But this year, the folks that stepped into the Octagon in December stepped up their games and made it so that you had to pay attention because some of these performances are likely to land on the Top 10 lists that will be flooding the space in the weeks to come.
So before you fully shift into holiday mode and celebrate the end of the 2025 campaign, spare a couple of minutes for the standouts from the final two events of the year.
Breakout Performance: Melquizael Costa (UFC Fight Night: Royval vs Kape)
Admittedly, this is a bit of a cumulative reward as Costa has been one of the breakout performers of the year, though he did complete his standout 2025 campaign with an impressive high kick knockout of Morgan Charriere last weekend in Las Vegas.
This was a classic instance where the first truly meaningful shot thrown landed flush and finished the fight; just no one really expected it to be a thudding head kick that sent “The Last Pirate” to Davy Jones’ locker. The duo spent the first minute feeling each other out, getting a sense of range and timing, and then, after exchanging a couple of throwaways, Costa went high with his left leg and caught Charriere out.
What made it so impressive is that in the replay, you see that Charriere got a hand up to cushion some of the blow, and yet Costa still connected with such force that it put the French featherweight on the deck and gave “The Dalmatian” his fourth win of the year.
FIGHT NIGHT REWIND: Final Results | Official Scorecards | Biggest Winners
Costa is one of those fighters who has snuck up on people this year; a short-notice signee a couple years back who debuted up a weight class with a competitive loss to Thiago Moises, who has quietly gone 6-1 since returning to the 145-pound ranks. He opened the year by submitting Andre Fili and wrapped it with a blistering knockout of Charriere, posting decision wins over divisional stalwarts Christian Rodriguez and Julian Erosa in between.
The Brazilian, who was bullied growing up as a result of his vitiligo, has leaned into his story and joyous, uplifting personality, adopting one of the taunts levied at him as his new nickname and earning high marks from everyone in the UFC APEX over the weekend for bopping out to the Octagon to “Hakuna Matata” from The Lion King.
Costa is another example of an unheralded talent that needed a little time to find his footing but has subsequently settled in and started having tremendous success. He’s making a push for the rankings and is someone that folks definitely need to be paying attention to in 2026.
Honorable Mentions: Mairon Santos, Iwo Baraniewski, Fares Ziam, Manuel Torres, Payton Talbott, Yaroslav Amosov
Submission of the Month: Mansur Abdul-Malik dispatches Antonio Trocoli (UFC 323)
A dozen years ago when Carlos Condit faced Nick Diaz for the interim welterweight title at UFC 143, “The Natural Born Killer” attacked Diaz with a spinning backfist in the first round that prompted the standout from Stockton, California to ask him, “Oh, we’re throwing spinnin’ s*** now?”
I tell you that tidbit because 1) you should go watch Condit-Diaz if you haven’t ever or in some time; it’s still great, and 2) I paraphrased it in my mind when Mansur Abdul-Malik quickly and emphatically clamped onto the neck of Antonio Trocoli a minute into their middleweight clash at T-Mobile Arena.
“Oh, we’re submitting people now?”
Abdul-Malik has been one of the leading forces behind my year-long advocacy for Season 8 of Dana White’s Contender Series having the potential to produce the best all-around crop of graduates in the show’s history, and he further justified that with his effort earlier this month. Though we had already witnessed his striking and wrestling skills, as well as the uncanny athleticism he possesses, the fact that he was so swift and decisive in attacking the guillotine choke that halted the action was a sharp indication that there is even more to come from the 28-year-old admitted obsessive.
WATCH: Best Of ESPN PPV | Best Of ESPN Fight Nights
What made it such a standout moment is that from the rip, Abdul-Malik played to his strengths and forced Trocoli into dilemmas. He wasted little time shooting and taking the fight to the canvas, and the opportunity to finish came in transition as the two were rising to their feet. Those are moments where loads of fighters can miss chances because they’re focused on resetting or simply resigned to allow their opponent to get back to standing, but the Xtreme Couture product saw his opening and pounced, clamping onto the choke while Trocoli was still on a knee before pulling him to his feet with the force of his squeeze.
