The NFL draft goes down this Thursday. What if MMA were to have its own version of that dog-and-pony show, in which franchises are (at least theoretically) made and broken in the course of 48 hours?
I think it would go a little something…like this. Presented herewith is the mock first round of such a draft, from No. 1 to No. 32.
For the sake of simplicity, every active fighter is eligible. But don’t think this is just a power ranking of the 32 best guys. As in other drafts, age, health and “intangibles” factor in. So it’s not a question of finding the best fighter today. The real question is, if you were running some kind of fighting organization, who would you want to be the cornerstone of your franchise for years to come?