Jason Witt

Nobody hands you anything at welterweight. Jason Witt — "The Vanilla Gorilla" to fight fans — has built a 19-9 record the hard way, one fight at a time since leaving the United States's regional scene.

The game is built on grappling: 6.9 takedowns per 15 minutes, and opponents spend rounds defending instead of fighting. 8 submission wins say what happens when the defense slips.

He's coming off a loss to Josh Quinlan. Careers aren't defined by the fall, though; they're defined by the rebound.

At 39, the window is what it is — which tends to make every remaining fight more honest, and more dangerous.