by Chris Houten - @mrhouts
2013 has seen some real quality fighters rise through the rankings to solidify themselves as serious contenders, and even champions in their respective weight divisions going into 2014.
Emanuel Newton went 4-0 in 2013 for Bellator defeating King Mo twice on route to winning the promotions interim Lightheavyweight title. Nick Newell and Justin Gaethje rose to the forefront of WSOFs lightweight division, going 5-0 between them, finishing all of their opponents in the process.
It was an international affair in the UFC with Irish featherweight Conor McGregor picking up two fantastic wins since making his debut, while on his way to becoming one of the sports biggest and most popular personalities, and Canadian Alexis Davis announcing herself to the world with dominating UFC wins over Rosi Sexton and Liz Carmouche, as well as a win over Shanya Bazler.
For the staff at Kingdom MMA though there was another international fighter worthy of the top honours as Breakthrough fighter of the Year – Russian, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
2013 has seen the Russian run through every opponent he has faced, set a lightweight record for most takedowns in a single fight along the way, particularly impressive when you consider he did that against one-time NAIA All-American collegiate wrestler, Abel Trujilo.
Starting the year with the brutal destruction of veteran Thiago Tavares in Brazil, Nurmagomedov then beat the aforementioned Trujilo, before rounding out his year with a dominating victory over then top 10 lightweight, Pat Healy.
At just 25 years old Nurmagomedov is 21-0 in his professional MMA career, and already looks like a future champion. Nurmagomedov is expected to face Gilbert Melendez at UFC 170 and a win over the former champ would thrust the Russian firmly in the title picture.
Khabib Nurmagomdev has impressed in 2013, and don’t be surprised if he doesn’t remain undefeated in 2014 too. Khabib is a well-deserved winner of Kingdom MMAs Breakthrough fighter of the year award.
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