0 of 25

Keith Mills, Sherdog

Accountability. In the winner-take-all game of slideshow journalism, you are nothing without it.

Anyone can just make a list of predictions or whatever, but the rubber hits the road when you retrace your steps and you hold yourself to a higher standard. I learned that from Walter Kronkite. And not figuratively, either. Mr. Kronkite was my sixth-grade math teacher. There were a lot of mix-ups.

I don't believe I have to make any additional arguments. You may recall that some of us here at Bleacher Report cover the MMA fighter prospect scene with our series titled The Beaten Path. You may also recall that I put out a list at the beginning of 2013 identifying the top 25 prospects for the year, across all weight classes.

We will release our list of top prospects of 2014 beginning next week. But before that, we will now go back and check our work. We're keeping ourselves honest. Who panned out? Which picks were DOA?

To refresh your memory, no UFC or Bellator tournament fighters were allowed. Fighters on this list appear in the exact order they appeared on the previous list. The goal here isn't to re-rank the fighters. We're checking in to see how they did. Please enjoy.