The landscape of the Ultimate Fighting Championship is undergoing a profound transformation as divisions across the promotion experience a long-overdue changing of the guard. For years, several elite contenders found themselves carrying an asterisk next to their names, mired in controversy, division logjams, or the promotional doghouse. Today, however, those once-overlooked fighters are finally securing their momentum, forcing their way into the title picture and demanding the attention of champions and matchmakers alike.
At the center of this divisional turbulence is lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan. For a long time, the Armenian standout was trapped in a cycle of near-misses and missed opportunities. The lowest point of this frustrating period came when he was forced to withdraw from a scheduled UFC 311 championship bout against Islam Makhachev just 24 hours before he was supposed to make the walk to the cage due to a persistent back injury. That eleventh-hour withdrawal landed him squarely in the UFC’s doghouse, with promotional leader Dana White making it abundantly clear that a subsequent title shot would not be handed to him immediately.
Refusing to let the setback derail his career aspirations, Tsarukyan set about the arduous task of climbing back up the lightweight ladder. Having already established his elite credentials with a statement win over former champion Charles Oliveira, Tsarukyan bounced back by submitting Dan Hooker. That victory set the stage for a high-stakes showdown in September at UFC 331, where he looked to cement his status once and for all against dangerous Brazilian striker Mauricio Ruffy in Los Angeles.
Long Overlooked Contenders on the Brink
Online betting outlets made the Armenian an overwhelming favorite to knock off Ruffy, with the reputable 5Gringos online casino and betting platform installing the number three ranked lightweight on the planet as a -300 favorite to secure the victory. Yet, the fight delivered immediate drama when Tsarukyan was stunned by an early right hand from the hard-hitting Brazilian underdog, raising the distinct possibility of a massive upset. Showing championship resilience, Tsarukyan quickly weathered the storm, changed tactics, pinned Ruffy to the fence, and unloaded a barrage of devastating elbows that brought a definitive end to the contest at 4:56 of the opening round.
The emphatic finish pushed Tsarukyan’s remarkable winning streak to six straight fights and elevated his professional mixed martial arts record to 24-3. Having stated publicly that he needed a definitive finish to erase any lingering doubts about his status, he delivered precisely what was asked of him. In his post-fight remarks, he immediately turned his attention outward, boldly claiming that rival contender Justin Gaethje was scared to face him. Meanwhile, the reigning lightweight champion, whose hands are still recovering from a punishing and grueling title defense against Ilia Topuria, has confirmed that he will not return to active competition before the end of the year. However, the champion has publicly acknowledged that Tsarukyan is clearly the next rightful contender in line for the division’s crown.
A similar trajectory of perseverance has defined the rise of Carlos Prates. Following a stunning knockout win over former champion Leon Edwards at UFC 322, Prates continued his destructive run through the welterweight division by systematically breaking down Jack Della Maddalena in Perth, ultimately finishing the Australian at 3:17 of the third round. With Islam Makhachev fresh off a successful defense against Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330, the champion openly identified Prates as the most deserving challenger in the weight class, and Prates has since indicated that he has been given internal assurances that his next bout will be for the championship.
Even with Tsarukyan and Prates positioning themselves at the front of the line, the divisional queues behind them continue to experience constant reshuffling. A handful of other elite contenders now sit just a single victory away from securing their own long-awaited opportunities to fight for championship gold.
Paulo Costa
For Paulo Costa, the journey to title contention has involved as much discipline on the scale as it has inside the Octagon. Five years after his weight-cutting issues first surfaced when he missed the middleweight limit of 185 pounds ahead of his 2003 bout against Marvin Vettori—a fight where the limit was shifted upward by 20 pounds only for Costa to drop a decision anyway—the Brazilian powerhouse has finally put his struggles with the scale behind him. A turbulent stretch that featured wins over Luke Rockhold in 2022 and Roman Kopylov in 2025, bracketed by tough decision defeats to former champions Robert Whittaker and Sean Strickland in 2024, ultimately prompted a permanent change in weight class.
The move yielded immediate dividends at UFC 327 in April, when Costa moved up to the light heavyweight division and brought an abrupt end to Azamat Murzakanov’s undefeated professional record with a devastating head kick at 1:23 of the third round. The performance was so impressive that veteran commentator Joe Rogan later suggested that Costa had thrust himself into the conversation for an interim championship opportunity. Costa’s lone previous UFC title bid had come down at middleweight, ending in a second-round technical knockout loss to dominant champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 253 in September 2020.
