5 championship caliber English prospects to watch out for in the UFC

#2. Muhammad Mokaev – UFC flyweight

Muhammad Mokaev joined the UFC in 2021. The 21-year-old is a promising addition to the promotion’s 125-pound division.

Mokaev’s journey to professional MMA has been tumultuous, to say the least. He and his father fled Russia with just a bag of clothes and no money in 2012. They ended up at a refugee center in Liverpool, England, for nearly a month and were relocated to Wigan soon after.

Mokaev's father encouraged him to go to the Wigan Youth Zone daily so he could keep him away from the wrong crowd and off the streets. There, he was introduced to combat sports and wrestling.

Mokaev turned pro in 2020 after winning back-to-back junior bantamweight titles at the IMMAF World Championships in 2018 and 2019. He accumulated four victories in his first year as a pro MMA fighter, three of which came via stoppage.

Don’t make the mistake of assuming that Mokaev will struggle in a top-tier MMA promotion considering he's had only six professional fights. ‘The Punisher’ boasts a 23-0 amateur record and has been mapping out his pro MMA career since he was a young teen. He fought his first amateur bout at just 14 years of age and has ripped through every fighter he’s faced ever since.

Interestingly, Mokaev DM’ed UFC president Dana White in 2018, saying he would be joining the promotion in the near future. He has come through on his promise and is expected to make a splash in the 125 pound division in the coming years.

Mokaev will undoubtedly enter the title picture at 125 pounds very soon. In a division brimming with strikers, the wrestling phenom has the potential to emerge as a long-reigning champion. He made his promotional debut against Cody Durden at the O2 Arena in London in March and bagged a submission victory inside the very first minute of the fight.

At just 21, Mokaev's skills are already incredibly fine-tuned. The sky's the limit for 'The Punisher' and we might just have the youngest champion in UFC history on our hands.

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#1. Tom Aspinall – UFC heavyweight

Tom Aspinall made his promotional debut against Jake Collier at UFC Fight Island 3 in 2020. The towering Brit needed just 45 seconds to put away his opponent, earning the 'Performance of the Night' bonus after securing an impressive finish.

Subsequently, the former Cage Warriors fighter took on Alan Baudot and former heavyweight champion Andre Arlovski. A TKO win over Baudot and a submission-victory over Arlovski saw the Brit make his way into the UFC heavyweight rankings.

It was his next bout, however, that got the fans and the media fantasizing about how a potential fight between Aspinall and the top heavyweights in the world would play out. Aspinall took on Sergey Spivac last year in a matchup that many believed would be a tough test for the Brit.

He made light work of Spivak, knocking him out in the first round.

While Aspinall was making light work of every opponent he faced, he revealed his desire to have a slow rise to the top as he continues to improve. As it turns out, the promotion wasn't on the same page and he was booked to headline London's O2 Arena in 2022.

He took on former Bellator champion Alexander Volkov in the main event of UFC London. Many believed that Volkov would pose a dangerous threat to Aspinall and that the Brit would finally have a real test on his hands.

In yet another flawless performance, Aspinall came away with a first-round submission victory to propel himself into the top five in the heavyweight division.

Tom Aspinall is part of a new breed of heavyweights who are taking over the sport. With the emergence of Ciryl Gane, the former interim heavyweight champion, many believe that heavyweights who move like welterweights are the future of the division.

At just 28, Aspinall has a bright future ahead of him. Expect him to be in the title mix in the near future.