Each month, the team will get together and pick an individual moment from the previous month that stood out for us. The only criteria is the moment had to happen in July, and it has to revolve around anything involving prospects.
Shawn Bitter
I wanna put my spotlight on who I believe had the breakout performance of the month. That being England’s Karson Koe (5-0). I’ve been talking about this young man since he started, and he’s starting to come into his own. Before this fight last month, he beat a guy named Paddy Rutledge who was 2-0 at the time. Although he did win, Koe clearly didn’t perform to the best of his abilities. Now, in his fight last month at Levels Fight League 23, he showed huge growth in his game. I will say his opponent, Mamadou Bah (3-3), wasn’t much, but Koe made the dude look like an amateur.
Koe in the fight fought a perfect fight. He defended 5/5 takedowns, displaying a good wizard, and hit two takedowns himself. It’s the work he did on the feet that will draw your attention. He fights from a loose orthodox stance, with a karate-style stance. You can see the resemblance to his teammate Lone’er Kavanagh in his style. Against Bah, he beat his ass so badly that Koe should probably serve some jail time.
Koe dropped Bah twice and hurt him multiple times before getting the third-round stoppage. Koe blended it all together beautifully, attacking at all three levels, mixing up a variety of weapons. He was frequently switching stances, throwing from both sides, and the misdirection was incredibly tough to read. Koe was using feints, excellent footwork, impeccable speed, and timing to brutalize Bah. Some may say an early knockout is the most impressive victory, but I’d say a three-round masterclass is. You cap that off with a highlight-reelknockout and that’s the icing on top.
Credit- @Grabaka_Hitman
Benjamin Keith
My biggest takeaway from July is the poor scouting that has gone into this season’s DWCS. While there are some quality fights and some potential stars to watch for, there’s a lot of muck to wade through. It baffles me that they book matchups where they clearly want one fighter to win. If you want that fighter in the UFC so much, just sign them outright. Additionally, there are fighters this season, and in seasons past, whose records are vastly inflated. A quick dive into their tape would tell you they aren’t of UFC caliber, but Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard often seem to care more about the optics of a good record.
Asaf Chopurov, Aboubakar Younousov, Leuan Davies, Pavel Andrusca, Khotam Boynazarov, and countless others should have gotten calls. They’re surefire talents. Instead, they feed us slop-heavy heavyweights, 12-3 can crushers, and a plethora of dart-throw middleweights. They will get lucky; there will be stars signed this season, as there are every season, but there’s no reason they shouldn’t be bringing in a much better crop of talent, especially when the competition (PFL/MVP) has stepped up its scouting as of late.
Xavi Ryder
Through July, the biggest realization for me was just how good Mehemmedeli Osmanli is. I already had him ranked No. 16 on my personal top 25 prospect list, but after his performance on TUF, he received an instant bump into my top 10. At just 21 years old, Osmanli took on and finished the best opponent of his career in Artem Belakh. Entering the fight, Belakh owned a win over Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu, who later became the ONE featherweight champion, and had also defeated Vinicius Pires to claim the LFA bantamweight title.
Against that level of opposition, Osmanli showcased outstanding takedown defense and won several impressive scrambles to return to his feet. During the striking exchanges, he consistently got the better of Belakh with sharp combinations and effective clinch work before securing a rear-naked choke late in the first round to punch his ticket to the semifinals. Heading into the TUF semifinals, Osmanli is my favorite to win the tournament, and I believe he’ll make an immediate impact on the UFC’s bantamweight division.
Nicholas Holt
There were plenty of events worth mentioning, but UAE Warriors 72 might’ve been the regional show of the year. From top to bottom, there were prospects worth mentioning- I don’t know one other feeder promotion that could even put on an event of that caliber. The performances couldn’t have been better either- Asaf Chopurov, Pavel Andrusca, Ramazan Ragimov, and Elena Loladze all extended their undefeated records by finish.
In my opinion, UAE Warriors 72 could’ve passed as a UFC card; slap the logo on there and it would’ve received millions of views. Several fighters should already be on the roster, and it only becomes more frustrating by the day that Dana’s brass won’t reward any of these elite prospects.
Cedric Dumas
Through the month of July, I know many of my colleagues will look back on it as an overwhelmingly positive month for MMA. My biggest takeaway, however, was the strawweight tournament on The Ultimate Fighter 34. When the cast was announced, I was genuinely excited by the level of talent. Aside from Anita Karim, who was generally viewed as a step below the rest, I believed the other seven women were all legitimate, high-level prospects. At least, that’s what I thought.
Now that the quarterfinals are complete, I’ve come away disappointed by several of them, starting with Brazil’s Natalia Alves. I held Alves in very high regard during her LFA run, in which she earned impressive wins over quality opposition such as Aleksandra Savicheva and Nawira Ferreira. Instead, she missed weight inside the TUF house before delivering a shockingly flat performance against Tina Black, who, to be fair, entered the tournament as one of the favorites. A grappling specialist, Alves failed to land a single takedown, offered virtually nothing on the feet, and was eventually stopped by second-round TKO.