The light heavyweight division’s hierarchy remains complex, however. Carlos Ulberg captured the vacant light heavyweight belt that same night in April by stopping Jiri Prochazka via knockout, a victory made even more remarkable by the fact that Ulberg fought through a torn ACL. Following his win over Murzakanov, Costa turned down a short-notice fight offer against top contender Magomed Ankalaev. Asserting that he has only one fight remaining on his current promotional contract, Costa has made it clear he wants his final contractual bout to be for an interim belt, though he claims the UFC has been hesitant to sanction such a matchup. With Ankalaev expressing a willingness to step into the cage and reigning champion Ulberg floating the name of veteran slugger Khalil Rountree, Costa will likely need to accept a bout and defeat the dangerous Dagestani contender if he hopes to secure another crack at the championship.
Michael Morales
For an undefeated fighter, compiling 19 consecutive professional victories should guarantee a direct path to a title opportunity. Yet, Michael Morales’s ticket to a championship bout has remarkably still not been stamped by the promotion. Boasting an unblemished 19-0 professional record, including a flawless 7-0 mark inside the Octagon, Morales has done everything asked of him, securing first-round finishes in each of his last three appearances: a stoppage of veteran Neil Magny in August 2024, a submission victory over former champion Gilbert Burns in May 2025, and a dominant first-round finish of Sean Brady at UFC 322 last November.
Initial discussions floated a potential January championship matchup between Morales and the division’s elite, though both sides ultimately passed on the date. By the time fight week rolled around for UFC 330—an event where Morales successfully weighed in as the official backup fighter—the division’s titleholders were openly questioning his activity level. Following a successful defense against Ian Machado Garry that extended his promotional-record winning streak to 17 fights, the champion instead turned his focus toward Carlos Prates as his preferred next opponent.
Despite the temporary roadblock, Morales remains focused on his trajectory, revealing that he has accepted a January booking against a formidable, yet-unnamed opponent whom he has confirmed is neither Prates nor Machado Garry. He fully anticipates fighting for the championship by June, with some industry observers speculating that his mystery opponent could well be the similarly undefeated but currently inactive Shavkat Rakhmonov. The central question remains how long an undefeated welterweight contender can be kept waiting; secure a victory in January, and the answer from the broader MMA community will almost certainly be that he cannot be denied much longer.
Paddy Pimblett
Few fighters in recent memory have navigated the razor-thin margin between superstardom and career setbacks quite like Paddy Pimblett. January’s high-profile loss to Justin Gaethje threatened to completely puncture the considerable hype surrounding the charismatic British star, coming uncomfortably close to doing just that.
Prior to that pivotal defeat, Pimblett had steadily built momentum by securing victories over Tony Ferguson, King Green, and veteran Michael Chandler at UFC 314. His momentum was temporarily halted at UFC 324, where Gaethje outworked him over five rounds to capture a unanimous decision victory in what stands as Pimblett’s sole championship opportunity and lone defeat under the UFC banner. True to form, Pimblett engineered an impressive rebound at UFC 329 in July, needing just 52 seconds to render Benoit Saint Denis unconscious with a tight D’Arce choke, elevating his Octagon record to 8-1. Yet, the moment that truly amplified Pimblett’s promotional stock occurred an entire month prior to that bounce-back win, and remarkably, he did not even have to step foot inside the Octagon to achieve it.
Fresh off his decisive victory over Pimblett, American veteran Justin Gaethje pulled off one of the most stunning upsets in recent history by stopping the previously undefeated Ilia Topuria as a massive betting underdog at the White House during UFC Freedom 250, capturing the undisputed lightweight championship in the process. In the wake of that historic triumph, Gaethje has publicly dismissed the notion of granting immediate rematches to either Pimblett or Topuria, confirming that he will not compete again before the calendar turns, with Arman Tsarukyan positioned as the frontrunner for the next title opportunity.
Before the events of UFC 329, Pimblett candidly acknowledged that elite contenders like Tsarukyan, Charles Oliveira, and Max Holloway were sitting ahead of him in the championship queue. A victory over any of those established names, or the realization of a long-anticipated grudge match against former champion Ilia Topuria, would create an undeniable groundswell of support for a Pimblett title shot that the promotion simply could not ignore.
