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Each of the year’s previous two stops in the South American hotbed produced new names to track that have gone on to become bona fide contenders in their respective divisions.
In February, Jairzinho Rozenstruick arrived on the heavyweight scene with a second-round stoppage win over Junior Albini. Since then, “Bigi Boy” has put Suriname on the map and himself in the championship mix with rapid finishes of Allen Crowder and Andrei Arlovski and a main event assignment opposite Alistair Overeem next month in Washinton.
When the company returned three months later for UFC 237, Jared Cannonier solidified his standing as someone to watch in the middleweight ranks by defeating Anderson Silva, while Alexander Volkanovski punched his way to a title shot with a hard-fought victory over Jose Aldo. Cannonier has since added a second-round finish of Jack Hermansson to bolster his standing as a top contender, while “Alexander the Great” is slated to challenge Max Holloway for the featherweight title in the co-main event of UFC 245 next month in Las Vegas.
Will any future contenders and title challengers emerge from the collection of newcomers featured below? Only time will tell.
Here are three fighters to watch this weekend in Sao Paulo.
This is On the Rise.