Can’t be boring!
No. 6-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight contender Aiemann Zahabi collides with former 135-pound kingpin Sean O’Malley in the “Featured Fight” of UFC Freedom 250 this weekend, which takes place on the South Lawn in Washington, D.C., to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary.
While it isn’t official, O’Malley vs. Zahabi can absolutely be looked at as a No. 1 contender title eliminator for the Bantamweight title. The winner could be next in line to face whoever comes
out on top in the trilogy fight between champion Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili, which is tentatively scheduled to go down later this year — probably in Abu Dhabi in October.
But Zahabi knows how UFC works. And he realizes that simply beating O’Malley might not be enough.
He needs to beat him in an exciting way.
“The thing about the UFC is, it is very merit-based in a lot of ways, and it’s not only about winning the fight, but it is winning the fight in impressive ways,” Zahabi told Megan Olivi on UFC on Paramount’s YouTube channel. “I feel like one of the reasons why Hunter [Campbell] called me to fight Sean O’Malley is because I didn’t shoot on Pedro Munhoz — I struck with him for 15 minutes. I struck with Jose Aldo for 15 minutes, and I struck with Marlon Vera for 15 minutes.”
“I beat these big names in the right way — the way the UFC likes to see it happen, and I feel like if I do it again with Sean O’Malley, I can get the title fight,” Zahabi continued. “But if I go out there and make it a boring fight, they are going to skip right over me.”
For much of Zahabi’s UFC run, he was known as a very solid fighter, but also a somewhat forgettable one because of his performances. To his credit, that has changed over his last few outings.
Especially in his last three fights, Zahabi has basically left his wrestling shoes at home and boxed with everyone standing across from him. It has worked, but it has also nearly backfired, with both Aldo and Vera dropping him in their fights.
Still, the 38-year-old Canadian is riding a seven-fight win streak and has quietly put together one of the best runs in the division.
A win over O’Malley should put Zahabi right on the doorstep of a title shot no matter what happens.
A knockout will definitely help, though
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