Ethyn Ewing already opened plenty of eyes, but he seeks a firmer foothold in the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight division.
The 28-year-old CSW prospect will get back on the hunt at 135 pounds when he faces the unbeaten Rafael Estevam in a featured UFC Fight Night 272 attraction on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Ewing enters the Octagon with the wind of a nine-fight winning streak in his sails. He made his promotional debut at UFC 322, where he filled in as a short-notice substitution for Cody Haddon and took a unanimous decision from Malcolm Wellmaker on Nov. 15. Ewing was a champion inside Urijah Faber’s A1 Combat promotion before he migrated to the UFC. Estevam, meanwhile, carries a perfect 14-0 record. The Nova Uniao export last competed on Aug. 2, when he laid claim to a unanimous decision over Felipe Bunes at UFC on ESPN 71. A former Shooto Brazil titleholder, Estevam punched his ticket to the UFC via Dana White’s Contender Series in 2022.
The Ewing-Estevam showcase sticks out as one of the prime candidates for “Fight of the Night” honors at UFC Fight Night 272. Four more to consider:
Carneiro could use a morale boost. The battle-hardened Brazilian looks to avoid a third straight loss when he collides with Duncan in a five-round lightweight main event between American Top Team stablemates. Carneiro, 36, steps back into the spotlight on the heels of back-to-back defeats to Islam Makhachev and Beneil Dariush. Carneiro owns a 12-7 record in the UFC, his resume highlighted by victories over Benoit St. Denis, Drew Dober, Alexander Hernandez, Cub Swanson, Calvin Kattar and Zubaira Tukhugov. On the other side of the ledger, Duncan has strung together four straight wins. The 32-year-old Scotsman last suited up at UFC 323, where he dispatched Terrance McKinney with an anaconda choke midway through the first round of their Dec. 6 encounter. Duncan boasts 11 finishes as a professional, six of them inside one round.
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Jandiroba has established herself as something of a boogeywoman at 115 pounds—a seasoned contender and accomplished grappler that no one wants to see standing across the cage. The former Invicta Fighting Championships titleholder has won five of her past six bouts. However, Jandiroba finds herself on the rebound for the first time in four years after she wound up on the wrong side of unanimous decision against Mackenzie Dern in a failed bid to capture the vacant women’s strawweight crown at UFC 321 on Oct. 25. “Carcara” has never lost two fights in a row. Into that crucible waltzes Ricci. She has quietly cemented herself as one of the company’s most consistent performers. Ricci last saw action at UFC on ABC 9, where she swept aside Amanda Ribas with an elbow strike and follow-up punches in the second round of their July 26 duel. The victory moved her to 7-3 in the UFC.
Vannata may need a win to stay on the roster. The Jackson-Wink MMA product has never managed to get over the hump in the promotion despite his reputation as a dependable action hero. Vannata, now 34, sports a subpar 4-7-2 record across his 13 appearances in the UFC, though five of those outings have resulted in post-fight performance bonuses. He heads into his latest test as a healthy betting favorite while reeling from consecutive losses to Charles Jourdain and Daniel Zellhuber. Flowers, meanwhile, remains winless through three starts inside the Octagon. The 31-year-old Chicago native last strapped on the gloves on July 13, 2024, when he tapped to an arm-triangle choke from Evan Elder in the second round of their UFC on ESPN 59 pairing—more than 600 days ago. Neither Vannata nor Flowers can afford a misstep in a potential loser-leaves-town match.
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Kamaka returns to the UFC stage for the first time in nearly five years after stops in Bellator MMA, the Professional Fighters League and Tuff-N-Uff. The Hawaiian compiled a 1-2-1 mark during his first tenure with the company, which lasted from August 2020 to July 2021. Kamaka, 31, has won eight of his past 10 bouts and last appeared at Tuff-N-Uff 151, where he punched out Michel Lima in the third round of their Jan. 22 confrontation. He trains out of the star-studded Xtreme Couture camp in Las Vegas. On the other side of the equation, Hope marches into his promotional debut with the momentum of a five-fight winning streak in his back pocket. The 29-year-old “Hurican” last tested his mettle under the Fury Fighting Championship banner in February, when he buried Mauricio Gomez with punches inside of two minutes. It was Hope’s fifth first-round finish as a pro.
