Rich Franklin taught math, bro. Not vocational skills.

22. Vadim Nemkov

Division: Light heavyweight
Promotion: Rizin Fighting Federation
Record: 5-1
Age: 23
Country: Russia

The Vadim Nemkov hype train hit a large patch of icky, sticky molasses on New Year's Eve when he lost for the first time as a pro.

But if we consider ourselves to be fair-minded people, perhaps that one loss shouldn't remove too much of the bloom from the Nemkov rose.

After all, it was a very good, back-and-forth affair, and the defeat came to Jiri Prochazka, a guy you'll hear more about presently. After a close and grueling 10-minute round, a battered and exhausted Nemkov retired from his corner.

If you're a serious MMA fan, the name of Nemkov's Russian hometown of Stary Oskol might hold a little magic for you. Yes, Nemkov does indeed work with fellow Stary Oskolite Fedor Emelianenko, but it doesn't solely account for Nemkov's dominance. Most of that skill set originates with sambo, in which he achieved Master of Sport status and world and national titles.

Nemkov's high skill and athleticism come together with a rugged mat game and surprisingly dynamic striking to make for a pretty doggone promising fighter. So pick up that train, why don't you, and put it back on its track.

21. Gregor Gillespie

Division: Lightweight
Promotion: Ring of Combat
Record: 5-0
Age: 29
Country: United States 

Wrestling is generally considered the best skill base to bring with you into an MMA career. So if you're an NCAA champion and four-time All-American on the mat, chances are you'll be pretty widely celebrated if you make the leap to MMA.

So why, then, is Gregor Gillespie a virtual anonymity? There's a two-part answer to that.

After a decorated career at college wrestling powerhouse Edinboro University of Pennsylvania (the same program that spawned Josh Koscheck), Gillespie decided he didn't like combat sports anymore and wanted to replace it with drugs and booze. So he did, until he hit a rough patch, bottomed out and went to rehab.

“I couldn’t get out of my own way,” he told Steven Marrocco of MMA Junkie. “I was going down a path that really only led to one place. I got caught up in it, and it’s not an easy battle to win.”

Looks like he won, or at least is winning. Good on Gillespie for doing that, even if it meant taking the scenic route from his final college wrestling match in 2009 to his pro MMA debut in 2014.

But it's clear Gillespie is making up for lost time. He's starting to turn heads in Ring of Combat, the New York-based promotion that groomed Chris Weidman and Frankie Edgar, among others. We'll see what lies in store for Gillespie, but he seems to have the talents and constitution to make a real run.

20. Dmitriy Sosnovskiy

Division: Heavyweight
Promotion: Octagon Fighting Sensation
Record: 9-0
Age: 26
Country: Russia

MMA news junkies might recall that Dmitriy Sosnovskiy signed with Bellator back in 2014.

As it turned out, Wicked Machine never competed for Bellator and appears to have gotten lost in the shuffle, for one reason or another (one of his fights was scuttled at the last minute when his opponent fell ill, but he apparently didn't get a rain check with that).

It doesn't seem to have bothered him much, at least not if his record is any indication, which it really isn't, but whatever. Sosnovskiy has an extremely powerful build that lends itself to the extremely powerful takedowns and grappling he likes to brandish. For a guy that big, he's buttery smooth on the ground. Other heavyweights take notice; it is possible! Sosnovkiy has great top control and passes guard and achieves back-takes and mount with ease.

For as graceful as he is when he's horizontal, he's just as choppy on the feet. He's like a penguin in that regard. But if he's a penguin, he's certainly an Emperor Penguin, easily the most fearsome of all the penguin species.

Also, it was nice that someone woke up and/or bailed out Aleks Emelianenko so Sosnovskiy could have a big-name mannequin to pummel. Thoughtful gesture to the young man.

19. Jiri Prochazka

Division: Light heavyweight
Promotion: Rizin Fighting Federation
Record: 16-3-1
Age: 23
Country: Czech Republic

I told you we'd get to Jiri Prochazka. And here we are.

Prochazka served notice in the Rizin light heavyweight tournament, getting the better of Nemkov in that battle before running into Muhammed Lawal's right hand in the tourney finals.

Don't think Prochazka is a new addition to the prospect scene, though. He's a freak athlete who just looks built for MMA. Look at those arms. Tremendous reach and power there. 

Prochazka also likes to attack with his feet and legs, per his muay thai base, and when it connects it's effective, as evidenced by the 13 knockouts he's acquired.

Prochazka comes across as a brawler sometimes, with a lot of look-what-I-can-do and not a lot of pragmatism (or grappling) in his game. But hey, the guy's still only 22. His natural talent and nose for the finish is more than enough to get him noticed for now.

18. Mikhail Mokhnatkin

Division: Light heavyweight
Promotion: Eurasia Fight Nights
Record: 8-1
Age: 26
Country: Russia 

Spoiler alert: There are a lot of Russian people on this list. There are also a lot of light heavyweights.

The former is probably not Earth-shattering if you're aware of all the high-level fighters streaming out of that part of the world, but the latter might catch you by surprise.

The 205-pound division is not exactly bursting at the seams with talent. Luckily, there are reinforcements on the way.

