UFC's next superstars: Predicting the breakout fighters of 2025
With another year brings another opportunity for the next crop of MMA superstars.
Activity was the best friend of Carlos Prates and Diego Lopes in 2024, both of whom garnered top honors as Uncrowned's Breakthrough Fighters of the Year. The duo had long careers in the sport before they reached the UFC, but when they finally arrived, they wasted no time in becoming divisional staples.
In MMA, some of our fondest moments as spectators can come from watching young talent rise from the bottom to the pinnacle. You understand how fandoms and attachments get created after seeing it firsthand. Personally, I'll take any opportunity I can to brag about predicting the success of Seika Izawa, Erin Blanchfield and Chris Weidman from their debuts onward.
With 2025 officially arriving, let's try to do so again and call a few more shots. Here are the budding contenders and next-generation stars who will be the biggest winners come December.
Jean Silva
The Fighting Nerds ruled in 2024.
Brazil's Jean Silva rightfully earned himself an honorable mention on our 2024 Breakthrough Fighters list, but in 2025, he'll take things to the next level after showing flashes of brilliance in year one. Another product of activity paying off, Silva went 3-0 in 2024 by taking out Westin Wilson followed by notable UFC veterans Charles Jourdain and Drew Dober, all by knockout.
What made Silva so immediately lovable was his willingness to fight anywhere, at any time and any weight. While Silva is primarily a featherweight, his most recent UFC fight against Dober was a lightweight appearance, and ultimately his biggest win yet.
Silva is an all-action competitor who continues to improve and ride the momentum of his team. Whether at 155 or 145 pounds, the 28-year-old has a bright and exciting future.
Jaqueline Amorim
Brazil has a handful of up-and-coming UFC fighters set to have big years. At strawweight, Manaus native Jaqueline Amorim is coming into her own after suffering her lone career setback in her April 2023 promotional debut, which she lost with a unanimous decision to Sam Hughes.
Amorim, 29, hadn't needed the judges' scorecards prior to that loss and she hasn't needed them since. The 9-1 prospect is a finishing machine who tends to find submissions over knockouts, scoring seven of the former throughout her career. In 2024, she became an arm collector with back-to-back first-round armbar wins over Cory McKenna and Vanessa Demopoulos.
Among lighter-weight fighters, killer instinct is often a coveted trait for determining potential, and Amorim has it in spades. The strawweight division has hit somewhat of a standstill in recent years without the emergence of much fresh blood, but Amorim is just the injection of life the doctor ordered for 2025.
Michael Morales
Potential doesn't get much more obvious than it does with a talent like the undefeated 17-0 Michael Morales. The welterweight prospect was another honorable mention for Uncrowned's 2024 list. Unfortunately for the Ecuadorian, he fought only once this past year, leaving fans wanting more.
Morales, 25, stunned UFC CEO Dana White in his "Contender Series" contract-earning win in 2021. He's delivered ever since, winning his first five UFC fights culminating in a first-round knockout of Neil Magny. A top-15 collision is likely next for Morales after dispatching the all-time UFC welterweight wins record-holder, allowing him to climb toward gold in 2025 — assuming a ranked opponent will actually accept that fight.
We continued to see the next generation of welterweight talent clean out the veteran ranks at 170 pounds in 2024, and Morales will be a key contributor to that wave soon enough.
Payton Talbott
Payton Talbott was a bad, bad man in 2024 — and it earned him the nod as bantamweight's torch bearer on Uncrowned's inaugural All-Violence First Team.
Heading into his UFC debut in late 2023, Talbott's talent had kept him undefeated in six professional fights, but his "Contender Series" contract win hadn't sold a majority of the fan base on his potential after going the distance for the first time. After a Nick Aguirre third-round rear-naked choke got him back on the finishing track in that debut, Talbott was tasked with facing a fellow top bantamweight prospect, Cameron Saaiman.
In a shocking display, Talbott showed he was on a different level to his equally youthful counterpart, battering and beating Saaiman en route to a second-round knockout, which Talbott then followed up with an even more impressive 19-second stoppage of Yanis Ghemmouri at UFC 303.
Now, at 26, the hype machine is fully behind Talbott ahead of his UFC 311 return against Raoni Barcelos. There is still a ton of development for the youngster to wade through, especially in the ever-deep 135-pound weight class. However, he's shown enough in this past year to believe he'll make even bigger strides in 2025.
Bo Nickal
Bo Nickal left a lot to be desired in his victory over Paul Craig this past November.
Regarding prospects, few have had higher expectations out of the gate than the world-class collegiate wrestling standout. Nickal carried the aura of an immediate MMA force in the middleweight division when he made his pro debut in 2022. It's been starching after starching ever since — except for Craig.
Even before Craig pushed him to a lackluster decision win at UFC 309, Nickal looked more human than normal while getting past Cody Brundage at UFC 300. This isn't a race though, and Nickal knows it.
Nickal showcased a full display of striking in the Craig fight, which shocked seemingly the entire global audience as at least one takedown from the preternaturally talented wrestler felt like a guarantee. Although Craig isn't the greatest striker by any means, Nickal pitched a shutout victory in the standup department and avoided any danger whatsoever for 15 minutes. If there was a perfect fight to experiment with his striking at a higher level within the division, this was it and Nickal passed.
The 28-year-old is already lightyears ahead of where his development should be seven fights into his MMA career. Nickal is seemingly a fight sponge, and after beating Craig, he's going to fight even bigger, more notable names to start the new year. The Penn State alum will surely get back to his brilliant grappling game in doing so, and remind the world why he's been touted as a surefire future champion.
