Athletes
Fighters On The Rise 2025 | Part One
Identifying 20 Of The Top Emerging Names To Follow In The Coming Year
Forecasting how the forthcoming year in the UFC is going to play out for certain fighters is like projecting what the weather is going to be like all year long — you study the available information, look at the trends, offer up an educated opinion and see what happens.
You can be spot on in some months and dead wrong in others, and while the aim is always to be as close to correct as possible and give people the best information possible, fights, like the weather, are difficult to predict and an athlete that enters the year white hot could cool as easily as they could add a couple more wins to their resume and keep rolling.
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Or they may not compete at all, as was the case with Nurullo Aliev, who looked dominant in his Dana White’s Contender Series fight in 2022 and won his debut over game Brazilian veteran Rafael Alves to put him on everyone’s radar heading into this past year. However, the lightweight from Tajikistan never found his way into the Octagon in 2024, and heads into this coming year as more of an enigma than anything else.
I’m not sure how things will play out for the 20 athletes identified in this annual two-part series detailing some of the names I think you should track heading into the year ahead, but I’d rather take my shot at forecasting how things will play out and be wrong than not take a shot at all.
So let’s dive into Part 1 of the Fighters on the Rise for 2025.
Ikram Aliskerov
A holdover from last year’s list, Aliskerov had a very odd year last year.
Entering off a pair of stoppage wins in his first two UFC outings and sporting a 15-1 record overall, the Russian middleweight was booked to face Anthony Hernandez at UFC 298 in February, but was forced to withdraw due to an illness. He was then penciled in opposite Andre Muniz in mid-June, only for the Brazilian to be scratched and replaced by newcomer Antonio Trocoli.
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But soon after, Aliskerov was pulled from the bout and slotted in opposite Robert Whittaker in Saudi Arabia, replacing Khamzat Chimaev. He lost the fight by first-round stoppage and did not compete in the back half of the year.
All the things that applied to Aliskerov heading into 2024 hold up now: he’s still an intriguing addition to the middleweight ranks with the pedigree and skills to make a push forward in the rankings, with the only change being that he’s now lost to both Chimaev and Whittaker.
After a strange 2024, something tells me the 32-year-old will be looking to make up for lost time in 2025.
Jacqueline Cavalcanti
After making her promotional debut with a win over Zarah Fairn in Paris the previous September, Cavalcanti used 2024 to establish herself as the most exciting new name in the women’s bantamweight division outside of Kayla Harrison.
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She won a split decision over Josiane Nunes in August to run her record to 7-1 and then jumped at a short-notice opportunity to run it back with Nora Cornolle, whom she had previously beaten on the regional scene, a month later in Paris. Cavalcanti came away with her second win in the series, dominating her French counterpart from the jump to pick up her third consecutive UFC victory and extend her winning streak to six straight overall.
While each of her wins has come on the scorecards, you could see in her final appearance of 2024 that Cavalcanti is getting increasingly comfortable in the Octagon and letting loose with her hands, which, combined with her age (27) and athleticism, makes her a promising name to pay attention to in a division where opportunities should be easy to come by.
Currently sitting at No. 14 in the rankings, a move into the Top 10 is a very real possibility for Cavalcanti with the right matchups, and depending on how things shake out, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see her make a push towards the Top 5 before next year is out.
Oban Elliott
“The Welsh Gangster” is one of several Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) grads to land on this two-part list this year, and does so after having an excellent rookie year on the roster, where he went 3-0 and landed at No. 7 in our list of the top newcomers of the year.
As Thomas Gerbasi astutely noted in that piece, Elliott’s charisma has people already taking notice of him, but it’s his well-rounded and continually improving skill set that really begs watching, as he got better each time out in 2024.
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After opening the year with decision wins over Val Woodburn and Preston Parsons, Elliott stopped Bassil Hafez at UFC 309 in New York City, dropping him with an overhand right early in the third to move to 11-2 overall. It was the kind of quality win and clean finish that makes you stop and take real notice of someone, as Hafez isn’t an easy out by any stretch and Elliott looked good throughout.
He’s pushed his way into the “Second 15” in the welterweight division (or pretty close) and should get another step up in competition to begin his 2025 campaign. A win there and the Shore Mixed Martial Arts man will be knocking on the door of the Top 15.
