2025 Draft Preview

Welcome to the first edition of the Rear Naked News and the Ultimate Fantasy Fighting Championship’s second annual draft.

Whilst last year punters entered the draft completely blind of what made a good pick, we are now 12 months older and wiser to the rigors of fantasy fighting. For the first time, the draft will be held live in venue at The Great Northern Hotel. Interstate and international managers will be zooming in to make their picks.

We welcome our two newest members of the league, Riley Fletcher and Mackenzie Lowe. A quick word of advice: the pressures of an early pick, leading to the wrong captain choice, can very well finish your season before you even finish your first pint at the pub (speaking from experience).

To warm everyone up for the big night I thought we could look back to last year’s draft and look at season defining picks that people made on draft night this time 12 months ago.

Don Bones Jones (the eventual winner) snagged his namesake Jon Jones (50) in last year’s draft with his final selection. The strategy of picking the most hated fighters on the UFC roster paid dividends in the end. Topuria (32), Makhachev (5) and Jones all finishing with a belt by years end.

Our runner up The Last Bender nailed Alex Periera (2) the UFC’s Fighter of the Year and UFFC’s top point scorer by years’ end, having a season that may not be matched for a long time. Unfortunately, he put his captaincy on Dricus Du Plessis, not a bad choice, but cost The Last Bender the title.

The Dropkick Murphys came flying home late, winning 12 fights for the year. Unfortunately, it was over before it started, captaining Erin Blanchfield (15) who may go down in history as the worst captain choice for years to come. Pantoja (22) would have won Dropkick Murphys the year, Aspinall (4) would have also been a viable captain.

The biggest underdog of 2024 was Dangerous Rangerous, who drafted with a pack of Topps trading cards. Bold strategy that paid off pretty well, landing two champs Shevchenko (44) and Belal (9) as well as solid contributors to the roster. With a year under the belt of watching the sport, Dangerous Rangerous could be anything leading into 2025.

With one of the most black and white strategies last year, Dana Whites Supremacists made it as simple as possible: draft as many champions as you can get your slippery hands on. Owning four title holders at the end of the draft, the Supremacists finished the year with one champ. Merab Dvalishvili (25) who took it off his own man Sean O’Malley (12) at the Sphere.

Aussie Bottom Team claimed at the start of the night, “we all know who’s going pick 1”. He then ended up with his man Alex Volkanovski (6) who proceeded to be the only captain without a win. From there, ABT finished with one of the most likeable rosters and had a roller coaster year with Holloway (13), Poirier (24) and Harrison (FA) having mixed years.

Just Bleed was considered to have the best list following the draft - amazing what can happen in 12 months of UFC. Justin Gaethje (8), Israel Adesanya (11) and Mayra Bueno Silva (29) couldn’t have put the Commissioner’s season in worse stead. Luckily for a great captaincy choice and a good late draft sleeper he had some points rolling in.

Trump’s Ballsack got into his work heavily influenced, drafting “Fred’s cousin” Kaitlyn Chookagian (37). Things got worse when he followed it up with Tuivasa (38) with the very next pick in the draft. Drafting Chimaev (1) and Suarez (18) a year later, his season could have been very different.

Finally, the Bustanutters with Rakhmanov (3), Saint Denis (22) and Garry (35), the team looked ripe to go on paper. Unfortunately, things just didn’t click, while having a lot of big fights, none of the roster could take it to the championship level, in the end costing The Bustanutters massively in 2024.

The only thing to take out of this is that we are dealing with the most unpredictable sport in the world. Enjoy the draft, the awards and some surprises chucked in by your Commissioner and newly appointed Deputy Commissioner and we will see you this Sunday for the first fights of the year.