Athletes
Fighters on the Rise | UFC Saudi Arabia
Identifying Three Ascending Talents To Pay Attention To This Weekend At UFC Fight Night: Adesanya vs Imavov
The year hasn’t exactly gotten off to a roaring start for the athletes that have been profiled in this space so far in 2025.
The first fighter to grace the Octagon from the initial triumvirate of talents spotlighted on the opening event at the UFC APEX, strawweight standout Fatima Kline, turned in an outstanding effort, finishing Viktoriia Dudakov in the second round. Since then, however, it has been a series of setbacks, with recent Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) graduates Nicolle Caliari and Austin Bashi suffering setbacks before the unbeaten trio of Clayton Carpenter, Rinya Nakamura, and Payton Talbott all suffered their first professional losses at UFC 311.
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Normally, this is where you would expect some kind of explanation, but the reality is that this is simply the fight game and an indication of how difficult it is to have consistent and sustained success at this level. There are simply times where really talented fighters and prospects — which all of these men and women are — end up on the wrong side of the results.
Like them, all I can do in continuing to put together this series is pick myself up, dust myself off, and move on to the next assignment, which comes in the form of this weekend’s return to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Headlined by a pair of critical and compelling middleweight bouts, there are some ascending names to pay close attention to, as well, including the three-pack of fighters highlighted below.
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These are the Fighters on the Rise for UFC Fight Night: Adesanya vs. Imavov.
Vinicius Oliveira
“LokDog” had an impressive rookie campaign in the UFC in 2024 and looks to begin this year with a bang by taking on divisional stalwart Said Nurmagomedov on Saturday’s main card.
A member of the DWCS Class of ’23, Oliveira kicked off his first year on the roster in explosive style, registering one of the top knockouts of the year in the third round of his March finish of Benardo Sopaj. In any other year, the devastating flying knee that put Sopaj down earns Oliveira Knockout of the Year accolades, but the first-year Brazilian fighter had to settle for the bronze medal in 2024, sharing the podium with Max Holloway and Ilia Topuria.
As impressive as his debut finish was, the fact that Oliveira returned at the end of June and collected a unanimous decision win over tenured bantamweight Ricky Simón was even more eye-opening. Simon had been a fixture in the Top 15 before losses to Song Yadong and Mario Bautista slowed his progress, but he still held a significant edge in terms of experience, and yet Oliveira was able to march into the Octagon and land one round away from earning a clean sweep of the scorecards over the Pacific Northwest native in just his second UFC appearances.
Order UFC 312: Du Plessis vs Strickland 2
It was the kind of win that showed the native of Porto Alegre was ready for another step up in competition and a chance to potentially make a case for a Top 15 ranking of his own to begin his 2025 slate, and he gets just that this weekend by stepping in with Nurmagomedov.
The 32-year-old Russian enters off a first-round submission win over Muin Gafurov, who defeated Nakamura at UFC 311 two weeks back, and sports an 18-3 record overall. He didn’t make an appearance in the Octagon last year as he was forced to withdraw from two bouts due to undisclosed reasons and had an opponent suffer the same fate in between, but he’s been ranked in the past, holds wins over Ricardo Ramos and Cody Stamann, and is the kind of slick, opportunistic fighter that will make Oliveira pay for any mistakes, especially if he leaves his neck exposed.
This is another measuring stick moment for the second-year man and another quality win over a respected and accomplished talent like Nurmagomedov will go a long way to helping him stand out further in the crowded field of bantamweight hopefuls.
Jasmine Jasudavicius
Very few people enjoy their job as much as Jasmine Jasudavicius, and the Niagara Top Team representative had an extremely good year at the office in 2024.
She kicked things off by punishing Priscila Cachoeira for missing weight for their UFC 297 meeting in Toronto, setting a record for largest striking differential in a women’s bout (326-26) before submitting her late in the third and reveling in the victory in her home province. In July, she ventured to Denver and outworked late replacement Fatima Kline, soaking in the jeers of the fans in “The Mile High City” before returning to her home and native land in November and posting a unanimous decision win over Ariane da Silva that carried her into the Top 15.
The 35-year-old, who lives by an “I’m here for a good time, not a long time” ethos, opens her 2025 campaign by welcoming Mayra Bueno Silva back to the flyweight division this weekend.
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Don’t let Jasudavicius’ age fool you — she was a late arrival to the sport and only made her pro debut in the summer of 2019. After earning five wins in her first six fights, she bested Julia Polastri on Season 5 of Dana White’s Contender Series, punching her ticket to the UFC roster, and has since made more appearances inside the Octagon (eight) than she had prior to arriving on the biggest stage in the sport.
While she’s established herself as a Top 15 fighter in the flyweight division, Jasudavicius is also still developing, and you can see that progress each time she competes. She’s more grit than grace, more tenacity than technique, but she’s highly effective when it comes to utilizing her grappling and physicality to body opponents and make them bend to her will.
Fares Ziam
How long would it take you to mention Fares Ziam if you were asked to name UFC lightweights currently riding a four-fight winning streak? The fact that you’re even thinking about the answer is why the somehow still 27-year-old “Smile Killer” is spotlighted here.
Fares Ziam Fight Week Interview | UFC Saudi Arabia
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Fares Ziam Fight Week Interview | UFC Saudi Arabia
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Based out of Lyon, France, Ziam is one of those fighters that perpetually flies under the radar in the rugged 155-pound landscape, despite the fact that he’s earned four straight wins and victories in six of his last seven outings. What makes it more interesting is that he’s quite literally coming off his best performance to date: a third-round knockout win over Matt Frevola at last September’s return to Paris that earned him a Performance of the Night bonus and consideration for the Knockout of the Year list.
Like a lot of fighters in his position, it feels like Ziam is overlooked because people are anchored to their initial impressions of him, which is either that of a rail-thin 22-year-old looking anxious inside the Octagon in his debut loss to Don Madge at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi or his submission defeat at the hands of Terrance McKinney nearly three years ago.
But Ziam won two bouts between those two setbacks, and has looked increasingly sharp since the second of those two losses, posting wins over Michal Figlak, Jai Herbert, and Claudio Puelles prior to dispatching Frevola on home soil back in September. He’s filled out his six-foot-one-inch frame, worked diligently to learn how to use his length to his advantage, and is solid in every facet of the game; exactly what you’re looking for from a fighter entering the prime of their career and trending upwards in a loaded division where older veterans populate much of the Top 15.
This weekend, he steps in with Mike Davis, who similarly is on an understated four-fight winning streak, though injuries and layoffs mean that winning streak began all the way back in 2019 after “Beast Boy” dropped his short-notice promotional debut up a division against Gilbert Burns. When he last fought in March, the 32-year-old Floridian registered a second-round submission win over Natan Levy, further showcasing the grappling skills that have grown to compliment his always slick boxing.
It feels like this could be a year where we see some significant change in the upper levels of the lightweight division, and a big win here for Ziam could catapult him into position to potentially land a date with a Top 15 opponent next time out. He’s looked incredibly sharp as of late, and has “breakout candidate” written all over him heading into his 2025 debut.
UFC Fight Night: Adesanya vs Imavov took place live from anb Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 1, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!