In 2013, MMA Junkie, with the backing of the USA Today mothership, put out a specialty magazine.
MMA Junkie’s “Power” issue was our look, in the middle of that year, at the most influential people in the sport.
The Power list of influential people, not surprisingly, has shifted over the past 10 years. But another key component of the magazine was our look at the top 25 fighters who were 25 or younger at the time.
In mid-2013, when the issue was released, Jon Jones was the light heavyweight champion and working on his fifth title defense – and hadn’t yet turned 26 when the issue was in production. And you’d be safe to presume he made the list.
But who else was on there – and more importantly, how did those fighters pan out? We hit some home runs with our predictions, but there may have been a misfire or two.
Here’s a look back at the Top 25 25 and Younger from our 2013 “Power” issue.
25. Andre Fili
Then: 12-1 UFC featherweight
Now: 23-10 UFC featherweight
What have you done for me lately?: Fili has alternated wins and losses – with a no contest in between – since 2019.
24. Sergio Pettis
Then: 8-0 UFC flyweight
Now: Former Bellator bantamweight champ
What have you done for me lately?: After a defense of the Bellator 135-pound belt with a miraculous spinning back fist against Kyogi Horiguchi, Pettis outworked an all-time great, Patricio Freire, in a title defense. But in November, he was submitted by Patchy Mix and surrendered the belt.
23. Ronny Markes
Then: 14-1 UFC middleweight
Now: 23-10 former UFC, Bellator, PFL middleweight
What have you done for me lately?: Markes has won four of his past five fights after a stretch of four losses in five fights.
22. Charles Oliveira
Then: 16-4 UFC lightweight
Now: 34-9 former UFC lightweight champion
What have you done for me lately?: Just look at the numbers: Since our “POWER” issue in mid-2013, Oliveira has made the walk 23 times, including a lightweight title win and defense. He’s trying to work his way back to contention and knocked out Beneil Dariush this past June to get back on track after his vacant lightweight title loss to Islam Makhachev.
21. Max Holloway
Then: 7-2 UFC featherweight
Now: 25-7 former UFC featherweight champion
What have you done for me lately?: Since our issue, Holloway only has lost to Conor McGregor (right after our issue came out in 2013), Dustin Poirier (in an interim title fight up a division at lightweight) and Alexander Volkanovski. The problem is, he’s gone 15 rounds – 75 minutes – with the man who took the UFC 145-pound title from him and has three decision losses to him. Most recently, though, Holloway has won four of his past.
20. Conor McGregor
Then: 13-2 UFC featherweight
Now: 22-6 former UFC lightweight, featherweight champion
What have you done for me lately?: There’s no getting around it: McGregor has made a lot more negative headlines than positive ones. But after our issue, when he was just 1-0 in the UFC, he won two historic titles, boxed Floyd Mayweather for a massive payday, and now is set to return in late June for the first time since he broke his leg in a second straight loss to Dustin Poirier.
19. Marlon Moraes
Then: 10-4-1 WSOF bantamweight
Now: 23-13-1 former WSOF bantamweight champion
What have you done for me lately?: Moraes lost his first UFC fight in 2017, then went on a 4-0 run with three straight bonus-winning stoppages to get a title shot. He lost that bout to Henry Cejudo, rebounded against ex-champ Jose Aldo, and now is on a seven-fight skid across the UFC and PFL.
18. Gunnar Nelson
Then: 11-0-1 UFC welterweight
Now: 19-5-1 UFC welterweight
What have you done for me lately?: After a stretch of three losses in four fights, Nelson returned from a 2.5-year layoff and won his lone fight in 2022 and his only fight in 2023 – a submission of Bryan Barberena that netted him a performance bonus.
17. Brad Tavares
Then: 10-1 UFC middleweight
Now: 20-8 UFC middleweight
What have you done for me lately?: It’s not always been smooth sailing for Tavares, but his losses have been to some of the division’s elite like Yoel Romero, Israel Adesanya, Robert Whittaker and Dricus Du Plessis.
16. T.J. Waldburger
Then: 16-7 UFC welterweight
Now: 16-9 former UFC welterweight, trainer/coach
What have you done for me lately?: After his appearance in our issue, Waldburger was knocked out in his next two fights and retired in 2014.
15. Carla Esparza
Then: 9-2 Invicta FC strawweight champion
Now: 19-7 former UFC (2x) and Invicta strawweight champion
What have you done for me lately?: After a six-fight winning streak, Esparza, the UFC’s inaugural women’s 115-pound champ and winner of Season 20 of “The Ultimate Fighter, beat Rose Namajunas to win the title back in 2022. She lost it six months later to Zhang Weili and hasn’t fought since that bout in November 2022.
14. Stefan Struve
Then: 25-6 UFC heavyweight
Now: 29-13 former UFC heavyweight
What have you done for me lately?: Struve had a lengthy UFC career that was paused for a while right after our issue came out when he had a heart ailment that was discovered. Struve retired in 2020 after five losses in six fights, including the final two by knockout. But his eight UFC post-fight bonuses are among the best in heavyweight history.
