Paige VanZant, Henry Cejudo Among Top Ten UFC Newcomers Of 2014

paige The UFC’s rookie class of 2014 was one of the strongest in years, and it was difficult to whittle this category down to a top ten. How difficult? We decided to go against our rule of newcomers having at least two fights in the calendar year and made a special entry at No. 10 for three of the top debutants who only fought once in 2014. So without further ado, here are the top fighters who debuted in the Octagon this year.

10. Carla Esparza, Paige VanZant, Henry Cejudo
This trio of lighter weight fighters made quite an impact with only one fight each in the Octagon. Carla Esparza was long considered to be the top strawweight in the world, and after running through the field on The Ultimate Fighter 20 and capping it off with a win over Rose Namajunas in December, the new UFC strawweight champion proved her worth as the best of the best at 115 pounds.

Fellow strawweight Paige VanZant got a lot of pre-fight attention for her looks and charisma, but in her Fight of the Night win over Kailin Curran, she showed that she’s a terror in the Octagon, or as she put it, “pretty girls are pretty bad ass too.”

Finally, for a guy who won Olympic gold in freestyle wrestling, Henry Cejudo sure has some pretty impressive stand-up, and after defeating Dustin Kimura in his long-awaited Octagon debut, “The Messenger” has the potential to set the bantamweight division on its ear in a couple years.

9. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
We all had trouble pronouncing and spelling her name, but by the time Joanna Jedrzejczyk put together back-to-back wins over Juliana Lima and Claudia Gadelha, it was clear that we needed to do our homework and get that name down, because it looks like we’ll be seeing the Polish striking machine in the Octagon for a long time.

8. Rashid Magomedov
Patient and precise, Rashid Magomedov is like an assassin in the Octagon, showing no emotion as he systematically picks apart his opponents. Cool, calm and collected in decision wins over Tony Martin and Rodrigo Damm, Magomedov earned his spot on this list last Saturday with a late stoppage of previously unbeaten Elias Silverio that showed just how good this lightweight can be.