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 women’s flyweight division, a more recent addition to the UFC. It’s been inhabited by fighters who have departed the strawweight and bantamweight divisions, but it could easily add even more depth by adding existing flyweights from outside of the promotion.
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.
2018: Molly McCann, Ariane Lipski, Sabina Mazo, Silvana Gomez Juarez, Karina Rodriguez*
2019: Lara Procopio, Melissa Gatto, Mariya Agapova, Brogan Walker, Stephanie Geltmacher
2020: Mariya Agapova, Victoria Leonardo, Miranda Maverick, Mandy Bohm, Mabelly Lima
2021: Manon Fiorot, Erin Blanchfield, Jamey-Lyn Horth, Stephanie Geltmacher*, Daiana Torquato
2022: Gabriella Hermogenes, Jamey-Lyn Horth, Josefine Knutsson, Karina Rodriguez*, Carolina Jimenez
2023: Ivana Petrovic, Ketlen Souza, Dakota Ditcheva*, Corrine Laframboise, Kristina Williams
2024: Shannon Clark, Beatriz Consuli*, Dakota Ditcheva*, Lisa Kyriacou, Sora Rakhmonova
2025: Shanelle Dyer, Beatriz Consuli*, Jady Menezes, Maritza Sanchez, Marina Spasic
Note: Bold denotes fighter was signed by UFC; * denotes fighter ineligible due to two years on list.
If there’s an American female MMA prospect flying further under the radar than Cheyanne Bowers right now, that fighter is virtually unidentifiable. Bowers is a former LFA Champion and a finishing machine that has quietly put together a major-league worthy resume.
Bowers is a grappler by trade and does so with impunity. Five of her seven pro wins come by way of tapout, with three armbars and two rear-naked chokes. Her only decision was a win over kickboxing ace Aline Pereira, the sister of UFC Champion Alex Pereira. After starting 2025 off with a split decision loss to Shannon Clark, where Bowers dropped her LFA title, she came back with two submission wins, tapping out Elizabeth Rodriguez and Maritza Sanchez.
Despite a close loss in 2025, Bowers recovered and continued to show why she’s a highly thought-of prospect in the women’s 125-pound division. She should get a look in 2025, even if she fell to now LFA Champion Shannon Clark. Speaking of the woman who beat Bowers…
Last year, Shannon Clark was on the receiving end of one of the worst knockouts of the season on Dana White’s Contender Series. A year later, she has re-emerged as a top women’s flyweight outside the UFC and is the reigning, defending LFA Champion.
Clark is more of a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none type fighter, having solid striking and grappling, but not really standing out a ton in either. She started 2025 by unifying the LFA Women’s Flyweight Championship belts in a split decision win over Cheyanne Bowers. She followed that up by defending the belt in her biggest victory to date, besting undefeated top prospect Beatriz Consuli.
Clark’s loss to Yuneisy Duben on the Contender Series should be in the rearview mirror at this point, so it’s time to give her a second look. Her win over Consuli was an exclamation point, as Clark took out arguably the top flyweight prospect in the process. It also adds another Canadian to the UFC ranks.
In late 2023, So Yul Kim was linked to have signed a contract with the UFC to make her debut opposite Eduarda Moura. However, that fell through for the ONE Championship veteran, leading to a one-and-a-half year layoff. However, Kim has returned in 2025 and still looks like a fighter that is raring for a UFC roster spot.
Kim is a well-rounded fighter, as she owns six submission wins (including five straight submission wins), as well as a professional kickboxing record while fighting in South Korea. Her lone MMA loss came in 2018 in her second pro MMA fight, meaning that she is on a eight-fight winning streak. That includes a ONE Championship win over formerly undefeated prospect Noelle Grandjean, who Kim put away with a triangle choke. After her said layoff, she returned in 2025 with a submission win, choking out China’s Qing Qing Yang.
Kim was obviously already on the UFC’s radar, but the assumption would be that her ONE contract prevented her from making the jump. Seeing that she’s now fought outside that organization and looked as good as ever, I think it’s time for the UFC to circle back and get her on the roster.
For the second straight year, Brazil’s Jady Menezes makes this list and for good reason. The former Glory Kickboxing Champion and current Ares FC Champion is riding the trend that many top-level kickboxers are doing right now to becoming dominant in MMA.
Menezes, as stated, is a high-level striker who deploys that style in the cage to great effect. She’s also shown she can submit fighters as well, meaning she’s no one-trick pony, even though she’d prefer to stand. It’s been tough finding her opponents in recent times, but she did fight and defend her Ares FC title in 2025, dominating Greek grappler Eleni Moisidou via unanimous decision back in June.
Menezes will be 34 years old in February, so the time to strike on getting this fighter is now for the UFC. She’s clearly ready for the big show, but her window is closing faster than many of the younger prospects in women’s MMA.
You don’t see too many fighters turn down a shot on the Dana White’s Contender Series, as in most cases, it’s a win away from getting a UFC roster spot. However, Regina Tarin did just that in 2025, despite being a top prospect in the 125-pound women’s division.
Just 20 years old, Tarin is already an impressive prospect with some good, powerful striking and an underrated submission game. Her first win of 2025 came over TUF veteran Kaytlin Neil, who she knocked out in the second round of their June encounter. She was then linked to the Contender Series, but reportedly turned it down because she feels she should be signed directly to the roster without having to compete on the show. She finished the year knocking out Yurivia Jimenez in brutal fashion.
In retrospect, turning down the DWCS may have been foolish, seeing as all four women who competed on this season, win or lose, scored contracts with the company. However, Tarin is still young, talented and still getting better. Given the UFC continually looking for Mexican fighters to feature, I wouldn’t be shocked if they give Tarin a chance in the near future.