Jasmine Jasudavicius
Canadians went 15-11 overall inside the Octagon, and Jasudavicius accounted for 20 percent of those victories on her own, sending her into 2025 as an ascending name in the flyweight division.
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The 35-year-old Niagara Top Team representative kicked off her year with a dominant win over Priscila Cachoeira at home at UFC 297, finishing the Brazilian in the third round. She followed that up with a decision win over Fatima Kline in Denver before ending the year by wrapping up a D’Arce choke on Ariane da Silva in Edmonton. With the trio of wins, Jasudavicius moved to 6-2 in the UFC and 12-3 overall.
What really stands out about the DWCS Season 5 grad is how much she has improved from fight-to-fight, especially in the last year, and how her confidence has risen right alongside of her skills. She’s always been tenacious and game for a scrap, but there is a focus and “you’re not going to beat me” energy to Jasudavicius now that only comes when you feel comfortable in the Octagon and believe in yourself fully.
She ended the year at No. 12 in the flyweight rankings and is penciled in to welcome recent bantamweight title challenger Mayra Bueno Silva back to the division on February 1. Besting the Brazilian to push her winning streak to four would elevate Jasudavicius even more in the rankings and potentially set her up with another marquee assignment in the back half of the year.
Lone’er Kavanagh
I’m generally reticent to put athletes that are still at the outset of their UFC journeys on a list like this, but the next two prospects are so promising that I had to break my own rule.
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Kavanagh kicked off Season 8 of Dana White’s Contender Series with a first-round knockout win over fellow unbeaten prospect An Tuan Ho. It was the kind of effort that instantly showed everyone that was just discovering the British flyweight for the first time why so many people have been so high on him as a prospect for so long.
The GB Top Team fighter followed up that effort with a unanimous decision victory over Jose Ochoa in his promotional debut in Macau. While some may want to question the performance, I would argue that it’s a win that will age well going forward, as Ochoa is a quality prospect in his own right, and should be heard from in the future, as well.
What stands out most about Kavanagh is how technical and fundamentally sound he is for someone so young (25) and with such limited experience. He doesn’t move or work like someone just eight fights into their pro career, and while some of that is down to growing up as a martial artist, it also speaks to his effort in the gym and commitment to his craft, both of which should continue to serve him well going forward.
Flyweight is in an interesting place heading into 2025, with a dominant champion on the throne and opportunities for new names to make accelerated climbs up the rankings. While Kavanagh is still a little ways off from breaking into the Top 10, he has that kind of upside, if not higher, and should continue to show that in the year ahead.
Fatima Kline
Don’t let the fact that Kline dropped her UFC debut to Jasudavicius fool you: it was a short notice fight up a division, at altitude in Denver, against a ranked opponent, and she had her moments, despite landing on the unhappy side of the scorecards.
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What makes Kline an automatic inclusion in this collective for me is everything she did before that fight, as well as who she trains with, and the way that individual has progressed thus far in her UFC career.
Kline went into that fight with Jasudavicius with a 6-0 mark, having won championship gold at both strawweight and flyweight with Cage Fury Fighting Championships (CFFC) after posting four consecutive wins under the Invicta FC banner before that. A standout grappler and training partner of flyweight contender Erin Blanchfield, it’s not difficult to see a path where Kline follows a similar progression as her teammate and close friend.
She’ll make her UFC strawweight debut on the opening card of the year in Las Vegas against Viktoriia Dudakova, and the combination of an early start to her 2025 campaign and her regional pedigree means we could see “The Archangel” compete three times in the coming year.
If that comes to pass, don’t be surprised if she’s knocking on the door of the Top 15 by this time next year.
Felipe Lima
Lima clocked in at No. 5 in our “Rookie of the Year” awards after registering a pair of wins at featherweight in 2024.
His short-notice debut win over Muhammad Naimov was one of the cooler moments of the year, as he marched out and chased down the finish in the third round after getting a fiery lecture from his head coach Andreas Michael between rounds. As a follow-up, Lima stuck around at featherweight and halted the winning streak of Miles Johns, becoming just the third person to beat the former LFA champ and move to 14-1 in the process.
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The 26-year-old Brazilian, who resides in Sweden and trains at Allstars Training Center in Stockholm, will most likely be returning to bantamweight in 2025 and there will be ample opportunities for him to continue making waves. The 135-pound ranks are amongst the most competitive and talent-rich in the sport, and given his first-year success and upward trajectory, quality opportunities should await him.
