The Beaten Path: 5 MMA Prospects to Watch in September

September is a month for rebirth. It's for getting back to business. For remembering what really matters. 

It's been a pretty tough stretch lately for MMA fans. So how about we talk about some fights? 

With well over a dozen September events on tap across the MMA landscape, it's a busy 30 (now just 20) days. And the real fans have to stay on top of things. You must dig into the meat of the schedule. You have to know more than the next guy, or else you will find yourself too embarrassed to ever go into that bar again.

You don't want that, do you? It's a nice bar. They're just getting to know your name. You can't just walk away from that kind of time investment.

Don't worry. The Beaten Path prospect series is here to help you out. What follows are the five most interesting prospects in action this month, fighting in one of the various non-UFC promotions out there. These are the up-and-coming stars of the sport, and we're giving them to you before the masses get to them.

Jump on the bandwagon while the jumping's good, and do your best to enjoy what's left of this busy month of combat sports action.

Adriano Moraes

Division: Flyweight
Age: 25
Record: 11-1
Fight info: September 12, One FC 20, vs. Geje Eustaquio (for One FC flyweight title)

Apparently, there is also a professional bull rider named Adriano Moraes. But the bull rider's nickname is not "Black Diamond." That's how you tell the two apart. 

Moraes combines high-level submission moves (especially chokes) with the takedown and mat games to get them done. He also has good speed and power in his hands, though his clinch and ground games are where the real magic happens.

The Black Diamond fights for the title Friday but already has plenty of signature wins. He's 2-1 in One FC, and in the past year or so he has bested UFC veteran and former Shooto champ Yasuhiro Urushitani and fellow top prospect Dileno Lopes.

One note of caution: Moraes is listed at 5'8", which is gigantic for a flyweight (as a point of comparison, UFC champ Demetrious Johnson is 5'3"). If the weight cut is not too much, more power to him. But we've seen plenty of reminders lately of the perils of a steep cut. We'll have to see whether or to what extent that might affect Moraes' career as the young man moves forward.

Alexandre Pantoja

Division: Flyweight
Age: 14-2
Record: 24
Fight info: September 12, Resurrection Fighting Alliance 18, vs. Matt Manzanares (for RFA flyweight title)

It's all lining up for Alexandre Pantoja.

He has the winning streak—now seven fights and four years running. He has the well-rounded game, as well as the nose for the finish (10 of his 14 wins came by stoppage). He has the right camp, a little outfit called Nova Uniao. And now, he has the right promotion, making his debut Friday for RFA, an unabashed UFC feeder league.

In fact, Joby Sanchez was originally slated to face Manzanares until he got the big call-up. Friday's winner may not be far behind. Win or lose, Pantoja is young, talented and working his way onto progressively bigger stages.

Cory Tait

Division: Bantamweight
Age: 26
Record: 8-2
Fight info: September 13, Cage Warriors 72, vs. Toni Tauru (for Cage Warriors bantamweight title)

Funny story, this vacant Cage Warriors bantamweight belt. Brett Johns was forced to vacate the belt after missing weight the day before his title defense against James Brum. Pretty stiff penalty for not cutting weight the right way, I'd say. Who has a use for that sort of thing except everyone?

So Brum would have been the champ if he had won, but he did not win. Johns took the decision. Now, Cory Tait will battle Toni Tauru for the vacant belt. (I personally think there should have been another four-man tournament, but hey, that's me.) 

Tait has been impressing folks for a while with his sharp submission skills and a flamboyant striking game not unlike that of another top British up-and-comer, Bellator's Michael Page. Never has any Tait win gone the distance; it will be interesting to see what happens during the biggest fight of his career, against a noted grappler in Finland's Tauru.

Frankie Perez

Division: Lightweight
Age: 25
Record: 8-1
Fight info: September 13, World Series of Fighting 13, vs. Tom Marcellino

Frankie Perez may seem like a strange addition to a hot-prospects list, given that he just lost his first professional fight. 

But let's dive a little deeper, shall we? The loss actually came to Chris Wade, whom you might remember from his dazzling August 30 UFC debut (on short notice, no less). More importantly, the loss came by split decision after the two excellent grapplers essentially stalemated for much of the contest. 

Perez, a jiu-jitsu brown belt under Ricardo Almeida, is making his WSOF debut Saturday. Here's guessing he makes a splash.

Ben Reiter

Division: Middleweight
Age: 27
Record: 14-0-1
Fight info: September 12, Bellator 124, vs. Shamir Garcia

It's hard to imagine two worlds as different as Philadelphia and Peru. But Ben Reiter's combat sports career bridges them both. First, he wrestled at the University of Pennsylvania and then made his MMA bones in the Inka Fighting Championship in Lima, where Reiter had moved to volunteer in a children's program.

That wrestling base and a pair of fists chipped off the Huayna Picchu have served him well. His only non-win came when he fought more widely hyped prospect Marcos Rogerio de Lima (now 1-0 in the UFC) to a draw.

This Friday, Reiter fights for the first time in Bellator. If he performs well under the Spike lights, he could take a big leap up the charts.

The Beaten Path is a series of articles and interviews highlighting the top prospects in MMA. Scott Harris covers MMA prospects and other topics for Bleacher Report and other places. For more on prospects and other MMA topics, follow Scott on Twitter.