Fighters on the Rise | UFC 328: Chimaev vs Strickland

The ability to rise up the heavyweight ranks quickly is both a blessing and a curse because,  despite the fact that he’s won three straight and five of six over the last 13 months and change, it’s hard to say for certain whether Cortes Acosta is a bona fide contender in the heavyweight division or simply the best of the next bunch of fighters in the weight class.

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If you’re making the case for him being a contender, you’d point to three straight stoppage wins over Ante Delija, Shamil Gaziev, and Derrick Lewis since November 1, 2025, and additional wins over Ryan Spann and Serghei Spivac since the start of last year. You would also point to the fact that the Dana White’s Contender Series grad is 10-2 in the UFC overall, has shown increased patience and improved finishing instincts throughout his tenure, and is stationed in the Top 5.

If you’re making the case against Cortes Acosta as a contender, all you point to is the fact that he lost to the one guy that has been stationed a reasonable distance ahead of him in the rankings over his current run of good form, Sergei Pavlovich. After starting well, Cortes Acosta dropped the final two rounds on all three scorecards to land on the wrong side of the decision.

In most other years and at most other times, the arrival of a once-beaten former Bellator titleholder would have garnered far more attention than Amosov’s debut did, but after both Patricio Pitbull, Patchy Mix, and Aaron Pico all stumbled out of the gates, the former welterweight champion’s debut on the final card of 2025 kind of flew under the radar.

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Once he got into the Octagon, however, Amosov showed that he can be a threat in his new surroundings, as he needed just a little more than three minutes to drag Neil Magny to the canvas and submit the divisional mainstay, advancing his record to a stellar 29-1 in the process. The 32-year-old Ukrainian is a decorated Combat Sambo practitioner, trains with an outstanding group at American Top Team, and is right in the thick of his prime as a fighter, so a move forward in the welterweight rankings is a real possibility.

What’s fascinating about this weekend’s matchup with Joel Alvarez at UFC 328, however, is that the Spaniard possesses a lot of similar characteristics to the one man that has bested Amosov to date, former Dana White’s Contender Series hopeful Jason Jackson. Alvarez has tremendous length, clean boxing, and good power, and if he can keep himself upright and active the way Jackson did, things could get exceptionally interesting.

This feels like one of those instances where, as much as I love the fight and am eager to see how things shake out, I honestly would have rather seen each man given the opportunity to continue working forward, rather than crossing paths here where one is invariably going to be forced to take a step back.

That being said, if Amosov halts Alvarez’s four-fight winning streak and turns in another quality showing in his sophomore appearance inside the Octagon, he should get a chance to fight forward in the rankings later this year.

A training partner and friend of Khamzat Chimaev, Susurkaev won his bout on Season 9 of Dana White’s Contender Series on Tuesday, August 12, and immediately lobbied to join Chimaev on the card at UFC 319 four days later in Chicago. His wish was granted, and after a competitive first round, “Hunter” hurt, dropped, and submitted Eric Nolan to complete one of the crazier weeks in UFC history.

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Three months later, Susurkaev returned to action, ultimately collecting a third-round knockout win over Eric McConico to push his record to 11-0 and land him on just about every “Rising Stars” list possible heading into this year, including my annual two-part Fighters on the Rise collection at the start of the year. This weekend’s pairing with Djorden Santos is another solid test for the unbeaten 25-year-old, who can still be a little too lackadaisical with his defenses, and confident that he can turn things around on command at this point, and if he gets through it, the challenges are only going to keep getting tougher.

Being a DWCS grad with a great story is going to give Susurkaev access to an accelerated push in the middleweight division, and it will be interesting to see if and when his assuredness catches up to him, but thus far, he’s handled his business and done so with style points, and remains a must-see attraction each time out.