Cam Rowston Eyes the Top 15 at UFC 333 After a Decade in the Game

Cam Rowston turned pro in November 2016. Ten years later, at 31, the Sydney-born middleweight reckons he's only now hitting his ceiling — and he gets to test the theory Saturday against Abus Magomedov at UFC 333: Volkanovski vs. Evloev in Abu Dhabi. Rowston walks in at 15-3 (7 KO, 6 SUB), unbeaten in three UFC outings and riding a seven-fight overall win streak.

That streak didn't come easy. Rowston dropped a decision to Torrez Finney on Dana White's Contender Series in August 2024, then rebuilt on the regional Australia and New Zealand circuit with three straight wins before earning his contract via a TKO of Brandon Holmes in August 2025. Since debuting in the UFC that September, he hasn't lost — most recently taking a unanimous nod over Robert Bryczek.

The Adesanya Blueprint

Rowston's whole career pivot runs through one gym. He clocked Israel Adesanya early — a 6-foot-4 middleweight, same build as his own — and figured he'd go drink from the same well. He moved his camp to City Kickboxing in Auckland and says he never looked back. By his own account, he was Adesanya's number-one training partner through the title reign, soaking up everything from in-fight tactics to how the former champ carried himself on fight week. Monkey see, monkey do, as Rowston put it.

The gym hasn't exactly cooled off since Adesanya left. Rowston's regular partners include reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Carlos Ulberg, who's 15-1 and coming off a first-round knockout of Jiří Procházka. Rowston says there are more than 20 fighters in camp at once, and the intensity of those rooms is something he doesn't think you can fake anywhere else.

Solving the Puzzle

Magomedov is the toughest grappling riddle Rowston has faced. The 36-year-old sits at 29-7-1 with eight career submissions, two of them in the UFC, and most recently put Michal Oleksiejczuk to sleep with a guillotine in June. Rowston respects the tools — the length, the awkward angles, the ground control — but says his team has spotted enough holes to build a game plan he's confident in.

The math is simple. Both men are currently unranked, but a clean win over a seasoned name like Magomedov should drop Rowston straight into the top-15 conversation. He says he tries not to look past the fight in front of him, then immediately did exactly that — suggesting that once Magomedov's handled, he could pick any name in the division and like his odds. UFC 333 runs at a special time, with the main card at 2pm ET live from Etihad Arena.