Then there’s Fury FC champion Anna Melisano, who was submitted in the opening round by Melissa Amaya—a talented fighter, but one who had competed just three times since 2023. Despite that loss, the UFC still awarded Melisano a contract, only for her to suffer another first-round submission in her promotional debut. It’s also worth mentioning that she was Team Bisping’s first overall pick. Based on what we’ve seen, she simply doesn’t look ready for the UFC despite holding the title in one of the biggest regional promotions in the United States.
I’ll cut Mackenzie Stiller a bit more slack. Many viewers considered the former Bellator fighter and LFA veteran to have done enough to beat Delphine Benouaich over three rounds, but even then, she failed to stand out in what was, at times, a sloppy and uneventful fight.
The silver lining is that the four best strawweights in the tournament have all advanced, and if the semifinals live up to expectations, the division could still produce a pair of UFC-caliber additions. As for the quarterfinals, though, they didn’t live up to the hype I expected when the cast was first announced.
James Colwell
My biggest realization from July is that Vladislav “Belaz” Kovalev is the real deal as a middleweight prospect. He had a rocky start to his fighting career, trading wins and losses in Russian pop-MMA promotions. Most of those defeats came by submission, as he was clearly a striker trying to figure out MMA. He also spent more than a year competing primarily in bare-knuckle boxing, where he went 6-0. That unconventional start, his short stature, and his grappling deficiencies made many people, myself included, overlook him as a serious prospect. However, he’s now riding a nine-fight winning streak and has made massive strides in every area of his game.
After beating solid but unspectacular regional competition, Kovalev had a breakout 2025 with RCC. That run included two victories over Russian legend Alexander Shlemenko. While the first was a split decision, I thought Kovalev was clearly the better fighter. He used his speed advantage to land hooks while entering range behind straight counter punches. What impressed me most was his ability to neutralize the wrestling threat while repeatedly pushing the far more credentialed veteran to the cage with raw strength and strong underhooks. The rematch ended even more surprisingly, as Kovalev secured a rear-naked choke to capture the RCC middleweight title.
He carried that same willingness to grapple and his newfound submission ability into his fight with former UFC fighter Armen Petrosyan, using constant pressure to get inside the kicks and jabs before making the fight ugly. A second-round takedown led to another back take and another rear-naked choke. Kovalev’s July victory over Mikhail Rogozin was his most impressive performance yet. While Rogozin isn’t a household name, his 25-6 record reflects years of competing against high-level opposition in Russia. Kovalev bullied him from the opening bell. His right overhands and hooks were wild at times but consistently powerful and accurate enough to prevent Rogozin from using his reach advantage. After hurting him on the feet, Kovalev controlled the clinch, landed a takedown, and unleashed ground-and-pound until another opening appeared for the neck, securing his third consecutive rear-naked choke and second successful defense of the RCC title.
There haven’t been many Belarusians in UFC history, but I currently have Kovalev ranked as my No. 4 prospect in all of MMA. He’s always going to deliver an entertaining fight, and his continued development against top-level competition has been incredibly impressive.
Credit- @Grabaka_Hitman
Patrick Danna
One of my bigger takeaways from July is the rise of Fury FC bantamweight Jay “Crack” Alderete. The overzealous 19-year-old delivered on his promise of putting Cameron Smotherman to sleep in the co-main event of Fury FC 121. Taking out a fighter fresh out of the UFC is always a big deal on the regional scene, but doing it at 19 is absurd. While his post-fight antics stole most of the attention, the clips ciculated and everyone reacted to Jay Alderete’s over-the-top celebration. The fact that people are talking about him and know his name this early on is a massive success for his future. Prior to that fight, Alderete had never defeated an opponent with a winning record. Going from that to a UFC veteran can be intimidating for many, but Alderete relished the attention and seized the moment.
As for the fight, it was a wacky one to say the least. A pair of nut shots dropped Smotherman just 75 seconds in, leading to a long pause in action. After a third pause for low blows, they had reached the point where there was more time spent in timeouts than fighting. Alderete was willing to engage in the pocket and took some solid punches, but fired back without hesitation. Late in Round 1, Alderete landed a nice step-in elbow that rocked Smotherman. When he went to follow up, both men connected on massive right hooks that dropped the other, the rare double knockdown that added even more insainty to the fight. Both men got up rocked, but made it to the end of the round.
The second round started with both men trading glancing combinations, before Alderete landed his FOURTH nut shot of the fight, only 5 1/2 minutes in at this point. He followed this up by giving the middle finger to Smotherman’s frustrated family and friends in the crowd. After a 4:30 pause, the fight resumed with a point being taken. Another glancing low blow caused a brief pause, before Alderete landed a clean rear head kick to put Smotherman on stanky legs. ‘Crack’ followed with a knockdown and hopped right on Smotherman’s neck, locking in a nasty brabo choke to put Smotherman out cold. Now for the moment that went viral, Alderete’s celebrating by flipping off and crotch grabbing at Smotherman fans. Alderete yelled at Smotherman, and he was carried out of the cage by security after going after Alderete, with the chaos ending there.
After starting a “UFC” chant multiple times in his post-fight interview, it’c clear what he wants next. It may be early, but going from a nearly unknown prospect beating guys with losing records to finishing a UFC fighter and still being younger than 20? That’s nearly unheard of in this sport. Alderete may not be the most refined prospect yet, but he has so much time to grow as a fighter and name. He already went viral once, and he could very well do it again.
