Every fighter starts somewhere. Before the hype, before the Contender Series, before the UFC call — there’s the grind. Before They Blow Up is where Shawn Bitter shines a light on prospects still in that phase. This time, the spotlight shifts, and I’ll be the one doing it — Cangrejo Ruiz.
I’m looking at a few rising talents with five fights or fewer that are on my radar. These aren’t fighters I expect to be making any waves anytime soon. These are fighters I have watched, and I think have a good future in this sport
Featherweight, Anushevron Tukhtaev (5-0)
After a bit of a Layoff since September 2024, Tukhtaev returned earlier this year at the top Chinese promotion JCK. He scored an arm triangle early in the second round. Currently on a 5-0 record with a 100% finish rate, the Tajik fighter had a very prominent ammy career in the Russian scene in the early 2020s. Despite that, he is only 25 years old.
Tukhtaev is skilled everywhere, as his striking is quite polished and grounded in fundamentals, but it is his wrestling where he really shines. He is really successful at scoring takedowns, combining high-level technique with high-level strength for his weight class.
This translates to the ground, too, where his technique allows him to score submissions from multiple positions while never really being outscrambled. He is a natural finisher and can finish a fight anywhere it goes, which pairs well with a highly developed fight IQ.
There are still questions regarding his cardio and level of competition. The glimpses of skill we’ve seen make me confident that he has a bright future ahead of him regardless of where he career goes.
Featherweight, Eric Cortez (4-0)
With one of the most complete resumes you can find for a 4-0 fighter, Eric Cortez has been crushing it a A1 combat beating multiple highly touted prospects like Blake Decourcy and Rafael Jimenez, who had a 7-0 and 8-1 ammy careers respectively and were unbeaten as professionals. Cortez is undefeated both as a pro as an ammy.
The Team Alpha Male product has the instincts of a 20 pro fight veteran and has complete set of skills that can take the fight anywhere. He prefers to command the striking exchanges by pressing his opponents towards the case. Once there he can clinch or get the fight to the ground.
His grappling being to control his opponents quite decently while still threatening through ofense. Cortez is not the most natural finisher but this might be due to strength of competition. In his only finish he pulled a nice anaconda when his opponent tried to take him down.
In line with his strength of schedule he will be fighting Tsvetomir Todorov, a former IMMAF competitor who has a 4-0 record. If Cortez keeps challenging himself this way he’ll surely become a solid pro who already has a super nice floor.
Welterweight, Mirza Gajievi (3-0)
The Georgian regional scene has been stablishing itself as one of the most interesting in recent years. One up and comer that has really called my attention is Mirza Gajievi. The former IMMAF silver medalist is currently sitting at 3-0 as a pro and is someone who has real potential to be something big.
There is little pro tape on Gajievi’s striking as he tends to shoot for takedowns as early as possible. Despite that he does quite a good job setting up the entries and so far it has worked quite well. He really shines when the fight hits the ground as he is super quick when transitioning to different positions.
When he has to hold control of his opponent you can see how well versed he is on the technicalities of wrestling which is something he uses to set up submissions.
Even if it’s quite early on his career, Gajievi has already shown how much potential he has with his wrestling alone and is someone who despite currently being under the radar should be one to watch in the future.
