David Teymur

David Teymur is a Swedish lightweight who took an unconventional path to the UFC. After establishing himself as an elite striker in kickboxing and Muay Thai, winning the 2011 King of the Ring tournament in the Netherlands and earning a bronze medal at the IFMA World Championship in Bangkok, he transitioned to MMA in 2012 alongside his older brother Daniel. He arrived in the UFC in 2016 via The Ultimate Fighter and quickly made an impression with powerful striking and knockout ability, accumulating wins with early finishes. His career peak came in March 2017 when he delivered one of the year's biggest upsets, defeating highly touted prospect Lando Vannata at UFC 209 as a 3-1 underdog. The fight was so compelling that it earned Fight of the Night honors and helped Teymur earn recognition as 2017 Fighter of the Year.

Teymur fights as a pressure striker who uses his jab and hand speed to control distance, mixes in damaging leg kicks, and is dangerous in the clinch. His striking statistics show he lands significant strikes at a high rate (4.69 per minute) while maintaining solid defense (55 percent). After the Vannata breakthrough, he continued winning with technical decision victories over Drakkar Klose and Nik Lentz, climbing closer to title contention. However, in February 2019 he faced Charles Oliveira, a submission specialist who was building his own path to the lightweight title. Oliveira caught him with an anaconda choke in the second round, exposing a weakness in Teymur's grappling defense that would become a limiting factor in his rise. At 8-2, Teymur remains a talented striker with legitimate knockout power, but that loss to Oliveira marked a ceiling in his career as the elite of the division pulled away.