The mma prospects of 2016. What happened? Welcome to a new series where I will cover bleachers report of the top 25 mma prospects heading into 2016 and what has happened to them 10 years later. Part 1. (Place 25-21) #25 Aleksei butorin Aleksei entered 2016 as a 10-0, 30 yr old pro fighting under the one banner. A knockout artist who loved violence. In his first fight of 2016 he would actually suffer his first pro defeat to Myanmar’s aung la n sang by round 2 arm triangle. Aleksei would bounce back in December of 2016 with a round 1 tko win over Jake bostwick in ACB. He would win his first fight in 2017 by round 1 tko, but then he would proceed to lose his next 2 both by submission both in ACB. Aleksei would bounce back with 3 straight round 1 finishes. That led to him getting a title shot for the ACB LHW title, he would lose to dovlet yagshimuradov by unanimous decision. He would return 9 months later in September of 2020 and get a r3 KO win. He would then sit out not fighting for 5 years until November last year where he would get a round 1 tko win. Aleksei has fought for ACB since his first ever pro loss in one. While it’s clear to see that Aleksei was very talented and an elite striker, he never reached his full potential, never won a belt and didn’t reach the highest he could’ve and it seemed like he struggled with his defensive grappling. Record entering 2016: 10-0 Record now: 17-4 Verdict: Flop #24 Herbert Burns Herbert burns, the brother of ufc veteran Gilbert burns. Herbert entered 2016 as a 6-0 undefeated prospect, he was seen as an elite grappler that was supposed to compete with the elite in a few years time. He didn’t actually fight in 2016 but in 2017 he fought twice in one championship, losing both by unanimous decision. His first pro loss came to the then 11-0 undefeated Russian movlid khaybulaev who’s today 23-0-1. And the 2nd one to the then 7-1 Magomed idrisov. Burns would then have a cancelled fight in late 2017 before returning in December 2018, 1.5 years after his 2nd loss. It would be in titan FC where burns would win by round 2 sub and then early 2019 by round 1 sub. In August of 2019, Herbert would appear on DWCS and would win against Derrick minner by round 1 triangle choke. Burns would get signed to the ufc and would have a perfect start, going 2-0 in his first year beating Nate landwehr by tko and Evan Dunham by submission. Burns would then fight Daniel Pineda for his 3rd ufc fight, burns missed weight and took his first ufc loss by tko. After that it would all go downhill for Herbert Burns. He would have 3 fights cancelled and return 2 years later in 2022 where he would lose by tko to bill algeo. He would then take almost 2 years off again, lose to julio arce and jack Jenkins both by tko in 2024. After that burns would be cut by the ufc and hasn’t fought in mma since. It’s clear that burns did suffer a bit from injuries and that he was an elite grappler, but he was never well rounded enough to reach the elite level in the ufc. Record entering 2016: 6-0 Record today: 11-6 Verdict: Flop #23 Paul Craig Paul Craig entered 2016 as an undefeated 8-0 28 year old. His first fight of 2016 would actually come in his ufc debut where he got a round 2 submission over Luis Henrique da silva where he’d earn a potn bonus. Then in 2017 he would lose both his ufc fights to Tyson Pedro and Khalil rountree jr both by round 1 tko. In 2018 he would famously submit future ufc champion Magomed ankalaev with a triangle choke with 1 second remaining of the fight, which earned Craig a potn bonus and the first man to defeat ankalaev. Craig would then get submitted later the same year by jimmy Crute. In 2019 Craig would submit Kennedy nzechukwu by round 3 triangle choke. He would then get KO’d by alonzo menifield in round 1. He would keep staying active as he got a round 1 RNC win over Vinicius moreira. Craig would then finish of 2019 by having his 4th fight of the year in which he drew to the nr14 ranked former champ mauricio Rua. After that from 2020-2022 Craig would go on a 4 fight win streak all by finish beating the likes of Jamahal hill, mauricio rua and Nikita krylov. Mid 