13. Myles Jury
Then: 12-0 UFC featherweight
Now: 19-6 former UFC, Bellator lightweight
What have you done for me lately?: It’s been a bit of a rough stretch for Jury, who started 15-0, but is just 4-6 the past nine years. Those six losses, though, come with little shame: Donald Cerrone, Charles Oliveira, Chad Mendes, Andrew Fili, Benson Henderson and Sidney Outlaw, which was his most recent action in June 2021 under the Bellator banner.
12. Darrell Montague
Then: 13-2 UFC flyweight
Now: 13-5 former UFC flyweight
What have you done for me lately?: Montague wasn’t signed to a major promotion yet when we featured him, which just shows how much promise he held at 125 pounds. He signed with the UFC at 13-2, lost all three of his fights in less than a two-year period, and hasn’t fought since a July 2015 knockout loss to Willie Gates.
11. Jordan Mein
Then: 27-9 UFC welterweight
Now: 32-13 former UFC, Bellator welterweight
What have you done for me lately?: Mein headlined PFC 16 in Toronto in April 2023 in his first fight in nearly three years. He won by unanimous decision to get back on track after a decision loss to Jason Jackson in Bellator, his lone fight with that promotion.
10. Eduardo Dantas
Then: 15-3 Bellator bantamweight
Now: 23-8 former Bellator bantamweight champion (2x)
Did we get it right?: Champ at the time of publication, “Dudu” was looking like he had a killer future at 135 pounds. He lost the bantamweight title to Joe Warren in 2014, but won it back less than two years later. Given his position 10.5 years ago, he looked like a safe bet.
9. Erik Koch
Then: 13-2 UFC featherweight
Now: 16-6 former UFC featherweight
Did we get it right?: We were on the right track. Koch was supposed to fight Jose Aldo for the UFC featherweight title in mid-2012, but Aldo pulled out. They rescheduled, but Koch pulled out for the second time in the year (he pulled out of a Dustin Poirier fight in February). When Koch finally returned in 2013, he lost to Ricard Lamas and set off a 3-5 stretch. The UFC released him in 2020, and not long after he was suspended by USADA for a failed drug test for steroids. He hasn’t fought since July 2019 at welterweight.
8. Erik Perez
Then: 13-4 UFC bantamweight
Now: 20-9 former UFC, Bellator bantamweight
Did we get it right?: At the time of publication, Perez had three straight wins to open his UFC career – including a record-setting 17-second bantameight KO of Ken Stone. It hasn’t gotten much better than that for Perez, who signed with Bellator in 2019, but went 1-3 with the promotion.
7. Michael McDonald
Then: 15-2 UFC bantamweight
Now: Retired 19-4 former UFC, Bellator bantamweight
Did we get it right?: McDonald was coming off an interim bantamweight title loss to Renan Barao when our list came out, so his placement wasn’t out of left field. McDonald had five UFC post-fight bonuses in nine bouts, but the biggest win on his resume is former Bellator champ Eduardo Dantas, and he retired after that victory in 2018.
6. Dustin Poirier
Then: 13-3 UFC featherweight
Now: 29-8 UFC lightweight, former interim lightweight champ
Did we get it right?: With wins over Justin Gaethje, Eddie Alvarez, Max Holloway, Michael Chandler and two epic knockouts of Conor McGregor, maybe it’s not such an odd thing that Poirier was ahead of McGregor himself on our list.
5. Andrey Koreshkov
Then: 13-0 Bellator welterweight
Now: 27-4 former Bellator welterweight champion
Did we get it right?: Koreshkov was getting set to challenge Ben Askren for the title when the issue came out. He lost that fight – the first setback of his career – but eventually won the belt. We did pretty good with this one considering his biggest win at the time was against Lyman Good.
4. Khabib Nurmagomedov
Then: 20-0 UFC lightweight
Now: 29-0 retired UFC Hall of Famer and former lightweight champion
Did we get it right?: Ya think? Nurmagomedov is regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in history.
3. Rory MacDonald
Then: 14-1 UFC welterweight
Now: 23-10-1 retired former Bellator welterweight champion
Did we get it right?: MacDonald fizzled out toward the end, but his inclusion proved to be worthy.
2. Pat Curran
Then: 19-4 Bellator featherweight champion
Now: 23-9 retired former Bellator featherweight champion
Did we get it right?: At the time, it looked good. In retrospect, No. 2 seems very high compared to some of the names on this list. But in early and mid-2013, there was little shock to see him this high on the list.
1. Jon Jones
Then: 18-1 UFC light heavyweight champion
Now: 27-1 UFC heavyweight champion
Did we get it right?: For sure, though it’s not like it was that difficult of a decision to put Jones at No. 1 at the time. Although it seems like Jones should have a lot more than nine more fights since we had him on our young guns list, his resume is undeniable.
