Heading into 2026, we have several potential rising stars eager to make their mark in the UFC. Currently undefeated and sporting a perfect 3-0 record under the LFA banner in 2025, Steve Collins looks to enter 2026 as one of the sport’s hottest prospects.
Steve Collins: Finding Early MMA and the Early Days
Steve Collins’ path to the world of mixed martial arts began on the gridiron in the world of American football. “My path through sports was football, but then in high school I started to wrestle with football and it helped me become a better football player. When I graduated my senior year, I drove into MMA,” Steve Collins told MMASucka.
With the conclusion of his high school days, then-wrestling coach, Bo Samo, invited Steve Collins to attend MMA training at G2 MMA Gym, located in Country Club Hills, Illinois. Here, he would find his home and fine-tune his skills to shoot up the MMA rankings.
Embed from Getty Images
“The people who credit with developing my style is Dan Gilbert as well as Beau Samaniego, Jose Perez, and Shaun Tallon basically the whole G2 team. Shaun‘s talent boxing has helped develop my style and, of course, the wrestling in in high school as helped develop my style,” stated Steve Collins.
Gilbert, himself, had a professional career spanning nearly 20 years as well as Samaniego still competing to this day. Tallon, well-known in boxing circuits, also serves on the board of directors as the president for USA Boxing Illinois Association.
Steve Collins’ Rise Up the Rankings
Collins’ amateur debut would come in August 2021, where he would score a second-round TKO to secure a victory in his initial cage appearance. With a 2-1 record heading into July 2022, Collins would secure his first championship by defeating Miljan Djukanovic via split decision to earn the Compass Fight Series lightweight championship. After only two more bouts, concluding in April 2023, Steve Collins would make the jump to the professional ranks and never look back.
Later that same year in August 2023, Steve Collins would make his debut against another highly-touted in name in that of Raja Jackson, son of UFC veteran Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. In a matchup that would go the distance, Collins would secure the victory at United Fight League 3 against his fellow newcomer to the professional ranks. Taking another professional bout in 2023, Collins would secure another decision victory. 2024 would see the beginning of Collins’ finishing ability inside the cage.
The Finishing Fury Begins for Steve Collins
In September 2024, Steve Collins would earn his first professional finish by earning a first-round knockout over Richard Daffron at LFA 193. After a close split-decision win in January 2025, Collins would make sure his bouts never saw the judges again for 2025.
The highlight to this point in his career would come in his June 2025 matchup with Gaberial Brown at LFA 210. Halfway through the first round, Collins would score a massive slam on Brown, followed up with a few sharp left hand strikes to earn the dynamic finish.
After facing a few cancellations in the third quarter of 2025, Steve Collins would finally find his next victim in the form of a danger Kyle Pufahl at LFA 223 in November 2025. Again, Collins would utilize his dangerous wrestling and striking game to earn the first-round knockout via ground-and-pound.
Keeping the Momentum and Potential UFC Future
As an undefeated fighter, you do not want to lose that edge. So how has Steve Collins been able to sustain his undefeated winning ways in the professional ranks?
“The things I have done to stay focused is just keep a great schedule, that way I stay on track and I’m always busy, especially when I have a fight coming up. With fight camps, I make things nonnegotiable like running, going to boxing and practice every day, seven days a week. I make it a way of life,” he said.
On the cusp of the UFC, another dynamic finish could see Steve Collins earn his call to the Octagon in 2026. “What I think I need to do to earn an appearance in the UFC octagon is to get two more finishes, in nice fashion. But we will see what happens. I am a ‘one fight at a time’ type of guy. I live in the moment,” he concluded.
