by Zak Drapeau 1/31/2025 Sportz Nation Here's a look at my list of my Top 24 Athletes of 2024 , with guys like Shohei Ohtani, Connor McDavid and a slew of Summer Olympians dominating the list. Without an Olympic event this year, this list will be compiled of mostly athletes in the big sporting leagues such as NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, various Soccer leagues and others. In the fourth year of doing this list, I am a bit biased toward the top sports leagues but will always give credi

by Zak Drapeau 12/20/2025 Sportz Nation So this will be my third time making this list since 2018 and truth be told there isn't too much change from my most recent list in 2022 with MMA Complete but there are a few. Since the dawn of one of the greatest sports on Earth, while not the first company to do so, the UFC became one of the biggest MMA promotions in the world when it started on November 12, 1993 and has been the #1 of it's kind for over two decades to date. While I'd

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen 12/17/2025 Sportz Nation Zak Drapeau's Picks Photo by Nathan Ray Seebeck/ Imagn Images #2 Manel Kape vs Joshua Van (Flyweight Championship) In our last matchmaking I had Tatsuro Taira as the next challenger at 125 but now Manel Kape has moved into that spot with Pantoja injured. Kape has never faced someone outside of the Top-15 and now has won 7 of his last 8 with 3 knockouts in a row. _________________________________ #4 Brandon Royval vs (Winn

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen 12/10/2025 Sportz Nation Zak's Picks Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili 3 (Bantamweight Championship) Photo by Chris Unger/ Zuffa LLC via Getty Images If any former champion deserves an immediate rematch, it's Merab, and I believe he'll get it. Whether their trilogy concludes in the first half of 2026 or at the White House card is up for debate. Due to the lack of drawing power either of these men has, I can actually see this fight being before the ca

by Zak Drapeau 12/6/2025 Sportz Nation * Not counting Conor, Jon Jones or Amanda Nunes Honorable Mentions: To Aspinall, Kevin Holland and Alexander Volkanovski Photo by Jeff Bottari/ Zuffa LLC 10. Justin Gaethje How fitting that the first entry on our list will be headlining the first Numbered Event of 2026. Justin Gaethje has long been around the top of the Lightweig division and even though he is one of the best fighters in the world, his draw-ability is due to his style. O

by Zak Drapeau 12/3/2025 Sportz Nation Photo Generated by UFC via Fox News Special Report Main Events 1. Tom Aspinall vs Alex Pereira ( Heavyweight Championship ) With Dana White reiterating that Jon Jones can not be trusted to be on this card, Aspinall vs Pereira has to be the most wanted fight for this event. Alex Pereira has been the biggest name in the sport for 2 years now and for him to move up a division and challenge for the Heavyweight Championship would be an All-Ti

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen 11/25/2025 Sportz Nation Zak Drapeau's Matchmaking Photo by Mark J. Rebilas/ USA Today Sports Armen Tsarukyan vs Max Holloway (Vacant Lightweight Title) Dan Hooker vs Benoit Saint Denis Not sure if this is controversial or if most think like me, but I don't think Topuria wants to "waste his time" with Tsarukyan. I believe he's likely to move up to 170 to fight Makhachev at the White House, which leaves Tsarukyan as the obvious choice for the nex

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen 11/19/2025 Sportz Nation Matt's Fights Islam Makhachev vs Ilia Topuria Jack Della Maddelena vs Shavkat Rakhmonov I think there is only one fight to make for Islam Makhachev, which could be the biggest fight in modern UFC history. A fight with Ilia Topuria is the only move that makes sense for both parties, as they are both on different levels than the fighters below them. We will be able to see the best striker in the UFC face off against the be

by Zak Drapeau 11/15/2025 Sportz Nation WAKO Championships Just before Thanksgiving day of 2025, local kickboxer and growing legend Aidan Lambert will represent New England and America in Abu Dhabi in the WAKO Kickboxing World Championships. What is the WAKO World Championships? "WAKO" itself, (World Association of Kickboxing Organizations) is the world's governing body for the sport of Kickboxing. The WAKO World Championships are single elimination tournaments of one-on-on

