#2 Israel Adesanya
![UFC 243 Whittaker v Adesanya](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2019/11/d2234-15751092128660-800.jpg?w=190 190w, https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2019/11/d2234-15751092128660-800.jpg?w=720 720w, https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2019/11/d2234-15751092128660-800.jpg?w=640 640w, https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2019/11/d2234-15751092128660-800.jpg?w=1045 1045w, https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2019/11/d2234-15751092128660-800.jpg?w=1200 1200w, https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2019/11/d2234-15751092128660-800.jpg?w=1460 1460w, https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2019/11/d2234-15751092128660-800.jpg?w=1600 1600w, https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2019/11/d2234-15751092128660-800.jpg 1920w)
Israel Adesanya has taken the MMA world by storm since he joined the UFC. He has always been a World Championship level kickboxer but in today's UFC, wrestling is the primary and most important skill to be a UFC Champion.
The fact that he fought 4 times in 2018 and 3 times in 2019 itself is incredible but to reach Championship level the way he did was unparalleled. He has shown no fear and takes on all comers. He was originally scheduled to face the dangerous Paulo Costa later in 2020 but due to the Brazilian's shoulder injury, he'll be passed over for a title shot.
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Who did Adesanya call out? Yoel Romero - arguably the scariest man in the Middleweight division. It's an incredibly brave call-out from Adesanya and he could be one punch away from having his hype train entirely derailed.
#1 Jorge Masvidal
![UFC 244 Masvidal v Diaz](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2019/11/03851-15751094445623-800.jpg?w=190 190w, https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2019/11/03851-15751094445623-800.jpg?w=720 720w, https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2019/11/03851-15751094445623-800.jpg?w=640 640w, https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2019/11/03851-15751094445623-800.jpg?w=1045 1045w, https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2019/11/03851-15751094445623-800.jpg?w=1200 1200w, https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2019/11/03851-15751094445623-800.jpg?w=1460 1460w, https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2019/11/03851-15751094445623-800.jpg?w=1600 1600w, https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2019/11/03851-15751094445623-800.jpg 1920w)
Jorge Masvidal was arguably the fighter of the year in 2019. With three finishes over Darren Till, Ben Askren (5 seconds) and Nate Diaz, nobody had a career resurgence that he did. The only name who could arguably match him for that title would be Israel Adesanya, but one would have to think that Masvidal had a more impressive year.
His popularity exploded and with his one-sided performance against Nate Diaz, any talks of a rematch have died down (though Dam Lambert believes the fight will happen again if Nate wishes for it). As of now, Masvidal has shown great personality and doesn't seem to care too much about fighting for the title, even though he's next in line for a shot at the 170-pound gold.
He has stated that his next fight will be the one with the "most zeroes" on his paycheque and the ramblings as of now is a fight against Nick Diaz. We expect Masvidal to have atleast two major fights in 2019 and he's one big loss away from losing his incredible momentum.