Fighters On The Rise | UFC 314: Volkanovski vs Lopes

This bout with Mitchell is one that will provide further clarification of where Silva fits in the division at the moment and how quickly he might be able to push closer to the Top 10, as the former Ultimate Fighter semifinalist has been a rankings mainstay for the last several years, is coming off an outstanding performance at UFC 310, and is the best opponent Silva has faced to date.

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Silva made the “Rookie of the Year” podium last year in our annual year-end staff awards and could put himself in a prime position to garner Fighter of the Year votes as we start drawing closer to the midway point of the year with another big effort this weekend. He has looked like the genuine article thus far, and if he continues his run of impressive showings on Saturday, Silva will enter next week with a number next to his name and even bigger targets in his sights.

Sean Woodson

Silva isn’t the only featherweight that might force their way into the rankings with a win this weekend in Miami, as Sean Woodson hits South Beach carrying a four-fight winning streak and seven-fight unbeaten streak into his clash with rankings mainstay Dan Ige.

A member of the DWCS Class of ’19, Woodson dropped his sophomore appearance in the Octagon to Julian Erosa in the summer of 2020 and is unbeaten since, with wins over Youssef Zalal, Jourdain, and Alex Caceres helping to propel him up the ranks and into this critical contest with Ige on Saturday. There have been a couple close calls during his current run of success — the wins over Zalal and Jourdain were by split decision, and he fought Luis Saldana to a draw at UFC 278 — but last time out, the towering featherweight took the judges out of the equation by dispatching Fernando Padilla in the closing seconds of the opening round of their bout in Tampa.

Woodson is — and I say this with all due respect — freakishly tall for the division, standing six-foot-two, which, combined with his 78-inch reach, makes him an absolute handful for anyone and everyone in the division, strictly from a size perspective. When you mix in his outstanding boxing and tremendous takedown defense, the St. Louis native becomes an even more difficult puzzle to solve.

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Saturday’s matchup with Ige is unquestionably the toughest test of his career — a matchup with an 18-fight UFC veteran that has been in there with elite competition time and again, has never been finished, and is known for his toughness and pace. Though he’s landed on the wrong side of the cards in each of his last two appearances, one was his same-day call-up against Diego Lopes at UFC 303 last summer, and the other came against British standout Lerone Murphy.

After clearly establishing himself as one of the best fighters in the “Second 15” of the featherweight division, this is Woodson’s chance to earn a place in the Top 15. If he keeps things rolling this weekend, he too will be setting his sights on the exclusive group of talents stationed ahead of him in the 145-pound weight class.

Marco Tulio

Before we figure out if the landscape in the featherweight Top 15 is going to shift dramatically, Marc Tulio will look to extend his overall winning streak to double digits when he steps in opposite Tresean Gore in a “DWCS vs. TUF” battle early on Saturday’s fight card.

Tulio claimed a spot on the UFC roster with a second-round stoppage win over Matthieu Duclos last season on the annual talent search series, building upon his unanimous decision win over kickboxer Yousri Belgaroui the previous season. He made his promotional debut in January, blowing through Ihor Potieria to push his winning streak to nine and his record to 13-1 overall, showing immediately that he is another member of last year’s DWCS graduating class to keep close tabs on going forward.

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The 30-year-old trains with the Chute Boxe Diego Lima team and is part of a UFC power couple with bantamweight standout Norma Dumont. He’s both fundamentally sound and dynamic on the feet, and the fact that nine of his 13 career wins have come by knockout or technical knockout shows that he’s got both solid power and keen finishing instincts too. 

While he didn’t face many established names on the way up, Tulio did beat former TUF: Brazil winner Glaico Franca, and has beaten everyone that has stood in front of him since returning to action in the summer of 2021 following his one and only loss in the fall of 2018.

In Gore, he faces a powerful, dangerous finisher who remains a bit of an enigma as he has just eight pro bouts to his name. He earned a place in the middleweight finale on Season 29 of The Ultimate Fighter only to miss out on the opportunity due to an injury, then lost his first two appearances in the Octagon, but has since rebounded with consecutive submission wins over Josh Fremd and Antonio Trocoli.

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This profiles as a fight that could get frantic early, which will provide some insights into how Tulio does in those situations. If he’s able to navigate them with aplomb and earn another win, he will join fellow Class of ’24 members Mansur Abdul-Malik and Ateba Gautier as ascending middleweights that have looked good out of the gates and seem poised to make noise in the 185-pound weight class.