2022 Craig would lose to Volkan oezdemir by unanimous decision and then early 2023 by KO to Johnny walker. Craig would move down to middleweight where he would go 1-3 from 2023-2024 before moving up to LHW again. In 2025 he would have a no contest with rodolfo bellato before getting brutally elbowed ko by modestas bukauskas in September of 2025. Craig would retire after that leaving as a fan favourite. Craig had some of the best BJJ in the ufc and he did reach the rankings in MW and LHW. He had a decent amount of success but I wouldn’t classify him as a success. Record entering 2016: 8-0 Record now: 17-10-1 Verdict: slight flop #22Vadim nemkov Entering 2016, nemkov had actually lost on New Year’s Eve to Jiri Prochazka by retirement. So nemkov had just lost his 6-0 undefeated record. His first fight in 2016 would be a split decision loss to Karl Albrektsson. After that nemkov would fight 2 more times in 2016 winning both, both by round 1 finish. In 2017 he would only fight once beating Phillips Lins by round 1 ko/tko. In 2018 he would get a tko win and a split decision win, the sd over Phil Davis. In 2019 he’d beat Rafael Carvalho by RNC and that would earn him a title shot. Nemkov would in 2020 finish Ryan bader to capture the bellator LHW title. He would then rematch Phil Davis and defend his belt by unanimous decision. He would defend once in 2021 beating julius anglickas by kimura. In 2022 he would have a no contest with ufc vet Corey Anderson due to an accidental head clash. They would rematch later that year and nemkov would win a unanimous decision. In 2023 nemkov would defeat ufc legend Yoel Romero by unanimous decision to earn his 4th title defence. In 2024 nemkov went up to HW in the pfl who had bought bellator. He would win his debut by submission in round 2 against Bruno cappelozza. In 2025 he would defeated Tim Johnson by round 1 RNC. After being scheduled to fight ante delija. Then late last year he would submit Renan Ferreira in round 1 to win the vacant pfl heavyweight title. Now nemkov has a title defence waiting on November 14th against sergey bilostenniy. Nemkov never went to the ufc but he fought in the next best thing and he became a 2 weight world champion, destroying very good guys. Record entering 2016: 6-1 Record now: 20-2 Verdict: absolute success #21 Gregor Gillespie Gregor Gillespie is one of if not the biggest what if in mma history. He entered 2016 as a 5-0 prospect. He would defend his ROC belt 2 times to start 2016 one a first round ko of chepe mariscal. He would then get signed by the ufc and win his debut by UD in late 2016. After his debut he would win 5 in a row beating guys like vinc pichel and yancy medeiros. Then in 2019 Gillespie would suffer a brutal headkick ko loss to Kevin Lee to lose his undefeated record. Gillespie would then take a 1.5 year layoff before returning in may 2021 finishing Diego Ferreira by ground and pound. Gillespie would then disappear. He was only 33 at the time of beating Ferreira. In 2022 he tweeted that he got removed from the rankings not the organisation and he hasn’t posted anything on his socials since 2023. Gillespie famously wanted a fight with Tony Ferguson when no one else dared to but he never got it. Gillespie was one of the best wrestlers in the entire ufc and unfortunately he’s fell off the face of the earth. It’s sad to see, elite fighter with so much promise. I would say he’s a slight flop because he could’ve achieved so much more than he did. But no doubt an elite fighter. Record going into 2016: 5-0 Record now: 14-1 Verdict: slight flop

Not mma related this is for boxing AJ is being heavy slept on in this match against Tyson fury Aj is probably gonna train with usyks team and they have the gameplan to beat Tyson usyk did it twice And yes Joshua pretty old Tyson’s older Tyson defo has better speed and volume but Joshua has more power Only Thing Joshua Should really worry about is the ko shot since Joshua ls very chinny but fury hasn’t kod anyone in 4 years So I’m Taking Anthony Joshua For The Upset And I Think He Beats Fury By Decison But Wouldn’t Be Shocked If Tyson Beats Him Since There Both Washed