Welcome to Year 13 of the annual “Prospects the UFC Should Sign” series, in which we’ll examine five MMA prospects per division the UFC should sign in the upcoming year.
This series started during my time as a writer for Bleacher Report, continued through my tenures at Today’s Knockout and FanSided, and now it stays alive another year here at Combat Press.
Let’s examine the lightweight division, a weight class that is loaded with talent and is constantly providing fans with new top fighters.
In picking these prospects, I’ll try my hardest to stay away from fighters who are currently in top organizations, such as ONE Championship or the Professional Fighters League, but a couple may pop up. In the past, I’ve had some great picks on the list, and some that haven’t worked out. Below are the previous year’s selections, followed by the five men the UFC should offer roster spots to in the coming year.
2012: Mairbek Taisumov, Lukasz Sajewski, Alexander Sarnavskiy, Guillaume de Lorenzi, Gordon Bell
2013: James Krause, Jesse Ronson, Luiz Firmino, Jadambaa Narantungalag, Jonatas Novaes
2014: Lowen Tynanes*, Ivan Buchinger*, Marcus Edwards, Mansour Barnaoui, Musa Khamanaev
2015: Mateusz Gamrot*, Darrell Horcher, Lowen Tynanes*, Murad Machaev*, Ramazan Esenbaev
2016: Mateusz Gamrot*, Marc Diakiese, Gregor Gillespie, Bekzod Abdurakhmonov, Milan Zerjal
2017: Chris Fishgold, Thiago Moises, Khusein Khaliev*, Murad Machaev*, Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov*
2018: Chris Fishgold, Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov*, Nate Andrews*, Robert Watley, Joseph Lowry
2019: Arman Tsarukyan, Nate Andrews*, Yusuf Raisov, Soren Bak, Luiz Gustavo*
2020: Jai Herbert, Mason Jones, Max Rohskopf, Rafa Garcia, Natan Schulte
2021: Rafa Garcia, Mateusz Rebecki, Tofiq Musayev, Brant Moore, Anthony Romero*
2022: Mateusz Rebecki, Nariman Abbasov, Roberto de Souza, Rodrigo Lidio, Jackson Loureiro
2023: Arthur Estrazulas*, Luiz Gustavo*, George Hardwick*, Aaron McKenzie, Anthony Romero*
2024: Manoel Sousa, Arthur Estrazulas*, Amru Magomedov*, Jefferson Nascimento, Cristian Perez
2025: Axel Sola, Losene Keita, George Hardwick*, Amru Magomedov*, Richie Lewis
Note: Bold denotes fighter was signed by UFC; * denotes fighter ineligible due to two years on list.
The country of Kyrgyzstan has been a major hotbed for talent in recent years, and they have been slowly migrating over to the UFC. Among the best prospects from that country with a good deal of experience is Abdisalam Kubanychbek, who is now with the LFA and looking to crack the UFC.
The 31-year-old Kyrgyz fighter has a wealh of experience over 25 pro bouts, known for his strength, wrestling, ground-and-pound and submissions. He’s been more of a decision fighter lately, which could hold him back a bit. That said, he beat fighters such as Raul Tatarauli and Kamil Magomedov, as well as UFC vets Lucas Martins and Rolandy Dy. He fought just once in 2025, scoring a win in his LFA debut over 21-fight vet Andre Borges.
I could definitely see Kubanychbek taking to the Contender Series this year in an attempt to score a job with the UFC and shake off the moniker that he’s a decision machine. He’s got the resume and skills to compete in the UFC right now.
I don’t usually have a guy who lost in the previous year on this list unless I have a good reason. In Richie Lewis’ case, despite a loss in 2025, I still see him as a top lightweight prospect that is UFC-ready right now.
Lewis wrestled as an amateur at Rutgers University, which is the base to his game. He’s very strong and athletic, making him hard to stop on the takedown. His first fight of the year was a loss by TKO to Richie Miranda, who Lewis was beating before the change of fortunes. He was able to jump back into the win column, though, dominating Benny Orozco to a unanimous decision.
Lewis has a lot of high level grappling experience and has been impressive in the MMA cage. Despite that comeback loss to Richie Miranda, I think he has a chance to contend in the UFC. Speaking of Miranda…
Since his last loss in 2023, Richie Miranda has quietly moved up the ladder of top lightweight prospects in the world. The Cub Swanson disciple is the LFA Lightweight Champion and a guy that appears UFC ready right now.
Miranda is a well-rounded fighter, but also possesses the physical toughness and determination that a cage fighter needs. That was seen in his LFA belt winning bout against Richie Lewis, where he was down going into the last round, but not out of the fight, scoring a TKO come-from-behind win. He followed that up with a win over formerly undefeated Ilay Barzilay, capping off an undefeated 2025.
At 31 years old, Miranda is ready to go in terms of a shot in the major leagues. Holding that LFA belt certainly seems like it will be a passport to the UFC, hopefully sooner rather than later.
A couple years ago, Jefferson Nascimento was a top prospect in the lightweight division who we all assumed would be in the UFC by now. However, he look off all of 2024 and he kind of faded to the background, but his return in 2025 has him right back on top of the lightweight prospect’s list.
Nascimento is a very well-rounded fighter who has finished seven of his twelve opponents. He returned from his almost two-year layoff in September, besting another intriguing prospect in Baysangur Makaev to again hoist LFA gold.
Now that he’s back, Nascimento needs to be a target of the UFC, as he’s a very capable fighter. He’s proven against a slew of other top regional talents that he’s UFC level, so let’s get him on the roster and keep him more busy.
Staying with the country of Brazil for our next prospect, there may not be a more under-the-radar prospect than Juan Pablo Vieira. The finishing machine really jumped up the board in the last year, emerging as a guy that has UFC-bound written all over him.
Vieira is a well-rounded prospect, possessing knockout power in his strikes and an exceptional Brazilian jiu-jitsu base. He is nine-for-nine in finishes, scoring five knockouts and four submissions as a pro. He only got to fight once in 2025, but scored an impressive armbar over Carlos Cavalcante in the LFA promotion.
Vieira is just 22 years old, so he’s got a super bright future in the sport of mixed martial arts. He could be a guy that challenges for a UFC title in the next five to six years if his current trajectory remains.