Fight Coverage
Fighters on the Rise | UFC 327: Prochazka vs Ulberg
Shining A Spotlight On Three Emerging Names To Watch This Weekend At Kaseya Center
Through the first 10 events of 2026, the athletes profiled in this space posted a combined 26-4 record with half of those victories coming by way of stoppage. There have been six instances where they’ve ran the table on fight night, and there has yet to be a case where two athletes have suffered losses on the same evening.
I say all of that not to pump my own tires, but to once again make it clear that if you’re looking for emerging talents competing inside the Octagon each week that carry genuine upside and a chance to show out that Saturday, you need to be reading this series every Tuesday.
UFC 327: Procházka vs Ulberg Fight By Fight Preview
This weekend’s trio of talents have thus far posted a combined 12-0 mark under the UFC banner and two of them can make serious waves in their respective divisions if they pick up another victory on Saturday night in South Florida.
Here’s a closer look at this week’s Fighters on the Rise.
Azamat Murzakanov
Azamat Murzakanov KOs Menifield In Round 2 | UFC Abu Dhabi
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Azamat Murzakanov KOs Menifield In Round 2 | UFC Abu Dhabi
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The undefeated Russian light heavyweight is the embodiment of who this series was created to highlight because even after touching down in the UFC with a perfect 10-0 record and a win during the fifth season of Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS), no one has really known how or where to situate Murzakanov in the 205-pound ranks.
He turns 37 on Sunday and can look stiff at times, but he’s earned six straight wins to advance to 16-0 overall, collected finishes in all but one of those contests, and posted back-to-back first-round stoppage wins over Brendson Ribeiro and Aleksandar Rakic last year to advance to No. 6 in the rankings ahead of this weekend’s clash with Paulo Costa in Miami.
READ: Azamat Murzakanov Is Ready To Stake His Claim
The burly Russian is one of those athletes with a perfect nickname because “The Professional” sums up who he is inside the Octagon so succinctly. There is very little flash and nothing particularly menacing about Murzakanov, but he’s fundamentally sound, sharp in all facets, and has keen finishing instincts. He never looks like the more imposing, more physically impressive competitor in the Octagon, but every time out, he emerges with his hand raised, more often than naught without the judges called upon.
Saturday’s pairing with Costa is both a solid test and one that carries the potential of being swept aside if Murzakanov rolls again just because the mercurial Brazilian is making his first official venture to light heavyweight and hasn’t had a great deal of success in recent years. That said, when Costa is on — as he was last July against Roman Kopylov — he’s a dangerous threat, and move up a division could be a great benefit to him as well.
UFC 327 features three massive matchups in the light heavyweight ranks, but if the ascending Russian goes out and earns another impressive finish, he will likely leave Miami as the clubhouse leader in the chase for the next championship opportunity in the weightclass.
Josh Hokit
After opening the year with a first-round stoppage win over fellow debutant Denzel Freeman at UFC 324, Hokit takes as big a step up in competition as possible this weekend as he lands on the main card opposite perennial contender Curtis Blaydes.
Watch Josh Hokit Get Into It With Jiří Procházka On EMBEDDED
Hokit is 2-0 in the UFC with a pair of first-round finishes and post-fight bonuses, and 8-0 overall with a 100-percent finishing rate. He has ventured beyond the first round only twice — once in his professional debut and again in his DWCS win over Guilherme Uriel last season — and he’s one of those fighters where it’s nearly impossible to determine where he fits in the division at the moment because he’s yet to face anyone of real note.
Josh Hokit TKOs Max Gimenis | UFC Fight Night: Bonfim vs Brown
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Josh Hokit TKOs Max Gimenis | UFC Fight Night: Bonfim vs Brown
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But here’s the part that has to be front of mind when talking about Hokit and his potential in the heavyweight ranks: for years we’ve wondered how someone with his athletic pedigree and background would do if they made the transition to mixed martial arts early enough where their best days as an athlete were still in front of them, and the boisterous, unbeaten heavyweight is the first real test case for that in quite some time.
Hokit was a two-sport standout at Fresno State University, earning All-American honors in wrestling as a junior and excelling enough on the gridiron to spend a couple years as an NFL practice squad player before making the shift to MMA. He’s quick, nimble, has solid power and genuine wrestling chops, all of which combine to make him a fascinating addition to the division. This weekend’s matchup with Blaydes is a colossal step up in competition but also feels like the right approach because there is really no downside here for Hokit. If he loses, he lost to a tenured contender and can take a step back without having to go all the way back to the starting blocks.
Some will see his placement here and weigh it against the comments he’s made in his post-fight interviews, both before and during his UFC tenure, wanting to frame this as excusing those behaviors, but that is not the case at all; this is an assessment of Hokit as a prospect and someone that is getting a massive opportunity this weekend, nothing more, and whether you like it or not, he’s a fascinating prospect, and I will continue to evaluate him as such.
Chris Padilla
UFC 327 comes a little less than two years after Padilla made his short notice debut in the Octagon and could wrap with “Taco” walking out of the cage with a 5-0 mark in the UFC and an eight-fight winning streak overall.
The 30-year-old was a considerable underdog in that debut matchup with James Llontop but ended things in the first round with a rear-naked choke finish. A second-round stoppage win over Rongzhu followed before a split decision win over Jai Herbert in London cooled his momentum a little despite still winning. Padilla revved up the engines again last November with a second-round stoppage win over Ismael Bonfim and has to be viewed as a person of interest in the lightweight division heading into his clash with MarQuel Mederos this weekend.
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Mederos is only a half-step behind Padilla on the same “unsung emerging talent” track, having won each of his first three UFC appearances, besting Landon Quinones, Austin Hubbard, and Mark Choinski on the scorecards. Because he is yet to get a finish and his last win came against a short-notice replacement, the Dana White’s Contender Series grad hasn’t gotten much shine either, but both he and Padilla have the skills to continue making noise in this division going forward.
If “Taco” can collect another win this weekend — and particularly if he garners another finish — he should garner a solid step up in competition and a chance to further show that he has genuine upside in the 155-pound ranks. Not to look beyond Mederos by any stretch, but a 5-0 Padilla against someone like Drew Dober, Terrance McKinney, or Lance Gibson Jr., all of whom garnered stoppage wins recently, would make a great deal of sense to me.
UFC 327: Procházka vs Ulberg took place live from Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida on April 11, 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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