I noticed this too, and wrote this on my review of Ubuntu MATE 25.10.
[EDITED BY THE AUTHOR] Link to my review Ubuntu MATE 25.10 - My First Thoughts
The answer is no. There was a 25.10 release!
Something to keep in mind is that, unlike mainline Ubuntu (with the GNOME desktop environment), some of the Ubuntu flavours have comparably very small development teams that (from my understanding) are mostly, if not all, volunteer-based (with, of course, the backing of Ubuntu). I run two such distros on each of my machines, one being Ubuntu MATE, and I love them for what they are. Also, there is the flexibility of changing what you don’t love, which is what I’ve done.
Another thing to keep in mind is that you (or your friend) seem like you’re trying to chase the dragon (i.e., perfection). I’ve been there, and perfection doesn’t exist anywhere; it took me a LONG time to learn that when I switched to Linux. My advice: Download Ubuntu MATE LTS (i.e., 24.04.3), note things you don’t like, then find alternatives by doing some web searches. If you gave it a hearty try and Ubuntu MATE doesn’t feel right, check out other Ubuntu flavours, and see what works for you.
I hope this helps. 