Multiple touted Contender Series standouts set for UFC Fight Night debuts 

The first UFC event of 2025 features a slew of veteran competitors, including headlining strawweights Mackenzie Dern and Amanda Ribas, but also a handful of top prospects who will be making their official organizational debuts at Saturday’s Fight Night event at the Apex in Las Vegas.

Jacobe Smith, Austin Bashi, Marco Tulio and Bruno Silva all earned a UFC contract by winning on Season 8 of Dana White's Contender Series in 2024, and all are set to compete this weekend. Smith an Bashi, in particular, enter Saturday as high-ceiling fighters to watch.

Smith is a 9-0 welterweight who turns 29 next week. He is set to face slick submission artist Preston Parsons, while Smith will bring with him to the cage an All-American wrestling base and plenty of power in his hands. Smith is a heavy betting favourite and looking to make an immediate impact at 170 pounds during his UFC rookie campaign.

Bashi is only 23 years old yet already has a 13-0 pro record. The highly touted 145-pound prospect flaunted his fight IQ and raw physicality in his submission win over Dorian Ramos on DWCS in September. His opponent on Saturday will be Christian Rodriguez, who represents a daunting first challenge for Bashi at the UFC level.

Rodriguez’s most recent appearance was when he suffered his second pro loss at a July Fight Night – making a tactical error against Julian Erosa and losing by submission late in the opening round – but he has already developed a reputation for handing opponents their first pro loss. Rodriguez is the only person to date to defeat popular rising star Raul Rosas Jr., and Rodriguez followed that win up by also handing Cameron Saaiman his first pro loss.

“My pace, my pressure and my game is gonna break him,” a confident Bashi said Wednesday during a media availability in Las Vegas.

“Something about me is no matter what the media is saying, no matter how big someone is trying to hype me up, I think the reason I’m undefeated and keep continuing to keep beat these guys is because I throw all of that out the window and I don’t think about any of that.”

One thing Bashi does think about is how his 2025 will unfold. The Michigan native said Wednesday his goal for the calendar year is to be ranked in the top 15 by the end of December. A win over Rodriguez would be an ideal start.

“I see myself finishing him by TKO or rear-naked choke at the end of the second or early third (round),” Bashi said. “If you go look at my regional scene fights, you go see who I fought, I fought nothing but tough guys. Literally since my debut I was thrown to the wolves and here I am 13 fights later 13-0.”

Marco Tulio went 2-0 on the Contender Series. He beat Yousri Belgaroui in 2023 but failed to secure a UFC contract before finishing Matthieu Duclos this past August to earn a shot in the big show.

The Brazilian is 12-1 as a pro with eight of his wins coming via knockout or technical knockout. He is set to make his UFC debut on Saturday against Ukraine’s Ihor Potieria who is 1-4 in his past five UFC appearances.

Former UFC titleholders like Sean O'Malley and Jamahal Hill got their start through DWCS, as did other stars and rising contenders such as Bo Nickal, Jack Della Maddalena, Caio Borralho, Carlos Ulberg, Anthony Hernandez, Payton Talbott, Grant Dawson, Joe Pyfer, and Rosas Jr., among others.

In addition to Smith and Bashi, there are two other undefeated fighters set to step into the Octagon this weekend.

Nurullo Aliev and Magomed Gadzhiyasulov are both looking to improve to 10-0 on Saturday. Aliev and Gadzhiyasulov are also Contender Series veterans with Aliev earning a contract in 2022 and Gadzhiyasulov in 2023.

Aliev has only fought once in the UFC since his DWCS appearance and kicks off the early prelims against Joe Solecki, a 2019 participant on DWCS. Gadzhiyasulov meets Bruno Lopes, who was part of the 2024 class.

Saturday's Fight Night takes place at the UFC Apex, which is the same venue at which the Contender Series takes place, so the atmosphere won't be foreign to the aforementioned UFC rookies.

Complete card for UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Ribas 2 and projected bout order…

MAIN CARD

-- Mackenzie Dern vs. Amanda Ribas

-- Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Carlston Harris

-- César Almeida vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan

-- Chris Curtis vs. Roman Kopylov        

-- Christian Rodriguez vs. Austin Bashi

-- Punahele Soriano vs. Uroš Medić

PRELIMINARY CARD

-- Jose Johnson vs. Felipe Bunes

-- Marco Tulio vs. Ihor Potieria

-- Thiago Moises vs. Trey Ogden

-- Preston Parsons vs. Jacobe Smith

-- Ernesta Kareckaite vs. Nicolle Caliari

-- Magomed Gadzhiyasulov vs. Bruno Lopes

-- Fatima Kline vs. Victoria Dudakova

-- Joe Solecki vs. Nurullo Aliev