4 – Ronnie Lawrence
You can tell the type of fighter he is just by his reaction to his UFC debut win over Vince Cachero. Despite putting in a dominant effort that earned him a Performance of the Night bonus, Lawrence looked like he just lost a shutout decision when doing his post-fight interview. That’s a competitor right there, and if he puts together the type of performance HE wants us to see, that’s going to be something.
5 – Alex Caceres
Under the radar on the 2020 scorecard of unexpected happenings had to be the resurgence of Alex Caceres, and “Bruce Leeroy” moved his winning streak to four with a victory over Kevin Croom in his first bout of 2021. In nearly a decade on the UFC roster, he’s never hit heights like that (okay, a no contest against Kyung Ho Kang would have him with a five-fight streak if he didn’t test positive for marijuana, but the official record stands), and if he gets a ranked opponent in his next bout and aces that test, well that would be one of the best stories of this year.
