OBAN ELLIOTT is poised to make a serious assault on the welterweight division's elite next year.
'The Welsh Gangster' went a perfect 3-0 in his debut year in MMA's top promotion, which he earned his spot in via Dana White's Contenders Series last August.
Elliott capped off the best year of his career in style last month with a scintillating third-round KO of Bassil Hafez at UFC 309 in Madison Square Garden.
But 2024 got even better for the Shore Mixed Martial Arts standout just last week.
Elliott, 25, was awarded his Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt by UK MMA pioneer Richard Shore.
And to say the Merthyr Tydfil mauler was proud as punch of the achievement would be an understatement.
The former Cage Warriors veteran wrote on X: "BJJ brown belt that’s no joke.
"My team-mates voted me fighter of the year, and my coaches gave me knockout of the year from my fight at MSG Brutha!
"At my gym end-of-year awards, the most prestigious awards ceremony on the planet 2024 will live forever, Brutha."
Elliott is on course to return to the cage in March and is in contention for a fourth straight pay-per-view fight at UFC 313 at Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena.
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And he's already got an opponent in mind for his next fight - inaugural BMF titleholder Jorge Masvidal.
Elliott has been publically campaigning to be the man to welcome the fan favourite back to the octagon next year.
He wrote earlier this month: "There’s not a long-haired man walking the planet that I need to worry about, brutha.
"Miami it is! @GamebredFighter."
He doubled down on his desire to throw down with Masvidal after his seeing hero Chael Sonnen corner Colby Covington in the final fight of 2024 last weekend.
He wrote he wrote on X: "A great play by us on the weekend. Chael in the corner for Colby just to pi** Masvidal off.
"Pi** him off that much he accepts Chael’s challenge.
"Jorge knows the only way he can get to Chael is through me.
"Therefore: Me vs. @GamebredFighter in Miami YOU’RE WELCOME."
Elliott has long believed he'll one day wear UFC gold around his waist and is adamant the “sky’s the limit" for what he can achieve in the promotion.
In his UFC 309 post-fight press conference, he said: "I’m just going to keep going and keep going. I’m going to keep getting better every fight.
"Every time you do that walk, the weight cut, you improve as a man. I just fought a good guy there.
"Everyone was loving that battle. … Big respect to Bassil, but we’re still just scratching the surface.
"I’ve got a mental career planned out here and it’s just slowly starting to unfold in front of everybody else.”
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