Athletes
Fighters on the Rise | UFC 305
Spotlighting Three Ascending Talents Primed To Potentially Make A Statement On Saturday
As you would expect, several of the top talents from Australia and New Zealand to compete inside the Octagon had their debut and breakout moments on fight cards Down Under, including Dan Hooker, Tai Tuivasa, and Kai Kara-France, all of whom are slated to compete this weekend.
But Perth itself has played host to some important debuts and pivotal moments along the way, with UFC 305 headliner Israel Adesanya making his first appearance at UFC 221, one fight after former featherweight ruler Alexander Volkanovski earned his first eye-opening win in the promotion by dominating Jeremy Kennedy. Last year, local favorite Jack Della Maddalena started his sophomore campaign on the roster with a similar type of effort against Randy Brown at UFC 284.
Saturday's Full Fight Card Preview
Saturday night at RAC Arena, the three athletes below aim to join the long list of standouts that first stood out while competing in Australia, with a pair of Brazilians joining an Australian lightweight in this week’s collection of emerging talents to keep close tabs on going forward.
These are the Fighters on the Rise for UFC 305.
Carlos Prates
Carlos Prates Gets A Highlight Reel KO In His Debut | UFC Fight Night: Hermansson vs Pyfer
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Carlos Prates Gets A Highlight Reel KO In His Debut | UFC Fight Night: Hermansson vs Pyfer
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In any other year, Prates would have likely taken the No. 1 spot as the top newcomer in our annual Half-Year Awards, but with the arrival of Kayla Harrison and the abundance of emerging talent currently that shone in the first half of the year, the 30-year-old Brazilian only managed a tie for fourth with his Fighting Nerds teammate Jean Silva.
Prates, who landed his spot on the UFC roster as a result of a second-round stoppage win over Mitch Ramirez last season on Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS), earned a pair of wins over the first six months of 2024, stopping Trevin Gilles in the second round of his promotional debut in February before dropping Charles Radkte with a knee to the body in the closing moments of the opening round of their Fight Night pairing in early June.
The victories pushed Prates’ overall winning streak to nine, with each of the last eight of those triumphs coming inside the distance, and established him as a person of interest in the 170-pound ranks, setting up this weekend’s intriguing clash with Li Jingliang that opens up the UFC 305 main card.
While the Chinese veteran is competing for the first time since his UFC 279 split decision loss to Daniel Rodriguez in September 2022, Li remains one of the more experienced hands in the welterweight division — a long-time fixture in the Top 15 that holds quality wins over Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos, Santiago Ponzinibbio, and Muslim Salikhov, and served as the initial significant step up in competition for Khamzat Chimaev in the early stages of his meteoric ascent.
This is the kind of fight that will instantly signal where Prates stands in the division, and illuminate the direction his career could travel in the next couple of years. He’s blown through his first two assignments without much issue, and if he’s able to sail into Perth and do the same to “The Leech,” the welterweight division will have a new dark horse to track and Prates will have further strengthened his case for a podium finish when the Year-End Awards roll around in December.
Luana Santos
Santos is aiming to strike while the iron is hot, jumping right back into the fray against Casey O’Neill this weekend in Perth just five weeks after running through Mariya Agapova in Denver.
Just 24 years old and entering on a five-fight winning streak, Santos’ win over Agapova was her most impressive yet in the UFC and a reminder of what she’s capable of when fully healthy, as she is now. After battering TUF winner Juliana Miller in her promotional debut on year ago, the Brazilian judoka dealt with thyroid issues heading into her bantamweight clash with Stephanie Egger last December, missing weight before earning a decision win.
Luana Carolina Beats The Buzzer With A Thrilling TKO | UFC Fight Night: Dolidze vs Imavov
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Luana Carolina Beats The Buzzer With A Thrilling TKO | UFC Fight Night: Dolidze vs Imavov
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With her health issues sorted, she turned up in Denver dialed in and determined to make a statement, and that she did, driving Agapova to the canvas with force off a perfectly timed uchi mata before quickly transitioning into mount. After initially hunting an arm triangle choke, Santos transitioned to the back as Agapova tried to build a base, latching onto the fight-ending choke before even fully securing the position.
Order UFC 305: Du Plessis vs Adesanya
Now 3-0 in the UFC and 8-1 overall, Santos was quick to jump at the chance to replace Tereza Bleda opposite O’Neill this weekend, recognizing the prime opportunity in front of her.
O’Neill returns to Australia for the first time in her UFC career on a two-fight skid, stationed at No. 15 in the rankings. After arguably returning from injury too soon ahead of her UFC 286 loss to former title challenger Jennifer Maia, the Scottish-born flyweight had few answers against Ariane Lipski in December, falling to the “Queen of Violence” via armbar in the second round.
This feels like smart risk-taking by Santos and her team, as a victory catapults her into the rankings and puts everyone on notice that she’s a dangerous emerging threat in the division, while a setback doesn’t result in her losing any real ground as she’s making a quick turnaround against a fighter ticketed for contention.
RELATED: Casey O'Neill Interview
These are the chances you want to see young fighters take more often, and it’ll be curious to see how it shakes out for Santos this weekend in Perth.
Tom Nolan
Though he hails from the opposite side of the nation, there is no way that Saturday’s Australian homecoming isn’t a big deal for Nolan, a member of the Dana White’s Contender Series Class of ’23 who makes his third UFC start of the year against Alex Reyes.
The Brisbane man faltered in his debut, getting clipped and finished by Nikolas Motta in just over a minute on the first card of the year. In retrospect — and this can’t be confirmed quite yet — it feels like a case of a relatively inexperienced fighter being a little too hyped up and aggressive out of the chute in his UFC debut, and paying a stiff price.
Tom Nolan Knees His Way To Victory | UFC Fight Night: Barboza vs Murphy
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Tom Nolan Knees His Way To Victory | UFC Fight Night: Barboza vs Murphy
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It happens.
What’s more important (in my opinion) is how he responded in his sophomore effort, showing a little more composure and patience as he picked away at Victor Martinez for the first half of the first round before driving a knee into his midsection with just over a minute remaining in the round to secure the stoppage.
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for “Big Train” though, as he did get dropped just after the midway point, but even then, Nolan cleared the cobwebs quickly and started attacked, opening Martinez up with elbows off his back and using his long legs to threaten triangle chokes and armbars that created the opening he needed to get back to his feet and find the finish.
After going exactly six years between his first and second UFC appearances as a result of myriad health issues, Reyes makes his second start in the last 12 months on Saturday, still searching for his first UFC victory. He’s the kind of experienced fighter that could cause Nolan problems if he gets too aggressive and out over his skis, and there were brief positive moments in his fight with Charlie Campbell last September for him to build upon here now that he’s shaken all the rust off.
Nolan has a ton of upside, and at 23 years of age, plenty of time to grow as a fighter. There are some defensive elements he needs to work on in order to best maximize his abundant offensive talents, and if he does, the combination of his diverse striking array and tremendous size for the division could result in him making waves in the lightweight ranks somewhere down the line.
UFC 305: Du Plessis vs Adesanya took place live from RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia on August 17, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
