5 Prospects to Watch in 2025

Phumi Nkuta at this stage of his career lacks only opportunity.

The 29-year-old former Cage Fury Fighting Championships titleholder boasts a perfect 8-0 record, having earned widespread acclaim as the top flyweight in the sport not currently signed to a major organization. Nkuta has overcome his share of adversity. In 2023, he returned from a hand injury the resulted in multiple surgeries and led to a brief retirement. Nkuta has earned glowing reviews ever since. “Turbo” laid claim to the Peak Fighting flyweight championship in his most recent assignment on June 8, when he forced a cut-induced doctor stoppage against Jesse Tafoya in between the first and second rounds of their PFC 37 co-main event. Nkuta brims with confidence, often reiterating the belief that he considers himself the No. 1 flyweight in the world, regardless of promotion.

“I’ve literally never been hit in a fight clean,” he told The Split Decision Network. “I mean, come on now. At 125 pounds, I’ve literally never been hit, never been touched, never been taken down. You could write that down as a catchphrase. I don’t see anyone else doing that. I don’t see anyone doing it the way I’m doing it—in the ring and also on the microphone.”

Nkuta operates out of the revered Serra-Longo Fight Team gym in New York, where he chews on daily feedback provided to him by UFC hall of famer Matt Serra and longtime striking coach Ray Longo. A number of world-class competitors call the camp home, including current UFC bantamweight titleholder Merab Dvalishvili and former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling. High-level exposure has fostered Nkuta’s rapid development.

“I’m truly blessed,” he said. “I was just a fan when I first started. I think in the ring and out of the ring I learn a lot of things from these guys.”

Nkuta is but one prospect to watch in 2025. Here are four more:



Losene Keita: “Black Panther” has spent half a decade terrorizing and tormenting the European regional scene, racking up an 18-1 record—his only defeat resulted from a leg injury—in the process. The 27-year-old Belgian won all four of his fights in 2024 and captured the Oktagon MMA lightweight championship in resounding fashion when he buried Ronald Paradeiser with an elbow strike and follow-up punches in the second round of their Dec. 29 pairing. Keita has delivered 10 of his 16 career victories by knockout or technical knockout, five of them inside one round. He now holds Oktagon MMA titles in the featherweight and lightweight divisions.



Shanelle Dyer: An injury cost the undefeated Dyer a shot at a six-figure payday in the Professional Fighters League and forced her withdrawal from the PFL Europe women’s flyweight final. She had advanced to the 125-pound championship with back-to-back victories over Mariam Torchinava and Valentina Scatizzi. Her unfortunate exit from the PFL tournament aside, the 23-year-old Dyer seems poised for a breakthrough in 2025 and beyond. She trains out of Great Britain Top Team in London, where she hones her skills under the direction of World Extreme Cagefighting and Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Brad Pickett.



Jacobe Smith: The burgeoning Fortis MMA star was a decorated amateur wrestler who became a two-time junior college national champion at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M. Those exploits led him to Oklahoma State University—the same powerhouse program that gave rise to former UFC champions Daniel Cormier, Randy Couture and Johny Hendricks—in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he won two Big XII Conference titles and earned All-America honors in 2018. Smith went 65-13 in parts of three seasons with the Cowboys before turning his attention to mixed martial arts. The transition has gone swimmingly. Smith, 28, has raced out to a 9-0 record as a pro. He earned a UFC contract via Dana White’s Contender Series on Oct. 1 and figures to make his Octagon debut sometime in the first half of 2025.



Mitchell McKee: The 5-foot-7 bantamweight first made headlines as a wrestler at the University of Minnesota, where he was a four-time NCAA qualifier, amassed 91 career victories and earned All-America honors as a junior in 2019. Now 27 years of age, McKee has grown into one of MMA’s most promising young talents. The Kill Cliff Fight Club export improved to 8-0 when he took a three-round unanimous decision from Hector Forral under the Borroka Promotions banner in November. McKee has nailed down five of his eight wins by knockout or technical knockout.