Now 9-0-1 through his first 10 professional appearances, this feels like it will be the first little benchmark moment in Abdul-Malik’s career that we look back on when discussing his rise to contention in the middleweight ranks.
Honorable Mentions: Chris Duncan vs Terrance McKinney, Amosov vs Neil Magny
Knockout of the Month: Kevin Vallejos vs Giga Chikadze (UFC Fight Night: Royval vs Kape)
There were a bunch of worthy candidates for this award in December, but it’s being bestowed upon Vallejos because his win over Chikadze in the penultimate UFC bout of 2025 showed both his promise as a prospect and the improvements he’s making as a young fighter competing on the biggest stage in the sport.
In the opening round, the 24-year-old struggled to get beyond kicking range against the Georgian veteran, who painted Vallejos’ midsection crimson by bashing home body kicks with his left leg, which split open when Chikadze checked a kick. It was one of those familiar instances of a savvy veteran knowing exactly how to deploy their weapons and control the action against a still-green emerging talent taking a considerable step up in competition.
But early in the second, Vallejos committed to getting inside, pressing forward with urgency and leading with swings that forced Chikadze to cede ground, resulting in his backing up to the fence. As “El Chino” closed the distance, Chikadze tried to fire and circle out to his left, giving Vallejos the perfect opportunity to pivot on a dime, fire off a spinning backfist that landed heavy and then chase the 37-year-old stalwart to the canvas with follow-up blows that halted the action.
It was an outstanding adjustment by a young fighter who has an abundance of upside but still needs seasoning. Vallejos had a ton of buzz after taking Jean Silva to the scorecards in their Dana White’s Contender Series battle on Season 7 and storming his way to a contract the following season, and justified that hype with three wins in as many appearances in his rookie year on the roster.
Closing things out with this kind of performance just drove home that the talented Argentine is a future threat in the featherweight ranks, and the future might not be too far away.
Honorable Mentions: Santos vs Muhammad Naimov, Baraniewski vs Ibo Aslan, Ziam vs Nazim Sadykhov, Manuel Torres vs Grant Dawson, Jamey-Lyn Horth vs Tereza Bleda, Costa vs Charriere, Manel Kape vs Brandon Royval
Fight of the Month: Iwo Baraniewski and Ibo Aslan Throw Down (UFC 323)
Baraniewski and Aslan combined to throw 85 significant strikes in their UFC 323 light heavyweight dust-up, landing 52 of them and registering three knockdowns between them as well. While that total output might sound tepid for a 15-minute affair, it becomes jaw-dropping when you learn the two men spent a tick under 90 seconds inside the Octagon together on December 6 in Las Vegas.
It sounds strange to say this of a bout that lasted a minute-and-a-half, but there were multiple moments in the chaos where each man appeared to be one good shot away from being sent to the Land of Whispers and Ghosts. Right as it felt like that blow was coming, the other would respond with something that shifted the momentum (again), and the madness continued.
This was, without question, the most thrilling 90-second fight I’ve seen in my 15 years covering this sport, and was only made more enjoyable by the anecdote I shared in the “One Last Thing” section of The Bigger Picture following the event:
As wildly entertaining as the contest was on its own, watching it backstage as three Xtreme Couture representatives — Eric Nicksick, Brad Tavares, and Sadibou Sy — cheered on and coached their teammate and friend through the chaos from afar made things even more enjoyable.
“Uppercut Ibo!”
“Straight Ibo!”
“No Ibo!”
Each time either man competes from here on out, that’s all I’m going to hear, and this first-rate brouhaha is play on repeat in my mind.
Honorable Mentions: Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili, Steven Asplund vs Sean Sharaf
Subscribe to my channel
