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Fighters on the Rise | UFC Fight Night: Royval vs Kape
Identifying Three Talented Neophytes To Track On The Final Card Of 2025
If you’ve been following this series over the course of the year, then you definitely got pointed in the direction of some of the breakout talents and most impressive performances of the year five days before they happened.
You were told not once, not twice, but thrice to pay close attention to Fatima Kline, who wrapped up her first full year on the roster and back in her natural weight class with a 3-0 record and residing at No. 12 in the strawweight division. You were made aware of the continued upward potential of Youssef Zalal, who earned a pair of wins and sits at No. 7 in the featherweight division; the same goes for Aiemann Zahabi, who holds down the same position in the 135-pound ranks.
Fight By Fight Preview | UFC Fight Night: Royval vs Kape
There were misses — oh, there were misses — but the hits were much more frequent and pushed you to pay attention to the likes of Quillan Salkilld, Ateba Gautier, and David Martinez as they kick off their UFC careers, and highlighted Elijah Smith before he power-bombed Toshiomi Kazama in the summer.
So as we wrap up the 2025 campaign, here are three more skilled competitors you might want to keep tabs on heading into next year.
Kevin Vallejos
Kevin Vallejos Post-Fight Interview | UFC Fight Night: Taira vs Park
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Kevin Vallejos Post-Fight Interview | UFC Fight Night: Taira vs Park
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The Argentine featherweight has been on the prospect radar since he pushed Jean Silva to a decision on Season 7 of Dana White’s Contender Series in the fall of 2023. He returned a year later and dispatched Cam Teague and ran his winning streak to three while claiming a spot on a roster, entering this year as one of the most intriguing first-year talents in the UFC.
Vallejos has earned wins in each of his first two outings, finishing SeungWoo Choi in his debut before edging out Danny Silva in his sophomore outing in August, and returns for the third start of his rookie campaign this weekend against veteran Giga Chikadze.
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It hasn’t been as clean as some would have hoped or anticipated for “El Chino” through his first two appearances, as his bout with Silva was more competitive than most expected, both because the bar has been set extremely high for Vallejos, but also because Silva is an underrated talent as well. It was a good showing, and every victory counts, but there were certainly some that came away from the outing wondering if they need to recalibrate where expectations for the 16-1 featherweight going forward.
But here’s the thing: Vallejos turned 24 yesterday, and he’s already got two UFC wins under his belt, a bunch of championship experience at the regional level to lean on going forward and is still guy that took the 11th-ranked Fighting Nerd to the scorecards as an unbeaten 21-year-old.
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Saturday’s clash with Chikadze should provide a great deal of clarity regarding where the DWCS grad is at in his development and what to expect from him in Year 2. Despite entering on a two-fight skid and having dropped three of four, “Ninja” is the most seasoned foe Vallejos has faced and is more than capable of ending his rookie campaign on a sour note.
Regardless of how things shake out this weekend, the promising Argentian featherweight is someone to follow long-term; the foundational pieces are there, youth is on his side, and with the right coaching, experience, and time to develop, he could eventually grow to be a contender in the 145-pound weight class.
Cezary Oleksiejczuk
Oleksiejczuk wasted little time earning his place alongside his brother Michal in the UFC middleweight division this summer on Dana White’s Contender Series, needing just 36 seconds to blow through Theo Haig and garner a call to join the roster from the UFC President.
The 25-year-old Polish prospect is 16-3 overall and carries a four-fight winning streak into his promotional debut this weekend against Season 7 alum Cesar Almeida. As strong as his record is, it doesn’t quite tell the whole story either, as Oleksiejczuk began his career by going 3-2 over his first five fights and is 13-1 since, including winning the FEN middleweight title on two separate occasions, defending it twice during his first reign, and posting wins over UFC alums Chris Fishgold and Tom Breese.
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Oleksiejczuk stands three inches taller than his brother and has a slightly longer reach while fighting with the same southpaw stance. He pounded out the win over Haig by sprawling out of a telegraphed takedown attempt and smashing him with a torrent of unanswered shots to the side of the head, and has been accompanying Michal to Sao Paulo to train with the Fighting Nerds for his last couple camps, venturing their again ahead of his promotional debut on Saturday.
Almeida is an outstanding litmus test for the skilled debutant: a veteran kickboxer that will (in theory) test him on the feet, has gone 3-1 through his first four appearances inside the Octagon, and is coming off one of the best knockouts of 2025 all the way back in January, when he sent Abdul Razak Alhassan to The Shadow Realm on the opening event of the year.
This is a perfect introductory assignment for Oleksiejczuk, as a win propels him into the heart of the lineup in the middleweight division, and a setback simply shows he needs more seasoning and a chance to acclimated to competing at this level. His big brother has enjoyed a solid overall success on this stage and has looked particularly sharp since shifting his training to Brazil, and there is no reason to believe the younger Oleksiejczuk cannot produce a similarly entertaining career or better as he settles into life in the UFC.
Yaroslav Amosov
Amosov is also making his first foray into the Octagon this weekend, but the Ukrainian newcomer is at a much different station in his career than his fellow debutant Oleksiejczuk.
The 32-year-old is a former Bellator welterweight champion, having claimed the title with a unanimous decision win over Douglas Lima and successfully defended the belt in a clash with then-interim champ Logan Storley 20 months later in Dublin, Ireland. He suffered the one and only loss of his career in his next outing against Jason Jackson and got himself back in the win column earlier this year with a first-round submission win over UFC veteran Curtis Millender under the Cage Fury FC banner.
Business is picking up in the 170-pound ranks, and Amosov has the experience to be a wild card in the welterweight mix next year, depending on how things go this weekend in his debut clash with Neil Magny, who continues to serve as the measuring stick for ascending talents and established newcomers joining the UFC roster.
The 38-year-old divisional record holder for the most victories has gone 2-0 so far this year, rallying to finish both Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos and Jake Matthews, though the latter of those two wins came following a controversial stop-and-restart at the close of the first round. Regardless, the rangy American is the type of savvy, well-rounded talent capable of dashing Amosov’s plans of making a triumphant debut and using this momentum to propel himself further up the ranks in the process.
A sambo practitioner who has registered 20 of his 28 career wins inside the distance, Amosov is the kind of skilled, experienced grappler that could get by Magny on Saturday and instantly position himself for a bout against a ranked opponent next time out. From there, it’s all about how the matchups shake out, but from a talent standpoint, “Dynamo” definitely has the skills to work his way into the mix if things break his way.
UFC fight Night: Royval vs Kape took place live from UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 13, 2025. 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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