The cold reality of the pro MMA game is that success goes far beyond a fighter’s skills inside a cage. There are champions, like top-3 pound-for-pound fighter Demetrious Johnson, that fans simply don’t respond to. And then there fighters that have a magnetic presence, drawing media coverage and fans in droves. This is the elusive “it” factor, and today we’re examining a few fighters that appear to have it in spades.
The following list skips over the obvious names like Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor - enough has been said about their appeal. Instead, let’s focus on the names that aren’t yet at the top of the fight game.
PAIGE VANZANT
Most of PVZ’s charm lies in her bubbly personality, cheerleader good looks and the fact that she’s just 21 years old, but she backs up her hype with a fan-friendly fight style rooted in all-out aggression. Even though we can still consider her a prospect, she’s already the most popular fighter in the women’s strawweight division and will headline her first card at UFC Fight Night 80 on December 10.
SAGE NORTHCUTT
Like VanZant, Northcutt’s youthful optimism is highly contagious. But his youth might just be the most compelling aspect of his career. At 19 years old, he became the youngest fighter to ever win a UFC fight. He’s a teenager one year out of high school in a grown man’s sport.
What’s more, he’s been training in martial arts since he could walk, gracing the covers of national karate magazines as a child. Blessed with electric athleticism and an endless arsenal of kung-fu style strikes, there’s a reason that Northcutt is labeled as an uber-prospect.
NICK AND NATE DIAZ
Although the UFC has legitimized cage fighting as a professional sport, it’s impossible to completely disassociate it from street fighting. And nobody manifests that connection better than the Diaz brothers. They bring the mean streets of Stockton everywhere they go, and they apologize for nothing.
They’ll mean mug, trash talk, throw up middle fingers, brawl outside the cage, and say whatever they want, whenever they want. And fans love them for it, because it’s not a manufactured act.
ROSE NAMAJUNAS
“Thug” Rose has got the same appeal as a Diaz brother - but she’s a girl. Everything about her implies a hardscrabble life where she had to fight for everything she’s earned. It also helps that she’s also one of the most promising fighters in the women’s strawweight division. I’d love to see her face Paige VanZant one day, as it’d be an amazing contrast of charismatic personalities.
JOANNA JEDRZEJCZYK
Sometimes, a fighter needs nothing more than her fists and feet to sell fights. In the case of women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, she’s got both a charming personality and one of the most exciting fight styles in the UFC. She’s bubbly ike Northcutt and VanZant, but where she truly shines is inside the cage. Her Muay Thai is perhaps the best in the UFC, and her accuracy is reminiscent of Anderson Silva in his prime. Watching her meticulously and violently pick apart her opponents is a genuinely thrilling experience I can’t get enough of.
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