Brazilian newcomers have made a big impact in major MMA promotions across the globe in 2024, and there are plenty more waiting for opportunities back home.
MMA Fighting’s annual Prospects to Watch lists have included names that reached the top of the world over the past decade, from UFC champions (Alexandre Pantoja and Deiveson Figueiredo) to titleholders in the PFL (Larissa Pacheco), Bellator (Juliana Velasquez) and RIZIN (Roberto Satoshi).
Not only that, several athletes currently ranked among the best in the UFC were named prospects to watch since 2014, including Caio Borralho, Renato Moicano, Amanda Lemos, Natalia Silva, Virna Jandiroba and Jailton Almeida.
From the 2024 class, Felipe Lima has already won twice in the UFC, and Alexia Thainara beat Rose Conceicao for a contract at Dana White’s Contender Series. Others continued to shine with another unbeaten year competing for local promotions, such as Marcos Degli, Tiago Pereira, Elora Dana and Michael Oliveira.
As always, this year’s list features only athletes under the age of 30 that haven’t competed for a major promotion in the past.
Beatriz Mesquita (3-0), better known as Bia, made the transition to mixed martial arts after a legendary career in jiu-jitsu. And yes, call me a hypocrite, she’s the first exception ever to my “under 30” rule. You basically can’t win seven IBJJF World Championships and one ADCC gold medal as a black belt, move to MMA, and still be in your 20s. Mesquita joined American Top Team in Florida and the 33-year-old scored three rear-naked choke wins in 2024, including one on the undercard of Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen boxing show.
Aieza Bertolso (5-0) has won five straight under the LFA banner since turning pro in May of 2023, including two submissions and one ground-and-pound finish. Fighting out of KO Squad team in Rio de Janeiro, the 23-year-old strawweight was victorious in 16 of 17 amateur MMA bouts between 2019 and 2023, claiming multiple IMMAF titles.
Vinicius Pires (10-1, 1 NC) has not lost since his second MMA bout in 2019, an unbeaten run of 10 bouts. The 28-year-old bantamweight is a black belt in jiu-jitsu and has defeated fellow Brazilian prospects Kaua Fernandes and Icaro Brito on the regional circuit. He has earned stoppages in three of his past four MMA wins.
Cracked him for the KO #LFA183 pic.twitter.com/KTc7cv3nfR
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) May 4, 2024
Ricardo Martins (9-1) enters 2025 on an eight-fight winning streak with seven finishes to his credit, including a trio of first-round stoppages. The welterweight talent is still in his mid-20s and was featured twice on MMA Fighting’s Missed Fists series in 2023 and 2024, thanks to nasty knockouts like the one below.
Richard Martins busts open the head of Augusto Matias before knocking him out cold. That kill shot on the ground #LFA179 pic.twitter.com/5C73kGtnkE
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) March 23, 2024
Vitor Costa (8-1) is a two-division champion in Jungle Fight, claiming titles with finishes at both middleweight and light heavyweight in 2024. The 24-year-old athlete from Espirito Santo has only lost once in the sport, when he faced GLORY striker and future UFC fighter Cesar Almeida in his MMA debut in 2021.
Rafael Nunes (5-0) definitely deserves the nickname “The Violent”. The young bantamweight is still a bit unproven on the ground, where he’s a purple belt in jiu-jitsu, but has nasty standup skills, scoring knockouts in four of his MMA victories. In his most recent appearance inside the Jungle Fight cage, Nunes knocked out his opponent’s tooth in violent fashion.
Nicoly Pedrosa (6-0) is still undefeated as a professional with four finishes and half a dozen victories. The bantamweight prospect, who turns 22 later this month, is 3-0 so far under the LFA banner after closing 2024 with a first-round TKO in Sao Paulo.
Marcio Barbosa (16-2) has added three first-round knockouts to his MMA resume since losing to future UFC fighter Gabriel Santos, all finishes coming against young talents that were on long winning streaks. The Giants Team featherweight is a black belt in jiu-jitsu and brown belt in luta livre.
Franciele Nascimento (5-2) started her career in 2015 and won five of seven before putting her career on hold in 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to give birth to her first child. Nascimento then focused on jiu-jitsu competition, earning a black belt under Melqui Galvao and collecting titles on the mats. She has now booked her MMA return for a Shooto Brasil show in March.
Luis Aguiar (9-1) is a Pitbull Brothers flyweight who has claimed many belts around Brazil, including the Jungle Fight championship this past November with a nasty 37-second finish of Wagner Reis.
