The UFC returns to France this weekend, with an absolutely stacked card headlined by top middleweight contenders Caio Borralho, and French native Nassourdine Imavov. While there is no doubt the headliner will deliver in action, the card is filled with regional stars making their debut in the big show. 3 fighters on this card have attained double champion status in their career (Patricio Pitbull, Losene Keita, and Mason Jones) while 7 other fighters have won belts for their previous promotions (Axel Sola, Ante Delija, Trey Waters, Rhys McKee, Modestas Bukauskas, Robert Ruchala, and Harry Hardwick). As a journalist particularly fond of the European and American regional scenes, I will be providing a ranking of the value of these titles and what they mean in terms of prestige and talent level.
- Patricio Pitbull – Bellator Double champion (Lightweight and Featherweight)
While no doubt long in the tooth at this point in his career, Patricio was once the most dominant fighter in Bellator. Reigning over both the lightweight and featherweight divisions, he only gave up his lightweight title in exchange for his brother Patricky to get a title shot in 2021. With Bellator being the long time number two promotion behind the UFC, this is an incredible honor to hold. Patricio fought 30 times under the Bellator banner and has wins over fighters such as AJ McKee, Michael Chandler, Pedro Carvalho, Juan Archuleta, and many other top names.
Patricio is entering his third fight in the UFC, as he takes on debutant Losene Keita at featherweight. This fight is significant as it is the first time in UFC history that two double champs from other major organizations will face off in the octagon. Pitbull will have his hands full with this matchup, as the striking and takedown defense of Keita is impressive. If he can mix it up and keep Keita guessing, he should give ‘Black Panther’ the toughest fight of his career.
2. Losene Keita – OKTAGON Double Champion + TipSport Gamechanger Lightweight Grand Prix (Featherweight and Lightweight)
Losene Keita is one of the most recent UFC signings, and he is without a doubt one of the biggest stars in Europe. He is coming off a fantastic run with OKTAGON, the largest and most successful European promotion, in which he captured the featherweight and lightweight titles, while also winning the lightweight Tipsport Gamechanger Tournament. Keita amassed a record of 10-1 in OKTAGON, with his only loss coming by injury while on top of his opponent during a grappling sequence to Mate Sanikidze. With OKTAGON being one of the premier global promotions as of late, Keita enters the UFC with a plethora of championship experience.
In this matchup, he faces the veteran Patricio Pitbull. Pitbull is a slower paced fighter, who looks to land big single shots and build the pace throughout the fight. Keita, in contrast, is akin to a buzzsaw in the cage, walking forward and stuffing takedown attempts until he can unleash combos up against the fence. With the speed and athleticism advantage going to Keita, I could see this fight playing out similarly to Pitbull vs Suzuki, or Keita vs Tichota. Keita does struggle with opponents who mix up the striking and wrestling well though, as seen in his fight with Agy Sardari.
3. Ante Delija – PFL Heavyweight Champion
Another significant signing of this year was the UFC adding former PFL heavyweight champion Ante Delija to the roster. Delija is coming off a 10 fight run with the Professional Fighters League, and won their Heavyweight season tournament in 2022. With the PFL’s season format, he was unable to defend his belt as the champions reset each year, but his most recent fight came with European promotion FNC earlier this year. The PFL is widely regarded as one of the top promotions in terms of talent, which provides very good prestige for Delija’s belt. Despite ‘Walking Trouble’ coming into the big show at 35 years old, the heavyweight division is in desperate need of new blood and Delijia remains one of the top 265 pound fighters in the sport.
Ante Delija will be facing ranked mainstay Marcin Tybura in a rematch of their M-1 Global fight in 2015. This fight gave us very little information of this matchup as Delija broke his leg on a misstep following a kick in the first round, resulting in a TKO victory for Tybura. Years later, these two men meet again, with much higher stakes on the line; a UFC ranking. Tybura is known for his smothering ground game and fantastic armbars, while Delija is much more of a traditional striker with a bit of wrestling as well. This is a very close matchup, and either fighter could get their hands raised.
