The Rookies: UFC Fight Night 239

Charalampos Grigoriou now has his foot planted firmly in the Ultimate Fighting Championship door.

The Serra-Longo Fight Team bantamweight will make his promotional debut opposite Chad Anheliger as part of the UFC Fight Night 239 undercard this Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Grigoriou enters the cage having rattled off four consecutive victories, all of them finishes. Oddsmakers have already installed the former Combat FC champion as a 2-to-1 favorite.

Grigoriou nailed down his spot on the UFC roster via Dana White’s Contender Series, as he put away Fury Fighting Championship titleholder Cameron Smotherman with punches in the first round of their Week 2 pairing on Aug. 15. The end came a mere 60 seconds into Round 1. Smotherman operated behind his jab and a few multi-punch bursts but never had a true opportunity to get in gear. Grigoriou blasted the Metro Fight Club rep with a left hook and floored him with a right cross, then pounced with hammerfists and punches to prompt the stoppage.

“I’m very focused, and I believe in myself,” he said at the post-fight press conference. “I know I have skills, and I know I’m going to be a problem in the UFC and the bantamweight division.”

The 31-year-old Grigoriou points to his training at the revered Serra-Longo camp as the primary catalyst in his rise to prominence. There, he trains under former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra and longtime striking coach Ray Longo. Daily access to world-class stablemates, including ex-UFC bantamweight titleholder Aljamain Sterling, provides an additional boost to Grigoriou’s confidence.

“We have the best gym in the world, the best coaches in the world and the best teammates in the world,” he said. “Because of them, I’m here now. I’m training with them. I’m learning with them. We are family. To have teammates that you feel that you’re family [with], it’s very important because you know that they’re going to be there for you, even when you lose. They’re going to be there for you for everything. We’re not just teammates.”

Grigoriou hails from Cyprus, a small island nation in the Mediterranean Sea perhaps best known in MMA circles as the birthplace of onetime UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping. He has not forgotten his roots.

“Anything is possible,” Grigoriou said. “Seven years ago, I was fighting in basements in Cyprus. Now I’m here in the UFC. When I think about the old times, this is what motivates me. I don’t want to go back. I had my ups and downs. I struggled a lot to be here.”

Two other organizational newcomers are set to take their first assignments in the Octagon, as Mitch Ramirez meets Thiago Moises in a three-round lightweight affair and Danny Silva toes the line against Joshua Culibao in a three-round featherweight tilt.

Ramirez fills in as a short-notice replacement for City Kickboxing’s Brad Riddell. The 31-year-old Syndicate MMA export sports an 8-1 record, with seven finishes among those eight victories. Ramirez last appeared under the Legacy Fighting Alliance flag on Dec. 15, when he disposed of Eiycaireon Tavarres with punches a little more than two minutes into their LFA 173 confrontation. He suffered his only pro defeat on DWCS, as he was victimized by Carlos Prates in a second-round technical knockout in August.

Silva, meanwhile, trains under Cub Swanson and Ben Jones at the UFC Gym in Costa Mesa, California. He last fought on Week 8 of DWCS, where he improved to 8-1 and punched his ticket to the UFC with a unanimous decision over Angel Pacheco on Sept. 26. The 27-year-old Silva has secured five of his eight career victories by knockout or technical knockout. Canaan Kawaihae was responsible for the lone blemish on his resume, having eked out a majority decision against him at LFA 148 in 2022.