Athletes
Fighters On The Rise | UFC Fight Night: Gamrot vs Salkilld
Identifying Three Athletes To Pay Close Attention To Saturday And Going Forward
On the whole, the athletes in this series have been on a roll as of late, registering eight consecutive wins over the last three events, but Saturday’s return to the Meta APEX puts that run of success at risk because the last few events at the venue haven’t yielded the same kind of results.
The last nine spotlighted athletes have amassed three wins and six losses, well below the year’s hit rate, which stands at a 75.3 winning percentage delivered so far.
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Will the overall hot streak continue or will recent struggles in the APEX rear their head again? Here’s a closer look at the three emerging talents I think you should be paying close attention to on Saturday night and beyond that will determine the answer this weekend.
This is Fighters on the Rise for UFC Fight Night: Gamrot vs Salkilld.
Alexia Thainara
A member of the standout graduating class from Season 8 of Dana White’s Contender Series, all Thainara has done to begin her UFC adventure is earn three consecutive wins and immediately work her way into the strawweight rankings, following up her rookie campaign wins over Molly McMann and Loma Lookboonmee by jumping into a short notice opening opposite Bruna Brasil in March and collecting another dominant win.
The 28-year-old has won a dozen straight overall, and Thainara has shown a terrific understanding of her own strengths and how to play to them inside the Octagon. The strawweight division is replete with quality grapplers, which means we’re going to get real measures of Thainara’s main weapon as she continues to move forward, with this weekend’s pairing being the first significant test of those skills.
Saturday night, Thainara meets compatriot Amanda Lemos in what profiles as a potential “changing of the guard” bout as the 39-year-old former title challenger Lemos enters on a two-fight skid and the DWCS grad is eager to take her place in the hierarchy. While Lemos has lost four of her last six, she’s been facing elite competition that whole time, and now we get to see how Thainara measures up against those names. These are never one-to-one, accurate reflections of where an athlete stands — again, too many variables at play to draw definitive conclusions about a competitor from one fight — but broadly speaking, a win would certainly give Thainara a chance to continue moving forward in the division.
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One interesting wrinkle I always try to note when talking about Thainara: she was initially scheduled to face Fatima Kline on Season 8 of Dana White’s Contender Series before Kline accepted a short notice fight up a division in Denver a couple days after inking her DWCS contract. They’re now clearly the top two rising stars in the division, and with Kline having just tossed Tabatha Ricci around the gaff in Oklahoma City, it’ll be interesting to see how “Burguesinha” responds this weekend.
Ty Miller
The opening episode of Season 9 of Dana White’s Contender Series carried a bit of a “Be Joe Pyfer” vibe because the UFC CEO was so effusive in his praise of Baisangur Susurkaev. However, unlike the opening episode of Season 6 where Pyfer was the lone contestant to garner a contract, Susurkaev wasn’t alone in earning a spot on the UFC roster that night as Miller’s also earned his contract that night. In a bit of trivia, Miller won the first fight of the Paramount+ era in January, registering a first-round stoppage win over Adam Fugitt at UFC 324 to advance his record to 7-0 with one no contest.
Ty Miller Stops Adam Fugitt At The End Of Round 1 | UFC 324
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Ty Miller Stops Adam Fugitt At The End Of Round 1 | UFC 324
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Miller is one of those young prospects that is never going to get much attention because he’s unassuming, comes from a smaller (but well-established) gym, and isn’t flashy in any way inside the Octagon, but he’s undeniably someone to keep real close tabs on in the 170-pound weight class. Training out of FitNHB in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the 26-year-old has tremendous size and length for the division, standing 6-foot-2 with a 77.5-inch reach, as well as sound fundamentals. A former Golden Gloves boxer, Miller works behind crisp basics, utilizing a sharp jab, a clean right hand, and simple, but effective combinations.
WATCH: Ty Miller: "I Would Like To Have A Quick Fight" | UFC Fight Night: Gamrot vs Salkilld
Additionally, these folks that are born and raised in ABQ are just incalculably tough as Miller showed by eating a spinning back elbow that split him open before finishing Fugitt less than a minute later right as the round was about to end. Saturday’s pairing with Goff, who earned stoppages in seven of his nine professional wins, is another solid, early assignment for the undefeated prospect.
Welterweight is so flush with talent at the moment that there is no need to rush Miller up the ranks, which should serve him well long term. He just turned 26 in June, has less than 10 pro fights under this belt, and should be afforded every opportunity to develop at a natural pace. If all that comes to pass, I can see Miller being a fixture in the division for years to come.
Manoel Sousa
Sousa flashed his power and promise early in his UFC debut, closing the distance and flooring Bolaji Oki in less than a minute. At the same time, he also showed some potential areas of growth in that opening stanza too, chasing a kimura and holding onto it for longer than necessary when he had no way of completing it, resulting in Oki recovering and controlling much of the action over the final four minutes of the frame. Ultimately, Sousa’s constant pressure and power on the feet decided things, as the DWCS Season 9 grad turned the competitive contest into a decisive finish in the late stages of the third.
The win pushed Sousa’s winning streak to three and his record to 14-1 overall with all but two of those victories coming inside the distance. This weekend, he makes his second trip into the Octagon opposite newcomer Richie Miranda, who brings a wealth of experience and tremendous overall success on the regional ranks into this short-notice assignment.
Sousa fought some quality competition on his way to the UFC, including wins over TUF alum Richard Martins and top-10 standout Mauricio Ruffy, with his only setback coming against recent PFL title challenger Archie Colgan, all of which contributes to his prospect-status in the UFC. It’s difficult to make headway in the lightweight ranks because the competition is so fierce, but the power “Manumito” brings to the table can be a differentiating factor.
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Miranda has won seven straight and is a part of Cub Swanson’s Bloodline Combat Sports crew that has been having a strong year inside the Octagon so far in 2026. He’s the kind of tested veteran that will challenge the Brazilian at every turn this weekend, and if Sousa can get through him, it will say a lot about his forward potential in the division.
UFC Fight Night: Gamrot vs Salkilld took place live from Meta APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 8, 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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