Mikhail Mokhnatkin is the latest example, but he might also be the most talented. He brings that classic Russian big guy sort of game: the sambo base, the powerful build, the heavy clinch and top games, the meat-and-potatoes striking. 

I'm not doing a good job of making him sound unusual. But he is. Mokhnatkin is more polished than your average prospect. If I'm a big league matchmaker, I take a close look at Mokhnatkin. 

If nothing else, Rizin should certainly snap him up. It'd be very interesting to watch him compete in a rematch with Prochazka, with whom Mokhnatkin battled to a draw in late 2014.

17. Alexa Grasso

Division: Strawweight
Promotion: Invicta FC
Record: 7-0
Age: 22
Country: Mexico 

Who says strawweights can't finish?

Alexa Grasso already has four knockouts on her record, which is pretty good considering she only has seven fights total. That's the kind of thing that can get you noticed pretty quickly. 

Grasso certainly has the full attention of Livia Renata Souza, a strawweight star in her own right and Invicta's champion in that division. Souza claims Grasso is not injured but rather is ducking Souza.

Either way, Grasso appears to be on a collision course with a title shot, and her performance against Souza will tell a lot about where her ceiling is.

16. Andre Harrison

Division: Featherweight
Promotion: Titan FC
Record: 11-0
Age: 27
Country: United States

Titan FC has certainly not made it easy on Andre Harrison, even if Harrison made it look that way.

Four fights beneath the Titan banner thus far, three opponents with experience in the UFC, Bellator, Strikeforce or some combination. First it was Cody Bollinger, then Kurt Holobaugh for the Titan strap, then it was Desmond Green for his first defense.

No problem for Harrison, whose wrestling game is as hard to stop as it is easy to see coming. He takes you down, he takes control and he doesn't give it back. 

As analyst Zane Simon of Bloody Elbow writes, Harrison's "great strength and balance give him a big advantage in stuffing shots and winning scrambles. Once he's on top, he's very good at creating and maintaining positions of control."

It's not what one might consider nuanced, but it gets the job done. 

15. Brett Johns

Division: Bantamweight
Promotion: Titan FC
Record: 12-0
Age: 23
Country: Wales/United Kingdom 

If you tossed a handful of coffee beans at Brett Johns, he'd catch them and toss you back an espresso. Because he's a grinder. He's a grinder's grinder. 

Johns' background is judo, and you can see it in how he basically can't be prevented from getting you on the mat or mashing you against the fence and then holding you there.

His striking? Oh, it's terrible. Terrible! OK, maybe not that bad. It's improving, and the guy's still only 23 years old. He only fought in (or visited) the United States for the first time last March. He has held a belt for both Titan and Europe's respected Cage Warriors promotion. 

One problem with those belts: He lost them both for not making weight. That's something Johns needs to address, particularly with an IV ban now in place and weight cutting receiving greater scrutiny.

You may not see him break off any tornado kicks any time soon, and you won't see a lot of opponents (case in point James Brum in the video included here) applaud his sludgy style. But as they say, if you don't like it, you better find a way to stop it. No one's found a way to stop The Pikey yet.

14. Hakeem Dawodu

Division: Featherweight
Promotion: World Series of Fighting
Record: 5-0-1
Age: 24
Country: Canada

In 2015 Hakeem Dawodu made the leap to WSOF's main show from its Canadian branch. He hasn't looked back, racking up two wins and a draw from February to December. The draw was nothing to sneeze at, as he deadlocked with Marat Magomedov, another blue-chip prospect.

When you watch him fight, Dawodu's talent and polish immediately jump out. The first thing you notice about Dawodu is his incredible quickness. His hands are very fast and he can dart inside on a dime for sharp combinations, all the while using good spacing and head movement to minimize damage.

Inevitably, someone will test Dawodu's wrestling, and that will be an interesting test. Even so, in watching him fight, it's not hard to imagine he'll have the acumen, the poise and the balance to get back to his feet. I know I want to be there when it's time to determine whether that instinct is correct.

13. Luis Rafael Laurentino

Division: Bantamweight
Promotion: Aspera FC
Record: 31-0
Age: 23
Country: Brazil

Luis Rafael "Japa" Laurentino has a gaudy number of wins on his ledger. Are all of those wins over high-caliber talent? The answer is no. Still, though, getting in to a cage for a pro fight on 21 separate occasions in one year, then winning on all of those occasions (as Japa did in 2013), is going to be a positive thing if you can avoid substantial damage.

And avoid it he did, as evidenced by 28 finishes in his 31 contests (19 came by submission). Of his wins, only seven went past the first round.

That record is so lopsided it's hard to extrapolate anything real. Luckily you don't need rocket science to see that he's a dynamic and aggressive fighter, be it on the feet or the ground. He gets a little wild sometimes, but he is some kind of fun to watch. 

Japa's certainly not the first fighter to consume a few cans of tomatoes on his way to the big time. Even if all 31 of his opponents to date are unmitigated bums, that's still a lot of work to put in and a lot of success to achieve.

In 2014 he signed with Titan FC but has yet to debut for the promotion. Here's hoping it happens sooner rather than later.

The Beaten Path is Bleacher Report's ongoing series of interviews and rankings on top MMA prospects. Scott Harris writes about prospects and other MMA and non-MMA topics for Bleacher Report and other places. For more, follow Scott on Twitter.