With this past week delivering some of the most talented competitors in one weekend across the globe, it only felt right to pick out some standout prospects from this past week in MMA.
Dzhamaludin Aliev
(11-0) | 26 years old | Bantamweight
Aliev improved to 11-0 at Core FC 2 with his third win of 2025 over 19-6 Michel Lima. He continued his impressive finishing ways, picking up his first submission victory to add to his 9 KOs as a pro. Aliev defeated former UFC fighter Francisco Figueiredo by first-round KO earlier this year as well.
Aliev’s forward pressure and body knees played a significant part in his victory. He used his fast hands and sharp hooks to close the distance and initiate clinch exchanges in the cage. Despite being caught a few times, he showed he could take some clean punches. After failing to get the fight to the ground in the opening frame, Aliev landed a clean trip after being held against the cage in the second round. With three minutes to work, Aliev postured up from the full guard to land some big elbows and punches. When Lima seemed like he had a chance to get up and reverse position, Aliev wrapped a d’arce choke with real torque and forced a quick tap.
Tiago Pereira
(10-0) | 28 years old | Bantamweight
After taking the past 14 months off, Pereira came back like he never left at Jungle Fight 143. In his third title defense, Pereira needed just 80 seconds to take out 8-3 Davi Almeida. This brings his finish streak to four straight, dating back to when he claimed the title.
Pereira started the fight ripping rear body kicks into Almeida from the southpaw stance. After forcing him on the back foot, Pereira threw into a body lock and scored a quick takedown right into mount. Almeida rolled to the back to avoid incoming damage, but Pereira still landed a big flurry of GnP before flattening his opponent on his stomach and working right under the chin for the RNC. Pereira’s last seven opponents combine for a 62-15 record, and he is quickly becoming one of Brazil’s best prospects.
Vladislav Kovalev
(9-2) | 27 years old | Middleweight
Kovalev was matched up against former UFC fighter Armen Petrosyan in his first defense of his RCC Middleweight Championship. Despite Petrosyan’s UFC experience, it was Kovalev who looked like the more experienced and well-rounded fighter. This wasn’t too surprising, however, as Kovalev has his fair share of modified rules MMA fights, one in which he faced Shara Magomedov.
Kovalev countered Petrosyan’s leg kicks with overhand rights that effectively mixed into his clinch. Once he got the read on Petrosyan’s body kicks, he started to catch them and turn that into grappling offense. It was a complete mismatch on the ground with Kovalev being the stronger and simply better grappler. When Kovalev wrapped Petrosyan up, he was giving him real problems with his weight on top, dragging him back down on get-up attempts. The finish came after one of these attempts, where Petrosyan was dragged back down and had his back taken. Kovalev then worked to his feet in a hunched position and wrapped his arms around the neck, using his legs and position for maximum pressure. This forced a quick tap and gave the Belarusian his 15th win across different combat sports in his last 16 fights (with the outlier being a no-contest).
Temirkhan Temirkhanov
(15-1) | 27 years old | Welterweight
Temirkhanov is built like a truck and ran over DWCS alumni Rodrigo Lidio in 40 seconds at RCC 24.
Temirkhanov focused early on attacking the legs, but after Lidio fired off a combination into boxing range, the Russian let his hands fly. A counter straight right pushed Lidio into the perfect position for his follow-up left hook, which landed perfectly on the chin and dropped the Brazilian. After seven quick ground and pound punches, Lidio shelled up, and the ref stepped in. Temirkhanov extended his winning streak to 12 straight with a now 15-1 record. His four straight finishes all come within the first 6 minutes of the fight. With this being his third win in 2025, following three wins in 2024, he is proving to be an active fighter and exciting finisher, with great experience for a 27-year-old.
Jaeleen Robledo
(5-1) | 22 years old | Bantamweight
In our WMMA fight of the week, 22-year-old Jaeleen Robledo made a massive statement with a Round 2 TKO over Evelyn Martins at Tuff-N-Uff 150. Robledo dropped her pro debut to Joy Pendell, but has since won 5 straight over strong competition. Robledo put herself right back on the map with a submission win over Zurina Turrey, who was 4-0 and highly regarded at that point.
In her fight against Martins, she dropped the first round and struggled with Martins’ top pressure after a failed takedown was reversed. Robledo came out much more aggressively in Round 2, forcing her way into boxing range and rarely letting off the pressure. Instead of circling away when Martins threw, she sat in the pocket and fired back counters. After forcing Martins to the cage with a big combination and some clean right hands, Robledo began digging shovel hooks into the body of Martins in the clinch. Martins seemed hurt when they disengaged, and Robledo unloaded everything she had while hunting her down with her boxing. After a couple more big left hooks to the body, the ref stepped in and waved the fight off.
While the fight was at 145 pounds, that was due to weight issues on the part of Martins. Robledo said she can make 135lbs without issue and called for her shot in the UFC, which the win should earn her.
Ze Machado
(4-0) | 27 years old | Lightweight
2023 IMMAF world champion Ze Machado continued his incredible run as a pro with his fourth straight first-round finish. His 8-fight win streak dates back to that IMMAF championship run and continued into an impressive run as a pro.
Machado opened the fight by attacking the base of Exposito’s long frame with outside leg kicks. He switched stances effectively to prevent any reads being picked up while bouncing on the outside of striking range. After landing over 10 leg kicks, Machado used his feints to wrap up a bodylock and secure a takedown. He immediately landed a barrage of elbows, although he lost position when posturing up for more GnP, and the fight went back to the feet.
Machado landed a nasty spinning heel kick to the ribs before jumping in a double leg and getting the fight right back down. After landing in side control, he worked to an immediate crucifix and reigned down elbows. When Machado attempted to scramble out, he left his neck wide open. Machado pounced on the opportunity and locked up an arm-in guillotine. With Machado fighting on WOW FC 25, he was shown to everyone watching on Cristiano Ronaldo’s YouTube and even took a picture with Ilia Topuria after the win. The Portuguese fighter is on the right track to be fighting in a major promotion soon.
Click to Page 2 for the rest of our standout prospects from last week —>