With Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre and Cain Velasquez expected to be away from the Octagon for part or all of the coming year, the UFC will be looking for fighters to fill the void—not only in terms of fighting ability, but also in terms of fans wanting to pay good money to see them compete.
Perhaps no fighter broke out in 2013 like Alexander Gustafsson. After being marketed on his physical attributes, the Swede showed he has the technical prowess to give UFC champ Jon Jones a run for his money.
Gustafsson wasn’t alone in going from a relative unknown to a superstar. A number of fighters took a big step forward to propel their UFC careers. Even a few fighters who were already established names saw themselves jump up the ladder to become “must-see TV” for the UFC in 2014.