Author: Dan Hiergesell

There were a lot of first timers to enter the Octagon in 2024, but only a select few debut fighters immediately captured the attention of UFC fans everywhere.

Fighters of all shapes and sizes made their respective UFC debuts over the past 12 months. This includes new prospects coming off Dana White’s Contender Series, Asian fighters who rolled through Road to UFC, and a handful of free agents that were signed to make immediate impacts inside of the cage.

Earlier this week, UFC put together the best debut performances of 2024 to narrow down the list and pinpoint the most impressive newcomers of the year. There are only four debuts on the list so we’re sure fight fans will want to discuss a few more. Check out the video in the above player and let us know your thoughts!

UFC’s top debuts of 2024 include the below:

• Kayla Harrison def. Holly Holm via submission at UFC 300 – HIGHLIGHTS!
• Jean Silva def. Westin Wilson via TKO at UFC Vegas 84 – HIGHLIGHTS!
• Carlos Prates def. Trevin Giles via KO at UFC Vegas 86 – HIGHLIGHTS!
• Wang Cong def. Victoria Leonardo via KO at UFC Vegas 96 – HIGHLIGHTS!

There were a lot of first timers to enter the Octagon in 2024, but only a select few debut fighters immediately captured the attention of UFC fans everywhere.

Fighters of all shapes and sizes made their respective UFC debuts over the past 12 months. This includes new prospects coming off Dana White’s Contender Series, Asian fighters who rolled through Road to UFC, and a handful of free agents that were signed to make immediate impacts inside of the cage.

Earlier this week, UFC put together the best debut performances of 2024 to narrow down the list and pinpoint the most impressive newcomers of the year. There are only four debuts on the list so we’re sure fight fans will want to discuss a few more. Check out the video in the above player and let us know your thoughts!

UFC’s top debuts of 2024 include the below:

• Kayla Harrison def. Holly Holm via submission at UFC 300 – HIGHLIGHTS!
• Jean Silva def. Westin Wilson via TKO at UFC Vegas 84 – HIGHLIGHTS!
• Carlos Prates def. Trevin Giles via KO at UFC Vegas 86 – HIGHLIGHTS!
• Wang Cong def. Victoria Leonardo via KO at UFC Vegas 96 – HIGHLIGHTS!

Alex Pereira is one of the most dangerous fighters in the world whether he’s competing inside of the cage or training at the gym, which is probably why “Poatan” recently made one of his sparring partners quit.

Pereira just turned in one of the best calendar years in recent UFC history with a 3-0 record, three main events, three knockouts, and three UFC light heavyweight title defenses. Not to mention the fact that the Brazilian finisher helped lead some of the biggest events in UFC history in 2024, including UFC 300 and UFC 303.

Despite his success over the past eight months, Pereira is still doing what he can to sharpen his skills heading into 2025. This includes a recent sparring session to close out the holiday season. Unfortunately, Pereira’s sparring session resulted in his opponent eating a clean left hook and immediately turning around to walk off. The clip is only a few seconds long, but the punch landed perfectly and clearly left Pereira’s counterpart in a tizzy.

Check it out in the above video player.

We’ve seen guys like Sean Strickland do their best in sparring alongside Pereira and still come out on the bottom so it’s no surprise to see this other dude catch a session-ending hook from the UFC champion, It’s proof that Pereira is still capable of hurting anyone standing in his way despite not trying to and wearing much heavier gloves than he does inside of the Octagon.

Now that the calendar year is coming to a close fight fans can relive all of the best knockouts from 2024. This is courtesy of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which just released 70 minutes of the best knockout finishes from the past 12 months.

In case you missed out on the past year of combat action, UFC’s 2024 campaign produced some of the best knockouts in the promotion’s history. From events like UFC 300 to Noche UFC inside The Sphere, the premier MMA organization truly pushed the envelope this past year and had fight fans on the edge of their seats every step of the way.

On Friday, UFC unveiled a video montage of all the best knockout stoppages from 2024. It’s a great way for the promotion to end a successful campaign and provide fight fans something to look forward to entering the new year. It’s a pretty awesome watch.

You can check out the compilation in the above video player and some key knockouts below:

• Ilia Topuria became the first fighter to stop Max Holloway with strikes at UFC 308
• Jon Jones finished Stipe Miocic via spinning back kick at UFC 309 to unify the heavyweight titles
• Middleweight sensation Sharabutdin Magomedov turned in a double spinning back fist knockout at UFC 308
• Max Holloway stopped Justin Gaethje with one second on the clock at UFC 300 to walk away with the “BMF” title

Mark Zuckerberg has been training alongside some of the best fighters in mixed martial arts (MMA) and his latest stop in Hawaii provided him the opportunity to connect with former UFC featherweight champion and current “BMF” titleholder Max Holloway.

While Zuckerberg has been busy running a social media empire he still sets enough time aside to scratch his combat itch. Outside of attending a few select UFC events a year, Zuckerberg has been working on his grappling skills and striking skills alongside some of the best fighters in the world. This includes the likes of UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira (see HERE) and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu phenom Mikey Musumeci (watch HERE).

Zuckerberg has even been brought in by UFC CEO, Dana White, to “help fix” the official UFC rankings.

Earlier this month, Zuckerberg was able to connect with Holloway and got in a little training with the UFC superstar. The two didn’t share any video footage from their session, but a few photos did surface. Check them out below:

Hopefully those Meta investors aren’t too upset over Zuckerberg’s ongoing MMA training.

The new year could be interesting for Zuckerberg as the billionaire businessman teases a potential MMA debut. There was even some discussion of Zuckerberg fighting Elon Musk inside Italy’s Colosseum. UFC tried getting involved, but couldn’t iron out the details. Maybe it’s something that actually happens in the new year, especially as Zuckerberg expands his MMA training.

A matchup between surging welterweight contender Carlos Prates and former UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards could be on the horizon following a not-so-cryptic social media post by “The Nightmare.”

The past year has been tremendous for Prates and if it wasn’t for the dominance by UFC champions Alex Pereira and Ilia Topuria the Brazilian contender may have walked away with 2024 Fighter of the Year honors. That’s because he’s gone 4-0 in 2024 with four knockouts, four performance of the night awards, his first UFC main event bid, and an eventual No. 13-ranking in the ultra-stacked welterweight division.

With incredible success inside of the Octagon over the past 12 months Prates is lining himself up to contend for the 170-pound belt in 2025. It seems crazy considering Prates only made his UFC debut this past February, but next year could be a big year for the Brazilian fighter. It will be especially big if Prates is able to land a matchup with Edwards, which he teased in the below social media post on Thursday:

In case you forgot, Edwards hasn’t competed since losing his title to Belal Muhammad at UFC 304 in Manchester, England. It was the third time “Rocky” was defending the title since winning it off Kamaru Usman back in Aug. 2022. Despite the homefield advantage, Edwards looked completely out of sorts at UFC 304 and allowed Muhammad to walk out of England with the title. Fight fans have been waiting for the return of “Rocky” ever since.

While there may be some other attractive matchups for Edwards at 170 pounds a meeting against Prates might be the best-case scenario for the promotion. It gives Prates the big-time name he needs to break into the top 5 while allowing Edwards the opportunity to knock off a hungry up-and-coming contender to prove he’s still a top threat.

We’ll see if UFC is able to close the deal and book Prates vs. Edwards next.