A Fighter’s Path: The Path of The Undefeated

Lightweight:

(C) Khabib Nurmagomedov

Age: 32 | Russia | 29-0 MMA, 13-0 UFC

Khabib Nurmagomedov will go down as one of the greatest combat sport athletes of all-time when all is said and done. The Russian has dominated every opponent he has ever faced on route to an unblemished 29-0 record. There are articles all over the internet that capture his highlights and resume, but in summary he is the definition of perfection. The two-time Sambo world champion began his MMA career in 2008 winning his first 16 fights which earned him a shot in the UFC. At the beginning of his career, injuries kept him out of action often and the weight cut was grueling on his body. That didn’t prevent him from man-handling Abel Trujillo, Pat Healy, and Rafael dos Anjos. Following his victory over dos Anjos, Khabib was sidelined due to injury. Before the Russian’s return, dos Anjos had already won, defended, and lost the lightweight title. Khabib proceeded to rattle off three-straight victories to earn a shot at the vacant lightweight title. He then captured the belt and successfully defend it three times against Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje. Nurmagomedov retired after his last defense but hasn’t 100% ruled out a return to the octagon.

Notable Victories: Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, Conor McGregor, Al Iaquinta, Edson Barboza, Rafael dos Anjos, Michael Johnson

Mark Madsen

Age: 36 | Denmark | 10-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC

Mark Madsen entered exclusive company when he made his UFC debut back in 2019 becoming one of only a few athletes to own Olympic medals and to have competed in the organization. He is also one of two that are currently active in the UFC, the other being Sara McMann. Madsen competed in wrestling up until 2016 and captured too many titles to list in this article. As he was preparing for the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, he accepted two fights in 2013 and 2014. The Danish Wrestling Federation prevented him from competing in any more fights because he was being paid by the federation. Once he won the silver medal at the Olympics in 2016, he retired from wrestling allowing him to further pursue mixed martial arts. In the first 18-months of his MMA return he accumulated six more wins bringing him to 8-0. At that time the UFC was looking to bring the UFC to Denmark for the first time, and Madsen’s name was obviously the first to come up. The Danish Olympian was signed and faced fellow European Danilo Belluardo. He won the fight in the first round stamping his place in the UFC’s lightweight division. Shortly after he was matched with Team Elevation’s Austin Hubbard and brought his record to 10-0. It is unknown when he will return to the Octagon as the 36-year-old hasn’t competed in nearly a year.

Notable Victories: Austin Hubbard, Danilo Belluardo

Jordan Leavitt

Age: 25 | United States | 8-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC

Jordan Leavitt has been one of the most active fighters since the sport opened back up following the COVID-19 pandemic. Entering 2020, Leavitt was 4-0 as a professional with a mountain to climb in order to get noticed by the UFC. After securing a fifth victory in February it seemed like the pandemic was going to halt his momentum. That was simply not the case for the Syndicate MMA product. He returned in July with an emphatic win in the LFA which earned him a shot on the Contender Series as a short notice replacement. Leavitt finished the fight with an arm-triangle choke in the first round which earned him a UFC contract. In his UFC debut the 25-year-old devastatingly knocked out UFC veteran Matt Wiman with a slam in 0:22 seconds. Leavitt is one of the most promising prospects to keep an eye on and it will be interesting to see who he is matched up with in 2021. He is expecting a child in February so it’s likely he will be sidelined until the summer.

Notable Victories: Matt Wiman, Luke Flores