Top featherweight prospects meet on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 122 in China, as Zabit Magomedsharipov takes on Sheymon Moraes. Magomedsharipov looked really good in his UFC debut, as he dominated Mike Santiago, while Moraes is a former WSOF title challenger. The fight between Magomedsharipov and Moraes is one of eight on the preliminary card on UFC Fight Pass, leading up to a four-fight main card, also on UFC Fight Pass, featuring Michael Bisping vs. Kelvin Gastelum. Keep in mind that UFC Fight Night 122 starts very early on Saturday Eastern Time, so you may want to make your wagers on Friday night.
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Zabit Magomedsharipov (13-1, 1-0 UFC)
The debut for Magomedsharipov in September against Santiago was extremely impressive, as he submitted Mike Santiago in the second round and won Fight of the Night honors. Magomedsharipov is a former ACB champion and he has lost just once in his career, as he was beaten in 2013 by Igor Egorov. Magomedsharipov was dominant in almost all of his fights in Russia, and overall in his career he has six knockout wins and he has six wins by submission.
Before the Santiago win, Magomedsharipov’s coach Mark Henry, who trains other top fighters including Frankie Edgar and Edson Barboza, said to FOX Sports that Magomedsharipov is a future star. “He’s not a top 10 guy, he’s a top five guy,” “He has all the other intangibles, too. Heart, toughness, gas, chin, mean streak, work ethic, sparring partner, size.” Frankie Edgar had similar things to say about Zabit and both Henry and Edgar have looked right so far, as Magomedsharipov looked great in the win over Santiago.
Sheymon Moraes (9-1, UFC debut)
Moraes has won 9 of his 10 career MMA fights with most of those wins coming by knockout. He recently moved up from bantamweight to featherweight. He fights out of Team Nogueira and he has some good wins in his MMA career, as he beat UFC veteran Robbie Peralta and the experienced Luis Palomino. The only loss for Moraes was against WSOF champion Marlon Moraes.
Moraes has five wins by knockout ion his MMA career and four wins by decision.
UFC Picks
One thing we know about this fight is that it will be exciting for as long as it lasts. Magomedsharipov has a lot of power and Moraes is considered a very good striker. The problem for Moraes is that to win this fight he needs to keep it standing because he will get destroyed on the mat by Magomedsharipov. I don’t see how Moraes can avoid the takedown in this fight, and once it goes to the mat it is over. There is no question that Magomedsharipov is going to be favored in this fight and the price might end up being too high for me. I do think Magomedsharipov will get the win, but I am not thrilled about laying 4-1 on any fighter. I think the better option in this fight will be to take the rounds to go under the total, as I can’t see this one going the distance.
UFC Fight Night 122 takes place on Saturday, November 25 at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China. Because of the time difference, the preliminary card action will begin at 3:45 a.m. Eastern Time, while the main card begins at 7:00 am. There are four fights on the main card on UFC Fight Pass featuring Michael Bisping vs. Kelvin Gastelum and eight preliminary bouts, also on UFC Fight Pass.
Main Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Kelvin Gastelum -317 vs. Michael Bisping
Li Jingliang -180 vs. Zak Ottow
Alex Caceres -177 vs. Wang Guan
Muslim Salikhov -180 vs. Alex Garcia
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Sheymon Moraes
Kenan Song vs. Bobby Nash
Kailin Curran vs. Yan Xiaonan
Pingyuan Liu vs. Bharat Khandare
Chase Sherman vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov
Yanan Wu vs. Gina Mazany
Wuliji Buren vs. Rolando Dy
Cyril Asker vs. Hu Yaozong
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