Athletes
Fighters on the Rise | UFC Fight Night: Sterling vs Zalal
Highlighting Three Up-And-Coming Talents Eager To Show Out On Saturday
One of the coolest things about writing this series every week is that the athletes profiled from week-to-week can vary so wildly, as there are no concrete guidelines or metrics that need to be met (or can’t be exceeded) in order to qualify as someone that is considered to be “on the rise” in the UFC; you just have to be moving forward in your career.
You can be one fight into your time on the roster or a dozen fights in. Age? Doesn’t matter. Standing in your division? Not a consideration. Position on the fight card? Irrelevant.
READ: Fight By Fight Preview | UFC Fight Night: Sterling vs Zalal
All that matter is that you have some momentum and feel like someone capable of opening a few eyes on the weekend, with a the room for a little more advancement and upside serving as an easy differentiating factor when stuck between selections.
But sorting out this weekend’s group was easy, as the trio below epitomize what it means to be fighters on the rise in the UFC right now.
Joselyne Edwards
Through the first eight fights of her UFC career, Edwards was a .500 fighter who had missed weight for a pair of her wins and seemed destined to be someone who lived on the fringes of the Top 15, showing glimmers of talent while struggling to string together enough wins and strong efforts to really make headway in the bantamweight ranks.
Over her last four fights, however, the Panamanian fighter has morphed into a rising star in the 135-pound ranks, earning four straight stoppage wins to climb to No. 11 in the rankings ahead of her crucial showdown with Norma Dumont this weekend in Las Vegas. Yes, she missed weight for the first of those wins, but Edwards has hit the mark in each of her last three appearances, and her performances have been lights-out.
WATCH: Joselyne Edwards Stops Chelsea Chandler In Round 1 | UFC Kansas City
Last year, “La Pantera” earned consecutive first-round stoppage wins over Chelsea Chandler and Priscila Cachoeira, dispatching each on the feet and collecting a bonus for her win over “Zombie Girl.” But the win that really stood out was her 2026 debut this February in Houston, where she controlled the opening round of her rematch against Nora Cornolle before slamming her to the canvas with serious force in the second and locking up the fight-ending rear-naked choke.
Two things stand out most in Edwards’ rise up the rankings and current run of success: one is that she’s older, more developed, more experienced as a fighter, which I think we oddly discount at times, while the other is that she’s clearly built an outstanding coach/athlete relationship with Nate Pettit from Xtreme Couture that has helped elevate her game over these last several fights.
Dumont represents a huge step up in competition, as she currently sits at No. 3 in the rankings and is on a six-fight winning streak that includes victories over Germaine de Randamie, Irene Aldana, and Ketlen Vieira. But the Brazilian contender doesn’t mind getting drawn into a scrap, and with the way Edwards has been attacking the opposition during this run, it’s not out of the question that she lands something sharp that presents her with an opportunity to finish.
Even if things don’t work out in her favor on Saturday, Edwards has shown that she’s someone to keep tabs on going forward in the division.
Raoni Barcelos
Remember last January when Barcelos handily beat Payton Talbott and everyone was worried about the future of the rising bantamweight star, who then closed out the year by bodying Henry Cejudo and claiming a place in the Top 15?
Yeah, the Brazilian added two more wins to his resume after that decisive win last year, and yet he somehow remains a largely unheralded standout in the bantamweight division ahead of his 2026 debut opposite Montel Jackson this weekend in Las Vegas.
The 38-year-old is a prime example of how we only focus on a result in one direction too many times, with his win over Talbott becoming exclusively about the Dana White’s Contender Series grad, and not something that really helped propel Barcelos forward in the division. He followed that win by beating both Cody Garbrandt and Ricky Simon on the scorecards, wins that had previously moved others forward in the rankings, but not Barcelos, and even with Talbott’s subsequent success, that clear win hasn’t come back around as something that stands out for folks, and I just don’t get it.
Sure, you can argue Talbott was a little inexperienced, but he would have gotten full marks for beating Barcelos, so it has to go the other way, too. And yes, wins over “No Love” and Simon aren’t as significant as they would have been a year or two ago, but we really tend to pick and choose when that applies based on whether we want to elevate the victorious athlete or not.
Despite all that, the Brazilian standout, who turns 39 on May 1, can punch his ticket to the Top 15 by collecting a fourth straight win over Jackson, who had his six-fight winning streak snapped last time out by Deiveson Figueiredo in a low-output affair in Rio de Janeiro back in October. If he gets his hand raised again on Saturday, it will be interesting to see if he gets the credit he deserves for the winning streak he’s amassed, or if Barcelos keeps being one of the more undervalued talents on the roster.
Michelle Montague
I wanted to make sure to spotlight Montague here for a couple of reasons.
First and foremost, the bantamweight division is one where it’s only going to take a couple solid efforts before you’re fighting someone with an established reputation, and after earning a debut win over Luana Carolina last September in Perth, “The Wild One” already gets a chance to face an established name this weekend in her sophomore appearance, where she takes on former title challenger Mayra Bueno Silva.
View Montague's Athlete Profile
Secondly, Montague has the kind of approach that is going to make her a handful for just about everyone in the division, as she is dogged in her pursuit of takedowns, sound at controlling things on the canvas, and will take your neck if you make a mistake, with her win over Carolina being the first and only time she’s failed to win by rear-naked choke in her seven-fight career.
Add in that the New Zealander trains with an elite squad — including divisional champ Kayla Harrison — at American Top Team, and you have all the makings of someone who could quickly go on a little run up the rankings in the 135-pound weight class.
Here’s the thing though: should she beat Bueno Silva on Saturday, it’s going to get the “yeah, but…” treatment because “Sheetara” has dropped four straight and her last official win came in February 2023 against Lina Lansberg; I’m just stating it now so that everyone is prepared. Regardless of how folks will likely react to it, beating Bueno Silva is a good win — it elevated Macy Chiasson, Jasmine Jasudavicius, and Jacqueline Cavalcanti — and should put Montague in a position to, at the very least, face another Top 15 talent next time out, if not carry a number next to her name herself.
The bantamweight division is fascinating to me right now, and I genuinely believe Montague is going to be a big part of things going forward.
UFC Fight Night: Sterling vs Zalal took place live from Meta APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 25, 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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