MMA: One Fighter in Each Weight Division with Star Potential (with Video)

The star potential for many prospects in MMA is downright frightening without question.

Rory MacDonald, Jon Jones, Alexander Gustafsson, Cain Velasquez, Renan Barao, Chris Weidman, Luke Rockhold, Erik Koch, Edson Barboza, Pat Curran and a plethora of other young prospects have arrived on the scene to great fanfare and have earned great deals of respect despite losses, controversial endings and performances perceived as inferior, but their current treks toward greatness are only half of the hubbub.

The truth is that all of the aforementioned fighters are still young in their career and still have a long way to go before they even hit their primes, yet they're already considered among the best of the division. That fact is scary because by the time they finally look like they should be hanging up the gloves, at least one of the aforementioned might have done just enough to surpass the statistics of one of the all-time greats in MMA history.

There's never enough that we can say about the current crop of prospects, but there's a certain crop of next-generation stars that we could very well be talking about once MacDonald, Koch, Barao, Gustafsson, Rockhold, Barboza and Curran, among others, finally evolve from the prospects of the sport into the veterans of the sport.

At this time, I'd like to introduce you all to that crop of next-generation fighters with great star potential, complete with some video on each of these young fighters.

The Ground Rules

First of all, I like Erick Silva, but neither he nor any of the names mentioned in the intro are a part of this lineup.

As a matter of fact, there may be one current UFC fighter on here simply because few probably know of him, but all the rest of the names featured here are names of which fans like yourself have never heard much, if anything at all.

For creativity's sake, this will also not be featuring anyone from The Ultimate Fighter: Live or anyone scheduled to appear on The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil, but rest assured that all who are featured on this list are fighters who have the potential to do great things in this sport.

Now then, allow you old buddy Dale to introduce you to the eight men who made the cut in this feature presentation of the fighters in each division who have star potential.

Flyweight: Roy 'the Punisher' Docyogen

Reigning URCC Pinweight Champion and undefeated 10-0 Filipino prospect Roy "The Punisher" Docyogen is flying under the radar, but considering the action packed in the lower weight classes, there will come the time when the 25-year-old finally gets noticed and makes a major mark in the sport.

Docyogen trains at Lakay Wushu comes from a Wushu background, making him well-rounded in all areas of the game, and watching his fight against Jesus Rabadon, one can see that Docyogen remains composed even when a submission is locked on as tightly and as perfectly as technically possible.

According to the official URCC website, the pinweight division in which Docyogen reigns as champion has a limit ranging from 110 pounds to 119 pounds, which means that if he ever went Stateside, the natural pinweight would be classified as a flyweight, but don't let the size of this man fool you into thinking he's a miniature punching bag.

He's already made a strong impact in the Philippines-based URCC, operated by Alvin Aguilar, and he's also gone a grueling 20 minutes with Alvin Ramirez.

If the kid keeps at it and improves his game further while gaining some great experience along the way, as well as accumulating wins against some of the cream of the crop at "125 and under," the sky is the limit for the man they call "The Punisher."

Bantamweight: Kyoji Horiguchi

You want to talk about impressive fighters in the lower weight classes?

Krazy Bee's Kyoji Horiguchi is one of the kids you might need to watch as far as unknown prospects are concerned.

As you would expect from a student of Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto, Horiguchi is aggressive and packs enough power in his hands to make any opponent fold, often using his movement and some heavy kicks to throw his foes off in order to set up his high-octane assault.

Truth be told, a lot of the same positives that Yamamoto showed when he was tearing through the Featherweight division can be seen in Horiguchi, as the 21-year-old does have his own takedown defense in addition to the "kill or be killed" mentality that would be referred to as "bringing 'it' every time" in stateside circles.

His only loss is a majority decision loss to Masakatsu Ueda, who is slated for the Bellator Bantamweight tourney this season, but at 21 years of age and with a coach like "Kid," as well as training partners like Issei Tamura riding with him, Horiguchi will show a lot of potential in his still-budding career, and he will leave us talking about him much sooner than later.

Featherweight: Hacran Dias

I took great pleasure in putting together an MMA Prospect Watch on Hacran Dias before the UFC's break.

At the time, the 27-year-old Nova Uniao product was close to signing with the UFC, but nothing had been confirmed or denied at the time, and nothing's been confirmed or denied since.

Even still, the young prospect will bring in an impressive 20-1-1 record with him into his next fight, and the opponent he faces will still have an intense technical striking game as well as a fast-acting ground game with which they will have to contend come fight time.

Whether that dilemma presents itself in the Octagon debut of Dias is another story, but when Dias does fight again, watch out for this kid.

He's getting better with each fight in every aspect of the game, and he's clearly not going to stop anytime soon.

Lightweight: Eduard Folyang

Eduard Folyang is the reigning URCC Welterweight Champion, the reigning ONE FC Lightweight Champion and he trains with URCC champions Roy Docyogen, Honorio Banario and Kevin Belingon at Team Lakay Wushu, which is the top MMA academy in the Philippines.

Akin to Docyogen, many would look at Folyang and argue that he's a well-rounded gamer who can fight just about anywhere and who can definitely put on a show for the fans every time he's on the card, and he's especially ruthless whenever he's working on the feet from the outside or working on the ground with his punches, his forearms and his elbows.

