Jordan Leavitt is back in the Octagon this weekend, and the move he made to featherweight now gets a sharper test. Leavitt, 13-3, is scheduled to face Joanderson Brito on the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas.
That is the kind of matchup that can tell a fighter a lot. Leavitt came into the UFC through Dana White’s Contender Series in 2020, and he arrives on the heels of a unanimous decision win over Yadier del Valle at 145 pounds, a division he only recently entered.
Leavitt has always been one of the UFC’s most unusual figures. He earned the nickname “Twerk King” after his promotional debut at UFC Vegas 16 in December 2020, when he turned in a 22-second slam knockout of Matt Wiman and then twerked against the cage as the clips spread across TikTok, X and Instagram. Since then, he has kept folding splits and internet-ready celebrations into his wins, building a persona that often feels lighter than the fight game around him.
That is part of what makes Brito such a difficult next step. The opponent Leavitt drew is a heavy-handed, relentless featherweight, and the style contrast is hard to miss: one man built a following off viral moments and slick submissions, with seven submission wins already on his record, while the other is the kind of pressure fighter who can make a short night out of a small mistake. Leavitt has said he likes classical literature and has talked about going to law school after his fighting career, but this matchup will be judged on something far more immediate than personality.
For Leavitt, the question is not whether he can get attention. It is whether the featherweight move can hold up against better opposition and turn one win into the start of a streak. If he can solve Brito this weekend, the new weight class starts to look like a real home rather than a brief stop.
