Fighters On The Rise | UFC 290: Volkanovski vs Rodriguez

Following a pair of wins on the last season of Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS), the much-ballyhooed American wrestler made his promotional debut at UFC 285, making very quick work of Jamie Pickett.

A three-time National Champion and four-time All-American during his time at Penn State, Nickal got to the clinch along the fence in 20 seconds, and spilled Pickett to the ground 20 seconds later. From there, he chained transitioned from a front headlock and potential D’arce choke setup to Pickett’s back, briefly looking at a rear-naked choke and neck crank before switching off to an arm-triangle choke that eventually finished the fight.

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Here’s the scary thing: this wasn’t a clean performance from Nickal. It took him much longer than expected to secure the tap because he wasn’t quite in the best position to finish the choke, and some of that simply comes from experience. As he continues to learn, develop, and improve, the 27-year-old middleweight could become an absolute nightmare on the canvas for anyone and everyone in the division.

Nickal is one of the most intriguing, talked about new fighters on the roster and he kicked off his rookie campaign with a good win. His sophomore appearance should provide some insights into how quickly he could progress up the middleweight ranks and help set the stage for a very interesting second half of the year in the 185-pound weight class.

Saturday’s clash with Val Woodburn is a risky proposition — a short-notice pairing with a UFC newcomer — but also an opportunity to gain more time in the cage and more experience competing at this level. Woodburn has logged seven pro fights following an eight-fight amateur career, logging seven consecutive victories to establish himself as a prospect on the rise, one that was targeted to compete on Dana White's Contender Series this summer.

Yazmin Jauregui

There has been a lot to like about the 24-year-old Jauregui through her first two UFC appearances.

Debuting on the main card in San Diego last summer, the undefeated Mexican strawweight out-hustled a game, also debuting, Iasmin Lucindo to earn a unanimous decision win and push her record to 9-0. Just under four months later, she returned to action against another Brazilian, Istela Nunes, and offered flashes of her toughness and mettle, rebounding from an early knockdown to regain control of the contest in the opening frame before dispatching Nunes in the second.

Having pushed her unbeaten run to start her career into double digits, more eyes will be on Jauregui going forward as she finally makes her first appearance of 2023 this weekend when she faces off with Denise Gomes.

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After dropping her debut to Loma Lookboonmee, Gomes, a member of the DWCS Class of ’22, scored a second-round stoppage win over Bruna Brasil last time out to register her first UFC victory. A member of the Parana Vale Tudo team that includes Jessica Andrade and Gomes’ girlfriend Karol Rosa, the 23-year-old has an aggressive style that should serve to push Jauregui this weekend.

What’s really interesting about Jauregui to this point (at least to me) is that we’ve yet to see her grappling and jiu jitsu skills, which, given her “YasminJitsu” handle on Instagram, is a very prominent part of her game. She trains with a great group at the Entram Gym in Tijuana, mixing in work in San Diego with some quality people there, and has thus far shown all the early signs of someone that could blossom into a Top 15 fixture and potential contender down the line if things break the right way.

Cameron Saaiman

Just 22 years old, Saaiman is already 2-0 in the UFC and poised to make the walk to the Octagon for the third time this weekend in a bout with short-notice replacement Terrence Mitchell.

Mature beyond his years, Saaiman impressed in his DWCS win over Joshua Wang-Kim last fall, working through a slower first round to find his rhythm and collect a third-round stoppage victory. His promotional debut was somewhat similar, as he fell behind Steven Koslow, and was forced to rally, once again doing so, ending the fight before the judges needed to weigh in.

Last time out, “MSP” barely made it out of the Octagon with his unbeaten record intact, edging out Mana Martinez by majority decision despite losing a point in the opening round of an inadvertent low blow. It’s the second consecutive point where the South African bantamweight has incurred a point deduction; something he’ll have to clean up and keep to a minimum going forward.

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Initially scheduled to face fellow young upstart Christian Rodriguez, Saaiman will instead share the Octagon with Mitchell, a former Ultimate Fighter contestant. The 33-year-old, who lost to Kai Kara-France in the opening round of the flyweight competition on Season 24 of the long-running reality TV program, is 15-2 overall, entering on a four-fight winning streak that includes three first-round finishes.

This is a good opportunity for Saaiman to show his class and put himself in a position to garner a step up in competition next time out, or at least keep him in line to face Rodriguez once he’s ready to return. Mitchell is more than 10 years his senior and has shown tremendous finishing skills on the regional circuit, but a poised, technical fighter like Saaiman should have opportunities to win and earn style points on Saturday.