Fighters on the Rise | UFC 330: Makhachev vs Machado Garry

Making real waves in the lightweight division is difficult, but Kaue Fernandes has the chance to do so this weekend as he faces off with Jalin Turner.

The 31-year-old Nova Uniao representative has won three straight fights after dropping his promotional debut to Marc Diakese towards the end of 2023, sandwiching a unanimous decision victory over Guram Kutateladze between finishes of Mohammad Yahya and Harry Hardwick. Part of what has been a struggle for Fernandes in terms of really breaking through in the loaded 155-pound weight class and, broadly speaking, with fans is that Kutateladze’s stock declined following their meeting, taking a little shine off that dominant effort, and his brutal finish of Hardwick took place nearly a year ago now.

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As punishing as that effort was —and it was a vicious display of how effective and efficient calf kicks can be — holding onto the memory of a standout effort from last September is admittedly asking a lot, especially with all the brilliant efforts that have followed. But all of that can change on Saturday as he steps in against Turner in what is easily the most high-profile matchup of his UFC career.

Turner has been ranked in the Top 15 in the past, has a 100-percent finishing rate that includes first-round stoppage wins over Uros Medic, Brad Riddell, King Green, and Edson Barboza, and fought Mateusz Gamrot and Dan Hooker to split decisions in back-to-back fights in 2023. After taking a couple of months away from competing early last year, he returned in December and battered Barboza, reestablishing himself as one of the more dangerous fighters hovering just outside the rankings right now.

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Beating Turner carries weight; it’s the reason he was paired off with the aforementioned ranked standouts and why Renato Moicano and Ignacio Bahamondes each took a step forward after beating him, and Fernandes can do the same if he’s successful this weekend.

He’s been a quiet standout over his last three outings but can make some real noise with a win in Philly.

Donte Johnson

One thing I have done routinely in this space is highlight young, inexperienced fighters that have shown promise, and Donte Johnson fits that bill this weekend.

The 27-year-old is just eight fights into his pro career, but more importantly, he’s only been a professional fighter for two years, having debuted on August 17, 2024, in his home state of Wisconsin. He fought at heavyweight and light heavyweight to begin his career, including his Dana White’s Contender Series win at the end of last August, but has since dropped to middleweight, where he’s posted consecutive wins over Sedriques Dumas and Cody Brundage to advance to 8-0 ahead of his UFC 330 clash with Eric McConico at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday.

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Johnson needs seasoning, but he’s a plus athlete with undeniable power and a bulletproof mindset. After barely getting by Brundage in March, he opted to shift his training camp to Xtreme Couture, which meant getting to work with a room full of experienced talents, including middleweight champ Sean Strickland, and the outstanding coaching staff at the renowned Las Vegas outpost.

The pairing with McConico this weekend will be another good litmus test for the Fond du Lac native, as the 36-year-old MMA Lab rep is coming off a solid win over Rodolfo Vieira in April and has more UFC and overall experience than Johnson.

While it will be interesting to see what kind of progress and improvements he’s made through this first camp, Johnson is much more of a long-term prospect at this point, which works because middleweight is brimming with talent at the moment and there is no need to rush him along.

Myktybek Orolbai

One of the things that has never and will never make sense to me about the way fans attach to certain athletes, but not others, is when someone who holds a head-to-head victory over a rising star manages to remain in the shadow, as is the case with Myktybek Orolbai heading into his UFC 330 clash with Philadelphia’s own Jeremiah Wells.

Orolbai debuted in the UFC on short notice in November 2023, submitting Uros Medic late in the second round. He relocated to lightweight for a pair of bouts, beating Elves Brener and dropping a debatable split decision to Mateusz Rebecki at UFC 308 before making quick work of Tofiq Musayev last summer in Azerbaijan, and settling back at welterweight, where he’s since knocked out Jack Hermansson and neutralized Chris Curtis.

Medic is on an absolute heater, having won four straight by first-round stoppage to propel himself into the rankings, but Orolbai has been doing quite well himself and is one round on one scorecard away from being unbeaten in the UFC. He genuinely feels like a dark horse in the division and someone with the potential to be a nightmare matchup for a lot of people, and if he’s able to have a strong performance this weekend against Wells, it’ll be interesting to see how the promotion opts to match him up going forward.

Wells is the lone fighter from Philadelphia making the walk this weekend, which means he’ll be getting a ton of support from the diehards despite this being the first bout of the night. He’s coming off a solid win and really angling to make a hard push given that he’s been limited to just two outings in the last two years and turns 40 at the end of October, so expect him to be locked, loaded, and coming out hot in this one.

Welterweight has never featured greater depth of talent than it does right now, but Orolbai has been making a case for an opportunity to show he belongs amongst the best in the division. If he stretches his winning streak to four this weekend, don’t be surprised if he gets that chance.