4. Robert Ruchala – KSW Featherweight Champion (1 defense)
Signed to the UFC at the same time as his fellow KSW Champion Jakub Wiclaz earlier this year, Ruchala looks to be the next KSW title holder to find sucess in the UFC. KSW has produced top fighters such as Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Jan Blachowicz, and Matuesz Gamrot, and Ruchala looks to add his name to this list. KSW has long time been one of the top promotions in Europe, with an emphasis on competitive matchmaking and large spectacle events. Ruchala lost and gained back his KSW belt, proving he is one of the top prospects in Europe.
Ruchala will be facing home country fighter William Gomis in his UFC debut this weekend. Ruchala is a very well-rounded fighter, with great strength in the wrestling department. He tends to throw a lot of spinning strikes on the feet but finds good success with them. Gomis is a point fighter who will use his movement and long weapons to frustrate his opponent to a decision. If Ruchala can put the pressure on early, he has a chance to win this fight, but Gomis is very skilled at what he does which will make it difficult for Ruchala to get close.
5. Mason Jones – Cage Warriors Double Champion (Lightweight and Welterweight)
Mason Jones returned to the UFC for his second stint with the promotion earlier this year, capping it off with a victory against veteran Jeremy Stephens at UFC Iowa. Outside of the UFC, the Welsh fighter is known for his fantastic 12-0 career with the UK based promotion Cage Warriors. Before his initial run with the UFC, Jones captured both the lightweight and welterweight belts with wins over Joe McColgan and Adam Proctor. Jones did not defend either of these titles, as he went 1-2-1 with the UFC before returning to Cage Warriors in 2023 for another four fights. While impressive that he attained belts at both weight classes, neither were against particulary notable opponents and Cage Warriors has a very mixed bag in terms of talent.
Mason Jones faces off against Bolaji Oki, a respected UFC prospect who is coming off a win over Michael Aswell earlier this year. Both these fighters love to strike, with Oki taking a more boxing heavy approach while Jones tends to mix it up very well. This should be an exciting matchup between two young and talented fighters.
6. Axel Sola – ARES FC Lightweight champion (4 defenses)
Axel Sola is yet another fighter making his UFC debut on this card. A former champion of the French based promotion ARES FC, Sola defended his lightweight title 4 times, which is almost unheard of on the regional scene. Boasting a record of 10-0-1, his one draw was to the younger brother of Nassourdine Imavov, Daguir. Sola is a fantastic striker, and he knocked out top prospects Turpal Younosov and Soslan Gagloev in two of his title fights. ARES FC is a smaller promotion that heavily favors French fighters, so while the belt itself is not the most prestigious title, the fact Sola defended the belt against so many top prospects make this an impressive achievement.
Sola takes on fellow former champion Rhys McKee at welterweight. Despite Rhys’ rough run in the UFC, he is much taller and longer than Sola, and with Axel moving up a division for this fight it will be difficult for him to overcome these deficiencies. Experience will not be an issue for Sola, as he shows nearly 30 amateur fights on his record. Regardless, Sola is without a doubt the fighter with the higher ceiling between these two, and he absolutely could find a victory here in his debut.
7. Harry Hardwick – Cage Warriors Featherweight Champion (2 defenses)
Harry Hardwick and his brother George are legends of the UK MMA scene. Lifelong martial artists, they are known for their wit, striking skill, passion for fighting, and love for chicken parm. Harry has finally recieved his call to the UFC, accepting a short notice fight up a weight class to face Kaue Fernandes. Hardwick is the reigning Cage Warriors Featherweight champion, where he finished two out of his three opponents during his title reign. His most impressive defense came against the massive hitter Keweny Lopes, a fight in which Hardwick survived the power early and melted Lopes with boxing and body work to secure the fourth round TKO. As mentioned above, Cage Warriors can be a very mixed bag in terms of talent, but Harry is no doubt one of the better fighters to ever hold 145 pound gold for the promotion.
