Athletes
Fighters On The Rise | UFC Baku
Three Athletes With The Potential To Make Noise On Saturday And Beyond
For the second consecutive summer, the UFC has ventured to Baku, Azerbaijan, and for the second straight year, the weekend’s Fight Night event is loaded with an impressive collection of ascending talents from the opening bout of the evening through to the main event, where surging Mexican Manuel Torres looks to catapult himself into the Top 10 by turning back Rafael Fiziev.
Before the headlining lightweights hit the Octagon, the three athletes below have a chance to continue making noise and putting themselves in a position to advance in their respective divisions. Each is at a different stage in their journeys, but all three have intriguing potential, both in the here and now as well as long term.
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Here’s a closer look at those competitors in the latest edition of Fighters on the Rise.
Ikram Aliskerov
A member of the Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) Class of ’22, Aliskerov feels a little stuck at the moment as he readies to make his 2026 debut this weekend in Baku against Bruno Ferreira.
This is now the third consecutive year where the 33-year-old Russian has opened his campaign in a position where he could make a push towards the rankings, having won each of his two bouts last year and four of five overall, and yet he’s been the forgotten man as the middleweight division has undergone some major shifts in the last 12-18 months.
After earning first-round finishes in each of his first year starts in 2023, Aliskerov accepted a short-notice assignment opposite Robert Whittaker in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in the summer of 2024. He ran into a buzzsaw that night, suffering just the second loss of his career — the first came to Khamzat Chimaev in 2019 — and then got reset into a twice-scuttled pairing with Andre Muniz to begin his 2025 campaign. He stopped the Brazilian in the opening stanza, then earned a decision win over divisional mainstay and perennial tough out JunYong Park in October at UFC 321, advancing to 17-2 overall.
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Even with a DWCS pedigree, a string of finishes, and a sterling record where he’s only lost to former champions, Aliskerov remains on the outside looking in when it comes to the Top 1,5 and this weekend’s matchup with Ferreira doesn’t assure him of anything. Now, the last guy to face and defeat “The Hulk” currently sits at No. 12 in the rankings, and a dominant finish for a third straight win could (should?) earn him a number next to his name, but there are no guarantees.
This feels like a bit of a pivotal moment for the clearly talented Contender Series alum, and it’ll be interesting to see how he responds. The division his in a real state of flux right now, and Aliskerov profiles as the kind of well-rounded, steely fighter capable of taking advantage of the opportunities that present if he’s able to get a chance to do so.
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Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev
I don’t know if there is a prospect on the roster that I’m more excited about right now than Yakhyaev, who earned a contract last season on Dana White’s Contender Series and has already posted a pair of first-round stoppage wins to begin his UFC tenure.
The 25-year-old, who was born in Chechnya but represents Turkey, is a perfect 9-0 overall with eight finishes, seven of them coming in the first round, including each of his last five wins. He needed 63 seconds combined to win his DWCS appearance and UFC debut and then closed out his sophomore showing in under three minutes. Though he has more submission finishes than TKOs, Yakhyaev has a couple of those too, and his finishes on the ground usually begin with him putting hands on his opponent.
As ridiculously high as I am on his upside in the perpetually shallow division, I also greatly appreciate the “slow and steady” approach being taken with him at the moment, as he is just 25 years old and nine fights into his pro career. Saturday’s pairing with Julius Walker is a chance to log more Octagon time, face someone with a little more in their toolbox than his two previous opponents and continue inching forward in the 205-pound ranks. At some point, Yakhyaev is going to get pushed, and he needs it, and right now it’s all about figuring out how far up the ladder he can climb before encountering that resistance.
Development is never linear, and the going is certainly going to get harder, but right now, Yakhyaev profiles as a future contender and possible champion, and I’ll maintain that position until someone shows they can slow him down.
Daniil Donchenko
Daniil Donchenko Fight Week Interview | UFC Baku
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Daniil Donchenko Fight Week Interview | UFC Baku
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Heading into his TUF 33 welterweight tournament final showdown with Rodrigo Sezinando, I raved about Donchenko’s use of lead elbows and intercepting elbows as a way to instantly impact a fight and possibly take his opponents off their game. He then split Sezinando open, got him shook, and finished him in the first round.
What I didn’t anticipate was seeing him find a way to gut out a unanimous decision win over Alex Morono in his sophomore appearance earlier this year, as it was the kind of effort that typically, but not always, eludes young fighters. Instead, the 24-year-old found a way to work through a pair of tired rounds to sweep the scorecards against the veteran Texan, pushing his winning streak to six and his record to 13-2 overall ahead of this weekend’s pairing with short-notice newcomers Theodor Berggren.
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The 24-year-old from Ukraine is going to be an all-action fan favorite as long as he’s competing in the UFC — he has an attacking style, chases damage over dominant positions, and has a penchant for drawing opponents into his type of fight. But he might also morph into a quality contender in the 170-pound ranks in the coming years as he continues to grow and develop and spend more time working with countryman and close friend Yaroslav Amosov.
From a top-end standpoint, there is a little Robbie Lawler to him, a little Justin Gaethje even, and if he can continue to work on his defensive wrestling and improve his conditioning, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him become a force in the division, with the mid-range version of how things could progress for him being someone like Vicente Luque, who was a consistent contender and wildly entertaining welterweight for a number of years.
Let’s see how he navigates this somewhat tricky assignment in Baku on Saturday and circle back to this next time he steps into the Octagon.
UFC Fight Night: Fiziev vs Torres took place live from National Gymnastics Arena in Baku, Azerbaijan on June 27, 2026. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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