A ufc gatekeeper is a fighter who is never gonna win the belt but will beat guys that aren’t top 15/10/5 level depending on the level of gatekeeper. If a UFC fighter beats on of these guys they usually get a big fight afterwards as a win over one of these guys means that they are ready to go to the top of the division. Here is in my opinion some of the best right now in the UFC. Jarred Cannonnier 🦍🇺🇸🔪 I love Jarred Cannonnier he is so goated. Currently he is a Top 10 gatekeeper for middleweight, when someone beats Jarred you know they are top 5 level. Recently he has had a tough run of up and comers taking on the absolutely huge Robocop Gregory Rodriguez who he cameback from a tough tound 1 to finish the big brazillian in the 4th showing even at 40 he has still got it. Before that he took on Caio Borralho and he gave him a tough fight despite being bested. 2-2 (imo) going into the 5th before he had to show his toughness to survive the late onslaught. Left a nasty cut on Caio’s cheek to remind him of the test Jarred gave him. He also gave Nassourdine Imavov a tough test also arguably up 2-1 going into that 4th where it was a pretty bad stoppage. He tests these up and comers very well and I think thats what he will continue to do before he hangs it up. Tim Elliott🇺🇸 While he hasn’t fought in a while Tim had long been a great gatekeeper for the top 10 of the flyweight division, most recently checking highly rated dagestani prospect Tagir Ulbanenkov and besting him over 3 rounds with his superior grappling, even dropping the russian. He also gave Mattheus Nicolau his toughest fight when he went on his best run. Keeping up with Nicolau in the striking and grappling but just losing the decision. Tim Elliot seems likely to take on Kai Asakura potentially so its likely he will have to protect the top 10 once again. Neil Magny 🇺🇸 Probably the most well known in the ufc for being a gatekeeper. While he has been bumped out of the top 15 recently Neil Magny was on a generational run of gatekeeping. He kept Geoff Neal out of the ranking infamously, was bested by shavkat before he beat D Rod and stopped him gaining a higher ranking than the lower teens. He then bests Phil Rowe snapping his 3 fight win streak keeping him out. He then gets m*lested by Ian Machado-Fairy. And then puts on an incredible cockroach gatekeeping performance against Mike Mallot in which he lost 13 minutes of the fight before getting on top and beating the f out of the Canadian and finishing him with 20 seconds to spare. Vintage gatekeeping. He has had a couple poor showings against Prates and Morales but the streets won’t forget prime Neil Magny. Jack Hermansson 🇸🇪🇳🇴 The crafty vet himself, always gives his opponents a tough scrap and is a very good top 15 gatekeeper. Most recently putting on the performance that kind of birthed the whole “crafty vet” movement for this guy when he went 2 rounds down against Salty Joe Pyfer and then coming back and winning the last 3. He has been inactive since that win but he returns to stop Gregory Rodriguez and follow in Jarred’s footsteps. Rob Font 🇨🇺 Maybe the best gatekeeper in the UFC right now as he is on a great run, back to back successful keeping of the gate when he beat Kyler Phillips over 3 rounds coming back to take the last 2 rounds. Beat undefeated prospect 16-0 Jean Matsumoto in a war, taking the split decision to make Jean 16-1. Before that he had a decent scrap with Figueiredo welcoming him to bantamweight. And probably one of the most note able gate keeping performances he KO’d Adrian Yanez in the very first round. Marcin Tybura 🇵🇱 The heavyweights top 10 gatekeeper, on a pretty good run for himself keeping the gate shut when he faced Mick Parkin and was able to out strike the relatively inactive Mick Parkin (seriously that was not a robbery what r people on about there??) and before that he took the 0 of Jonahta Diniz brutally smashing him on the ground leading to a doctors stoppage. Interesting to see how long Tybura keeps the gate shut considering he is 38 and still looking good. Robert Whittaker 🇳🇿 Painful to say it but Bobby Knuckles is a gatekeeper to the top 5 of middleweight and has been the gatekeeper to title contention for a rather long time. Besting Vettori, Cannonnier, Gastelumm and Till all in number one contender type fights. Recently kept the gate shut when he smashed Ikram Aliskerov and only has had a couple breaches more recently in Chimaev and DDP Shout out Jessica Andrade for the wmma fans