Hardwick faces a tall task in his UFC debut against Kaue Fernandes. Fernandes is 2-1 with the promotion, with wins over Mohamed Yahya and Guram Kuteladze, after dropping his debut to Marc Diakese. Fernandes is a striker with an adept grappling game, but his success is driven by the low kicks. With Harry coming from a pressure forward boxing style, it could be very difficult for him to get to work against the taller and rangier Fernandes. Hardwick will need to crowd the kicker and force Kaue against the fence, where he can start to overwhelm with volume and potentially find a finish. Regardless of the result Saturday, Hardwick should have a successful run at featherweight in the future.
8. Trey Waters – LFA Welterweight Champion
Trey “The Truth” Waters is the only American champion gracing this list, as he secured the LFA welterweight title in 2023 with a knockout over Jalin Fuller. He did not defend this belt as he was signed to the UFC shortly after to face Josh Quinlan in a bout where Waters dominated. LFA tends to cycle through champions quite frequently, which makes this belt slightly less prestigious than other regional titles. Despite this, winning a title for LFA is widely considered a guaranteed ticket to the UFC, which is the goal of most of their fighters.
Waters faces off with jiu jitsu ace Sam Patterson this weekend, who despite his acumen on the ground is coming off a knockout win over Danny Barlow. Barlow and Waters are two very similar fighters, both long rangy strikers who prefer to use kicks, knees, and straight punches to take out their opposition. SInce moving up to welterweight, Patterson is 3-0 with 3 finishes, so Trey Waters faces a tall (literally and figuratively) test this weekend with the ever improving Patterson.
9. Modestas Bukauskas – Cage Warriors Light Heavyweight Champion
Despite being a UFC veteran with 10 bouts in the promotion, Bukauskas has captured a Cage Warriors title on two occasions, once in 2019, and again in 2023. After winning his first title for Cgae Warriors in 2019 vs Marthin Hamlet, Modestas defended once and then was signed to the UFC. Many fans may remember Bukauskas for suffering one of the most gruesome leg injuries in MMA history vs Khalil Rountree, after which Bukauskas was unceremoniously cut from the promotion. Despite the setback, he recovered from his injury and won back his Cage Warriors title vs Chuck Campbell, and has since returned to the UFC with great success. The light heavyweight division in Cage Warriors is not a particularly prestigious division, making Bukauskas’s return to championship form post injury the most impressive aspect.
Modestas Bukauskas faces off with Scotland’s own Paul Craig this weekend in Paris. Craig is known as a exceptional jiu jitsu athlete, doing whatever it takes to get the fight to the ground where he can start working his guard game. Bukauskas on the other hand is a karate style striker, utilizing movement and in and out striking to wear down his opponents until he can find the big shot. If Craig can get this fight to the ground, Bukauskas may be in trouble, but if it stays on the feet I do not see Modestas running into many issues.
10. Rhys McKee – Cage Warriors Welterweight Champion
Rounding out this list is former Cage Warriors welterweight champion Rhys “Skeletor” McKee. The Irishman, while sporting an unsavory 1-4 record in the UFC, has found success outside the promotion before and between his UFC stints. His most recent title came over longtime veteran Jim Wallhead, who despite the fantastic career is far past his prime. McKee has seemed to find his stride during his second run with the UFC, as defeated Daniel Frunza in his last fight. Mckee’s resume with Cage Warriors is rather lackluster, despite being 6-0 in the famous yellow gloves. While all regional belts are a massive achievement, this title falls below the standard of the others on this list.
McKee takes on deutant Axel Sola this weekend in France, and despite Sola moving up in weight, faces a dangerous task. Sola moves and strikes much better than McKee, but if McKee can capitalize on the poor evasive defense of Sola, he could find success in this matchup. Every fight matters for Rhys as any loss could be the end of his second shot in the UFC.
While being a champion of a regional promotion is by no means a sole indicator of success, many fighters who do achieve a belt early in their career can build on that momentum. All ten fighters on this list are very talented and have achieved great things during their careers, and with more signings directly to the UFC, perhaps the brass is realizing there is legitimate talent in other promotions.
Calf Kick Sports 