Felipe Lima Submits Muhammad Naimov | UFC Saudi Arabia
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Felipe Lima Submits Muhammad Naimov | UFC Saudi Arabia
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What stands out for me most about Lima’s game is his ability to understand situations and make the correct decisions in the Octagon. Against Naimov, he knew he needed a finish, pursued it aggressively, and earned the win, while in his fight with Johns, he wisely stuck to his game plan, stayed technical, and picked at the Marathon MMA representative for 15 minutes, refusing to get drawn into a brawl.
That’s one of those abilities that often separates great fighters from good fighters, and it’ll be interesting to see if Lima can continue his success back in his natural weight class in 2025.
Iasmin Lucindo
The youngest female fighter on the roster, the 22-year-old Lucindo is already stationed at No. 7 in the strawweight division and coming off the two biggest wins of her career in 2024.
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After earning a pair of victories in 2023, Lucindo scored a unanimous decision win over Polish veteran Karolina Kowalkiewicz in May at UFC 301, controlling the action from start to finish to push her winning streak to three. Then, in October at UFC 305, she got the better of her compatriot Marina Rodriguez, landing on the happy side of a split decision verdict to advance to 17-5 in her career.
While some might argue there isn’t much room for Lucindo to advance given that she’s already a Top 10 fighter and in the midst of a solid run of positive results, I would counter that because she’s still so young, there is a very real chance that we haven’t even come close to seeing the best of the promising Brazilian yet.
Miranda Maverick
There were four athletes from the flyweight division included in last year’s two-part spotlight on ascending talents, and neither Jasudavicius nor Maverick was one of them, which shows just how deep and talented the division is at the moment.
Like her former opponent and fellow Fighter on the Rise, Maverick enters 2025 on a lengthy winning streak, having closed out her 2024 campaign with a unanimous decision victory over Jamey-Lyn Horth in Tampa to move to 3-0 for the year and extend her run of success to four. She hasn’t lost since her encounter with Jasudavicius at UFC 289 in Vancouver two summers back, and is 8-3 overall in the UFC, with her other two losses coming against top contender Erin Blanchfield and Top 5 fighter Maycee Barber in a fight that many believe she won.
Now 27, Maverick profiles as one of those prospects that has thus far teased with her talents, but hasn’t quite fully put it together, which leads to understandable questions of whether she’ll ever take that next step or just spend her career being someone that couldn’t quite get there.
My money is on her having a breakout in 2025, as the back half of her 2024 campaign was marred by a pair of opponent switches (from Tracy Cortez each time, incidentally) that resulted in short notice fights where she struggled to really shine. She has all the skills to be a Top 10 fighter in the 125-pound weight class, and her coach, frequent Coach Conversation contributor Eliot Marshall, sings her praises every chance he gets.
Maverick profiles, to me, as someone that just needs her opportunity against the right opponent. Hopefully she gets that chance in the coming year.
Michael Morales
Like Aliskerov at the top of this 10-pack, Morales is a holdover from last year’s list after having also made just one appearance in 2024. Unlike his Russian middleweight contemporary, however, the 25-year-old from Ecuador made the most of his lone opportunity in the Octagon this past year.
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After going 4-0 over his first two years on the roster with wins over Trevin Giles, Adam Fugitt, Max Griffin, and Jake Matthews, Morales landed opposite Top 15 fixture Neil Magny in June and registered a first-round stoppage win, felling the former Ultimate Fighter competitor late in the opening frame.
Fighting out of the Entram Gym, Morales is a physically impressive talent with commanding size for the division, standing six-feet tall with a 79-inch reach and looking bigger than that when you see him in the Octagon. The fact that he’s made it into the Top 15 in just his third year on the UFC roster speaks to his level of talent, while underscoring that there is still room for him to continue to grow and advance.
He’s still a little green, but that’s to be expected — he’s 25, and while he’s logged 17 wins in as many appearances, it’s only in the last couple years where Morales has really started to be tested and pushed. With that said, the fact that he successfully dealt with Magny’s pressure and clinch along the fence and immediately went on the offensive and got him out of there illustrates how dangerous he can be and the upside he possesses.
Welterweight is undergoing changes at the moment with a bunch of talented new names pushing forward, and Morales is one of them. He should be in line for another marquee opportunity to kick off his 2025 schedule, and with a win there, a place in the Top 10 could be waiting for him.
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