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen 11/12/2025 Sportz Nation Photo by Ron Chenoy/ Imagn Images 10 Gabriel Bonfim vs 7 Joaquin Buckley Randy Brown vs Uros Medic Gabriel Bonfim has now won 4 in a row in one of the best divisions in the sport. His next fight should be a PPV Main Card fight and with #7 Joaquin Buckley also looking for a fight, this one would be a perfect opportunity and a deserved fight for both fighters. Randy Brown may have claimed the TKO loss over Bonfim was e

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen 11/5/2025 Sportz Nation (Zak Drapeau) Steve Garcia vs Brian Ortega David Onama vs Aaron Pico Steve Garcia soaking in the UFC Vegas 110 crowd after Main Event, TKO Win over David Onama Photo by Rich Storry/ Imagn Images Alright, first things first: Steve Garcia has earned a Top-10 ranking but still hasn't faced anybody in the Top-10, so let's give him Brian Ortega. This fight is perfect because Ortega is looking for a Top-10 guy to fight as we

Credit to Getty/UFC Current Rankings: C Tom Aspinall 1 Ciryl Gane 2 Alexander Volkov 3 Sergei Pavlovich 4 Curtis Blaydes 5 Jailton Almeida 6 Waldo Cortes Acosta 7 Serghei Spivac 8 Derrick Lewis 9 Ante Delija 10 Marcin Tybura 11 Shamil Gaziev 12 Tai Tuivasa 13 Mick Parkin 14 Valter Walker 15 Tallison Teixeira _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Key Booked Fight Rumored Fight Our Hypothetical Fights ___________________________________ C Tom Aspina

Credit to ESPN via espn.com Current Rankings C Kayla Harrison 1 Julianna Peña 2 Raquel Pennington 3 Ketlen Vieira 4 Norma Dumont 5 Yana Santos 6 Irene Aldana 7 Macy Chiasson 8 Ailin Perez 9 Karol Rosa 10 Mayra Bueno Silva 11 Jaqueline Cavacanti 12 Nora Cornolle 13 Miesha Tate 14 Jaselyne Edwards 15 Luana Santos _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Key Booked Fight Rumored Fight My Hypothetical Fights ___________________________________ C Kayla H

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen 10/15/2025 Sportz Nation Current Rankings C Alexandre Pantoja 1 Joshua Van 2 Brandon Moreno 3 Brandon Royval 4 Amir Albazi 5 Tatsuro Taira 6 Kai Kara-France 7 Manel Kape 8 Alex Perez 9 Asu Almabayev 10 Tim Elliot 11 Steve Erceg 12 Tagir Ulanbekov 13 Charles Johnson 14 Bruno Silva 15 Rafael Estevam _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Key Booked Fight Rumored Fight Zak and Matt's Hypothetical Fight ___________________________________ Ph

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen 10/8/2025 Sportz Nation Credit to Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via bleacherreport.com Current Rankings C Alex...

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen 10/1/2025 Sportz Nation Photo by UFC/Youtube.com C Jack Della Maddalena 1 Belal Muhammad 2 Sean Brady...

by Zak Drapeau 9/24/2025 Sportz Nation Current Rankings C Valentina Shevchenko 1 Natalia Silva 2 Manon Fiorot 3 Alexa Grasso 4 Erin...

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen 9/17/2025 Sportz Nation ___________________________________ Current Rankings Photo by Sam Navarro/Imagn...

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen 9/10/2025 Sportz Nation Current Rankings Photo by Jeff Battari/Zuffa LLC C Ilia Topuria 1 Islam Makhachev...

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen 9/3/2025 Sportz Nation This article will kick off the start of a new series where we, Zak Drapeau and Matt...