He draws Ole Laursen at ONE FC 3 in a bout that is sure to turn heads and crowds, as well as put on a great show for MMA fans who are curious as to the great action that could come from the Filipino scene in mixed martial arts.

Oh, and while y'all are at it, try to stay awake on Laursen as well, as he's a young gunner on the rise in his own right.

Welterweight: Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson

You remember Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson, yes?

UFC 143 saw him in the opener of the card, and one hellish head kick later, he put Dan Stittgen out cold.

The thing that's scary about the 29-year-old is that he's only 6-0 with the Stittgen win, and yet he's got black belts in Kempo Karate, jujutsu and kickboxing, along with a blue belt in BJJ under Carlos Machado.

Not only that, but as he prepares for Matt Brown at UFC 145, we must remember that this kid is not even in the mix yet, but he does have the potential to become one of MMA's most major players due not only to that highlight-reel knockout in his debut, but also to his style, which could evolve to become one of the most effective in MMA.

To put it in short, the things this kid can do and the things he plans on letting us see inside the Octagon is reason enough to understand why they call the Simpsonville native "Wonderboy."

Middleweight: Jack 'Hammer' Marshman

Jack Marshman is 10-0, the current BAMMA British Middleweight Champion and less than a week away from the biggest fight of his young career so far when he walks in to BAMMA 9 to challenge Tom "Kong" Watson for Watson's BAMMA World Middleweight title.

In eight fights, Marshman has utilized crisp boxing skills to earn stoppages of his opponents within the distance, with only one opponent tapping out to an armbar from Marshman and one opponent taking Marshman all three rounds.

Many will look at his BAMMA 9 bout with Watson as a fight that will be a breeze for Watson, but Marshman is a young, hungry lion looking to reach his potential as one of the best middleweights in MMA, and to do that, he will look to defeat BAMMA's best middleweight fighter.

It's rough enough to try and stop an undefeated prospect who wants a title and will go through a highly-touted middleweight like Watson to get it, but in past fights, Watson has often been the fighter who has somehow pulled off something of a comeback

Against Marshman, it could be Watson that tries to trap the challenger in a tough spot, and it could be Marshman that finds a way to prevail and win the title despite being badly damaged by the champion.

Of course, even if Watson does prevail, we must remember one thing:

Even if Marshman falls to 10-1 against Watson, there's nothing stopping him from learning from this performance and reaffirming his status as one of the division's top prospects by way of a few beastly performances.

If there is anything stopping this guy from turning it up to "beast mode" and becoming the man of the 185-pound weight class, I can't think of what it is.

Light-Heavyweight: 'Poster Boy' Jimi Manuwa

Remember that one British light-heavyweight who had himself a chance to jump to the UFC, and yet he turned it down?

That was the UCMMA Light-Heavyweight world champion, "Poster Boy" Jimi Manuwa, undefeated at 11-0 as a professional. But when he got the call to fight at UFC 138 and he turned it down, he actually made the right move.

Though his 11-0 record features 10 KO/TKO wins and one submission win, and although his fights often feature some strong Muay Thai, a nasty game in the clinch, some excellent defensive striking skills and a consistently improving ground game for a fighter who has never been to the judges' scorecards, the fact remains that the offer to fight at UFC 138 came when Manuwa had been out of the cage for more than a year.

It's true that you never turn down the UFC if you want to make it big, but how many fighters had potential akin to what Manuwa showed last year, and how many of them jumped in to the UFC only to lose consistently and fly off the radar before anyone ever knew they had ever gotten signed?

Manuwa may be 11-0, but even he knows he's got a long way to go before he is "UFC-ready," and with a few more hard, tough fights, Manuwa has what it takes to not only live up to the hype in a big-league debut, but he also has the potential to surpass the hype by some leaps and bounds.

Heavyweight: Guram Gugenishvili

Recognize this guy?

If you do, it's because some have taken a quick note of what M-1 Global Heavyweight Champion and undefeated 11-0 Guram Gugenishvili has done so far in the sport.

If you don't, it'd be best to not let this name leave your radar, because this 25-year-old Georgian is a guy who likes to hurt necks for a living.

In the long run, he'll need to amp his striking game as much as possible, but he's already shown a willingness to go the distance when he has to, having won his fifth pro fight by unanimous decision, and he's exhibited strong reputation as a finisher in the sport, as all but one of his submission wins involved Guram taking his opponent's neck.

As a matter of fact, he holds seven wins by rear-naked choke, a win by neck crank, a submission win by punches and he won the inaugural M-1 Global Heavyweight title by making Kenny Garner pass out by a guillotine choke.

Now, if this is what Guram has done without knocking anyone out at all, can you imagine what he could accomplish if it's his fists that start putting people to sleep?

No one but the only Guram Gugenishvili could have that thought running in our heads, and if he continues his progression in the sport with only a few minor speed-bumps (mostly injuries) along the way, watch out.

To put it simply, we don't know when Guram is coming or  at what speed he is coming, but rest assured, MMA heavyweights of the world, Guram is coming.