Three rising prospects to watch this weekend at UFC Nashville

Some major names are set to compete at UFC Nashville this weekend, but there are also several rising talents that fans will want to keep an eye on come fight night.

UFC Nashville is headlined by a heavyweight tilt between Tallison Teixeira and Derrick Lewis, who added to his record as the UFC’s all-time knockout leader when he stopped Rodigo Nascimento in the main event of UFC St. Louis last year.

Former welterweight title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson will meet Gabriel Bonfim in the co-main event, and the UFC Nashville main card will also see longtime featherweight veteran Calvin Kattar try to stop Steve Garcia’s five-fight knockout streak.

Stephen Thompson (red gloves) fights Joaquin Buckley (blue gloves) during UFC 307 at Delta Center. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

With a few well-known names in action on Saturday, let’s take a look at three up-and-coming fighters that fans should keep on eye on at UFC Nashville.

Tallison Teixiera

It may seem odd to tab Texieira as an up-and-comer considering he’s one half of the headlining fight at UFC Nashville, but the Brazilian is only eight fights into his professional MMA career and has one UFC appearance under his belt.

Talisson Teixeira of Brazil punches Arthur Lopes of Brazil in a heavyweight fight during Dana White’s Contender Series. | (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

The 25-year-old’s UFC debut was an impressive 35-second finish against Justin Tafa at UFC 312. With all eight of his wins coming in the first round (seven via knockout), fans will be watching closely to see if Texeira can take a significant step towards heavyweight title contention when he meets Lewis on Saturday night.

Fatima Kline

Still just 24 years only, former two-division Cage Fury FC champion Kline joined the UFC as an undefeated prospect in 2024 with a short-notice fight against current Jasmine Jasudavicius, who currently occupies the #5 spot in the women’s flyweight division.

“The Archangel” was originally set to compete on Dana White’s Contenders Series before taking a short-notice flyweight matchup with Jasudavicius. After defeating Victoria Dudakova in her return to 115 lbs. earlier this year, Kline will try to continue her climb towards the strawweight rankings against Melissa Martinez.

Valter Walker

The younger brother of UFC light heavyweight Johnny Walker, Valter came up short in his UFC debut against Łukasz Brzeski after starting his professional MMA career with a perfect 11-0 record.

Walker rebounded from that setback with back-to-back wins via heel hook against Junior Tafa and Don’Tale Mayes, and both he and Kennedy Nzechukwu will try to extend their respective win streaks to three fights when they meet at UFC Nashville.

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