Bellator MMA has seemed to be even more snakebit than usual in recent weeks. Not only did the organization recently a complete a television move from Paramount Network to CBS Sports Network, drastically cutting its reach in the process, its actual events have been even weirder than usual.

The hyped middleweight title fight between Gegard Mousasi and welterweight champion Douglas Lima a couple weeks ago was almost stunningly boring, and last week’s event was a complete shitshow: tons of dull decisions, a brutally uncompetitive main event featuring a top-flight light heavyweight beating up a 44-year-old middleweight, and a guy seemingly getting disqualified for an illegal soccer kick, only for a video review to instead rule the kick legal and give him a knockout win.

But it’s not all bad news in the circle cage. On Tuesday, Bellator announced the official debut of one of the best rising prospects the company has signed in some time, 28-year-old Russian bantamweight Magomed Magomedov, who will fight another very promising 135er, Matheus Mattos, on Dec. 10.

Magomedov was a head-turning get when Bellator signed him last month. If you know the name, it’s because he holds a distinction that no other fighter on Earth has: he’s the only man to defeat UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan, with whom he had a highly competitive rivalry in Russia’s ACB promotion before Yan signed with the UFC in 2018.

Magomedov’s win over Yan was, admittedly, a very tight split decision, one that would have been a draw had the referee not taken a point from Yan in the closing moments of the fight for repeated headbutts. Yan took the subsequent rematch in April 2017 by unanimous decision and two fights later was in the UFC. But one can see in the first fight with Yan what makes Magomedov such a well-regarded talent. He’s a powerful, smothering and skilled grappler who forced Yan, who has only been taken down three total times in seven UFC fights, to the mat multiple times and made things really difficult for a fighter who seemingly arrived ready made in the UFC as one of the world’s best bantamweights.

Magomedov has taken three in a row since the loss to Yan, all in relatively one-sided fashion. He was most recently seen in Nov. 2018, having little trouble in implementing his game in a first-round submission of talented Brazilian Walter Pereira Jr.

Reported visa issues have kept Magomedov from making the jump to the UFC or Bellator for quite some time, but they’ve evidently cleared up. It’s hard to find a fighter outside of a major organization with his kind of credentials: he’s a champion in a top regional promotion, he’s beaten high-level competition (his last 10 opponents, nine of whom Magomedov beat, had a combined record of 129-25-2) and he has a win over the best fighter in the world at his weight class.

Plus, he has a skillset that shows up on tape: his grappling will instantly be among the best Bellator has to offer. His opponent at Bellator 254, Mattos, is no slouch himself. Mattos was also among ACB’s top bantamweights at the same time as Magomedov, and while the two’s paths never crossed, Mattos is another fighter whose only career loss is to Yan.

It’s so easy to focus on the ridiculous garbage that Bellator gives us that sometimes you forget to focus on the cool stuff. And starting in a few weeks, Bellator could serve as the launching pad for one of the best prospects in the world. That’s worth tuning in for.