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The Outsiders: Top 25 WWs Outside the UFC, BMMA, and WSOF - April Edition

While much of the talent is under the UFC banner and Bellator and WSOF have seemed to scoop up the best of 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.

Top ranked Ben Askren (#12) and Luis Santos (#54) were set to engage in a pretty major fight as far as regionals go, but an eye poke by Askren fizzled the bout with a no-contest in the first round. Despite all the finger pointing, no pun intended, ONE Championship will likely rebook the title fight as soon as possible.

Sergey Khandozhko made a jump in the rankings from 105 to 89 by picking up two wins since the last post to run his record to an impressive 19-1-1. Aslambek Saidov picked up a huge decision win over Rafal Moks (#133) at KSW 30 to jump from #114 to #65.

Upcoming matches of interest include a battle of title holders as RFA champ Chidi Njokuani (#72) takes on TPF champ Max Griffin (#78) at Tachi Palace Fights 23 on May 7. They could be fighting for a UFC contract. Former Bellator champ Lyman Good (#63) will defend his Cage Fury FC title against Nah-Shon Burrell (#166 @ MW)at CFFC 48 on May 9.

Recently signed by a top promotion: Nicolas Dalby (#49-UFC)

Welterweights (170lb)

RANK NAME RECORD AGE Last Promotion (Origin)
12 Ben Askren 14-0-0-1 30 ONE FC (Asia)
45 Tyler Stinson 29-10-0 28 Titan FC
50 Bristol Marunde 16-9-0 33 XFFC (Canada)
54 Luis Santos 61-9-1-1 35 ONE FC (Asia)
57 Beslan Isaev 32-7-0 31 M-1 (Russia)
58 Danny Roberts 11-1-0 ? Cage Warriors (UK)
59 Ryan Jensen 21-8-0 37 Victory FC (US)
60 Borys Mankowski 17-5-1 25 KSW (Poland)
63 Lyman Good 17-3-0-1 29 Cage Fury FC (US)
64 Gil de Freitas 17-5-0 ? CES MMA (US)
65 Aslambek Saidov 16-4-0 ? KSW (Poland)
69 Jose Figueroa 13-7-0 30 Titan FC (US)
72 Chidi Njokuani 12-4-0 26 Tachi Palace (California)
73 Trey Houston 11-3-0 26 BattleGrounds (Oklahoma)
75 Karl Amoussou 18-7-2 29 Fightor (Belgium)
80 Max Griffin 10-1-0 29 Tachi Palace (California)
82 Ryan Machan 23-9-0 31 Fight Night @ Corral (Canada)
84 Marcelo Alfaya 16-7-0-1 36 Absolute FC (Florida)
82 Brock Larson 40-9-0 37 KOTC (US)
89 Sergey Khandozhko 19-1-1 22 ACB (Russia)
90 Belal Muhammad 7-0-0 ? Titan FC (US)
93 Steven Kennedy 22-6-0 ? Hex FS (Australia)
94 Nobutatsu Suzuki 11-2-2 37 ONE FC (Asia)
95 Ryan Scope 9-0-0 23 BAMMA (UK)
100 Jim Wallhead 27-9-0 31 ADW (UAE)

Dropped out of the Top 25: Derrick Krantz (#102), Shamil Zavurov (#110), Rafal Moks (#133)

Top 3 promotions in the division

Promotion # Top 100 fighters Champ
UFC 55 Robbie Lawler
Bellator 12 Douglas Lima
WSOF 6 Rousimar Palhares

*All Rankings taken from Fight Matrix at time of writing.