The post-Conor McGregor UFC era looks as though it is rapidly approaching and ahead of UFC 303 this coming Saturday, light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira, is being touted as the promotion’s biggest star outside of the Irishman.
Conor McGregor has undoubtedly been the face of the UFC for the past 10 years but his time in the sport seems to be dwindling and fans are looking for the next best thing.
‘The Notorious’ Irishman was scheduled to make his eagerly anticipated comeback to the Octagon this coming Saturday at UFC 303 to take on Michael Chandler, but the 35-year-old withdrew due to a broken toe.
With that, the promotion called upon the services on light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira, possibly signifying that they see ‘Poatan’ as their next biggest needle mover.
Let’s take a look at who I think are the UFC’s biggest stars outside of the former two-weight world champion, McGregor. A little disclaimer, I won’t be including Jon Jones in my list, as I believe he will retire following his next fight.
5. Ilia Topuria is on the way to becoming a mainstream megastar
After emerging onto the UFC scene during the COVID era, which is hugely significant because that’s when the promotion saw huge growth, Ilia Topuria has quickly become him.
With the UFC being one of the only sports promotions continuously putting on events during the COVID-19 pandemic, they saw their stock rise significantly, and ‘El Matador’ is a beneficiary of being in the right place at the right time.
For new fans of the sport, they have been able to follow the 27-year-old’s entire UFC tenure so far, giving them more of a connection to the Spaniard.
As well as that, Topuria has an affiliation to several countries. A resident of Spain, born in Germany to Georgian parents. That makes for some heavy support from three passionate nations.
Topuria captured UFC gold this past February at UFC 298, shutting Alexander Volkanovski‘s lights out in the second round. That in itself was a star making performance, and that’s without mentioning that he is still undefeated, which goes a long way in marketing the young star.
Following his title winning performance, he was even presented to the fans at Real Madrid, the biggest soccer team in the world, giving him the mainstream crossover.
Instagram followers: 4.2m
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4. Islam Makhachev’s stock continues to rise
The current number one pound-for-pound fighter on planet earth, despite Dana White’s recent claims that he’s not, Islam Makhachev continues to grow into one of the promotion’s most notable names.
Makhachev’s rise to champion was an unorthodox one, as he didn’t have to take on many ranked fighters. His incredibly well rounded skillset and dominant wrestling made him a very avoided fighter on his rise up the lightweight division.
It cannot be understated how big of a star Makhachev is in the Middle Eastern region. His involvement with Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was a big star in his own right, also adds to his star power.
The 32-year-old has significantly grown in notoriety over the past few years, having beaten the likes of Charles Oliveira (who came close to being on the list), Alexander Volkanovski and Dustin Poirier.
Instagram followers: 8.7m
3. Alex Pereira’s stardom continues to grow at a rapid rate
After joining the UFC in 2021 with quite a lot of hype behind him, Alex Pereira has rapidly become one of the promotion’s biggest stars.
It’s not just his incredible fan friendly fight style that has made him one of the biggest fan favourites, it is his hilariously stoic personality. ‘Poatan’ famous ‘Chama’ phrase gets ushered around the world, even by his fellow fighters.
It’s hard to believe how big of a star the Brazilian has become considering he only joined the UFC back in 2021, but with wins over the likes of Sean Strickland, Israel Adesanya and Jiri Prochazka, he has become one of the main faces of the promotion.
He clearly does great business for the UFC, who have called upon him for arguably their two biggest events this year, UFC 300 and UFC 303.
With all of that said, I believe there are still two fighters who slightly edge ‘Poatan’ as bigger stars, and I can imagine my picks will cause a lot of debate.
Instagram followers: 3.7m
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2. Israel Adesanya continues to transcend the sport of MMA
This pick will likely spark debate, but like it or not, Israel Adesanya is still a colossal star in the sport of MMA.
Although the former middleweight champion’s career has hit a hurdle over the past few years, he continues to be one of the most popular fighters in the world.
‘The Last Stylebender’ has transcended just the sport of MMA and in the new era of MMA stars, Adesanya seems to have been sitting at the top of the hill for a while and has undoubtedly become a household name.
In 2020, the 34-year-old became the first MMA athlete to sign a sponsorship deal with Puma. As well as that, Adesanya had his own documentary film air last year, called ‘Stylebender’.
Although PPV buys aren’t the only indicator of how big a fighter is, Adesanya has notoriously pulled significantly high numbers. His light heavyweight title challenge against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259 exceeded 800,000 PPV buys, while his title defense against Paulo Costa also exceeded 700,000.
Admittedly, Adesanya’s star has began to fall recently but with a huge title fight coming up at UFC 305, the Kiwi has the chance to remind the world, once again.
Instagram followers: 8.7m
1. Sean O’Malley will be the face of the post-McGregor UFC
The ‘Suga’ era has kind of already begun.
When Sean O’Malley was first introduced to the MMA world by rap icon, Snoop Dogg, it was almost as though you could envision how big of a star the young striker would become.
After becoming undisputed UFC bantamweight champion earlier this year, his stock took a one way trip to the moon.
Not only is he an incredibly talented fighter with a similar style to ‘The Notorious’ McGregor, but he also has an extremely marketable personality, and he has already been around the game for so long that he knows how to maximise himself.
The 29-year-old is a social media megastar, and in such an internet dominated society that serves as a clear indicator of his star power.
O’Malley has broken into the mainstream and appeals to a more casual fanbase, purely because of the circle he is in. Good friends with the notorious ‘Nelk Boys’ and other influential internet personalities, the bantamweight champion has tapped into a largely untouched area of the fanbase.
Although I am labelling the 29-year-old as the face of the post-McGregor UFC, there are several fighters that are going to continue to helping the brand and the promotion grow, as they are no longer reliant on one single figure to propel their product.
Instagram followers: 4.3m
DEFEND: Nate Diaz defends Conor McGregor over decision to withdraw from UFC 303