While most of the best talent is under the UFC banner and Bellator and WSOF have seemed scooped up the rest, there is still plenty of talent yet to be signed by the top promotions of the MMA food chain. These are not necessarily 'free agents' or even prospects, they are top 100 ranked fighters who are navigating the nebulous seas of regional and international fight promotion for whatever reason.
The lower weight classes are where we start to see a bit more dispersion, especially in comparison to Welterweight and Lightweight. It is similar to Light Heavyweight, but the talent is a bit better overall even further down the rankings, and the UFC/Bellator ratio is closer than in most other classes. Will anyone on this list be signed by a major US promotion in the near future? Your guess is as good as mine, but they should at least be considered if promotions hope to compete for top talent.
Featherweights (145lb)
| RANK | NAME | RECORD | AGE | Last Promotion |
| 22 | Ivan Buchinger | 28-4-0 | 28 | M-1 (Russia) |
| 24 | Marat Gafurov | 10-0-0 | ? | ONE FC (Asia) |
| 27 | Jadamba Narantungalag | 10-3-0 | 39 | ONE FC (Asia) |
| 28 | Desmond Green | 14-3-0 | 25 | Titan FC |
| 39 | Kazunori Yokota | 22-5-3 | 36 | DEEP (Japan) |
| 40 | Diego Nunes | 19-6-0 | 32 | Superior Challenge (Sweden) |
| 47 | Kurt Holobaugh | 13-2-0 | ? | Titan FC |
| 53 | Ryan Roberts | 20-10-1 | ? | Victory FC |
| 59 | Junior Assuncao | 15-5-0 | 33 | XFC (Brazil) |
| 60 | Deivison Ribeiro | 26-9-0-1 | 25 | XFC (Brazil) |
| 63 | Isao Kobayashi | 16-2-4 | 26 | Pancrase (Japan) |
| 64 | Justin Lawrence | 6-2-0 | 24 | RFA |
| 68 | Mizuto Hirota | 17-7-1 | 33 | DEEP (Japan) |
| 69 | Rasul Mirzaev | 10-0-0 | 28 | Battle of Stars (Russia) |
| 73 | Mu Gyeom Choi | 6-3-0 | 25 | Road FC (S. Korea) |
| 74 | Jang Yong Kim | 8-5-1 | 30 | PXC (Philippines) |
| 75 | Fabiano Silva da Conceicao | 25-6-1 | 26 | Tachi Palace |
| 76 | Adam Ward | 15-6-0 | ? | XFO |
| 77 | Ricky Musgrave | 14-4-0 | 30 | RFA |
| 78 | Jamil Silveira da Conceicao | 42-15-1 | 28 | Jungle Fight (Brazil) |
| 79 | Alexandre Bezerra | 17-4-0 | 27 | Cage Fury FC |
| 80 | Koji Oishi | 25-10-10 | 37 | ONE FC (Asia) |
| 84 | Tom Duquesnoy | 9-1-0-1 | 21 | BAMMA (UK) |
| 88 | Yoshifumi Nakamura | 18-5-0 | 26 | Shooto (Japan) |
| 90 | Eric Kelly | 11-1-0 | 32 | ONE FC (Asia) |
Big 3 in Comparison
| Promotion | # Top 100 fighters | Champ |
| UFC | 45 | Jose Aldo |
| Bellator | 17 | Patricio Freire |
| WSOF | 5 | Lance Palmer |
*All Rankings taken from Fight Matrix at time of writing. Promotions without a country listed next to it are considered US based.
