Sharabutdin Magomedov has been on a roll in the UFC, will that continue this weekend? Peter Klein looks at him and three other fighters to watch including another potential number one contender fight.
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SportsTranscript
00:00UFC 308 goes down at Eddie Otterina in Abu Dhabi.
00:18In the main event, it is Ilya Teporya defending the featherweight championship against Max
00:24Holloway with Robert Whitaker and Hamzat Shumayev deciding who the next challenger at 185 pounds
00:29will be.
00:30Those two, excellent fights, but there are some other real good names that you should
00:35keep an eye on this weekend.
00:37So here are four fighters to keep an eye on for UFC 308.
00:43Our first one is actually a fight, not just a fighter, it's been a couple of fighters.
00:48Magomed Ankulayev taking on Alexander Rakic and I think this one, if we have a definitive
00:53winner, probably comes away as a number one contender's bout at 205 pounds.
00:59So again, we're getting a pretty good card this weekend with a all-time great taking
01:03on kind of the next one at 145 pounds and what I believe to be at least two number one
01:10contenders fights at middleweight and then at light heavyweight.
01:13When you look at the rankings right now, Magomed Ankulayev is sitting in a tie for number one
01:19contender with Yuri Prohochka, while Rakic is at fifth.
01:23And when you look at the names kind of in between them, also tied with Ankulayev is
01:27Yuri Prohochka, Pereira's done that.
01:30Jamal Hill, Pereira's done that.
01:32Jan Blachowicz, Pereira's done that.
01:34And then after, immediately, is Nikita Krylov, who no one's asking for, and Khalil Rountree,
01:40where we just saw that.
01:42So I think it is probably pretty obvious, actually, that this is a number one contender's
01:47fight at 205 pounds with a couple of very intriguing fighters in Ankulayev and in Rakic.
01:54Ankulayev, 32 years old, coming off of a win over Johnny Walker after the accidental
02:02illegal knee disqualification at UFC 294, and then he did have a title opportunity before
02:07losing or not losing, but a draw with Jan Blachowicz, and then he just didn't get another
02:12title opportunity after that.
02:14So now he has a chance to move back into that category with a win.
02:17Meanwhile, Rakic, 32 years old, is coming off of back-to-back losses against Blachowicz
02:22and Prohochka.
02:23But again, knee injury is the reason for the one loss against Jan Blachowicz, and then
02:29he does get knocked out by Yuri Prohochka in what was a bit of a surprising performance
02:34and a turn-back-the-clock performance by Prohochka at UFC 300.
02:37I do think that you would get a bit of a pushback from, certainly, from Yuri Prohochka if he
02:45were to get the win, um, sorry, if Rakic were to get the win and leapfrog Prohochka, given,
02:51you know, that he just beat him.
02:53But after that fight, Prohochka went on to lose to Alex Pereira, so I just, I really
03:01do think that given the only guy ahead of these guys right now just lost his second
03:07fight to Pereira, it really doesn't feel like that is necessarily a path that is open
03:12to him right now, so I think that this really does kind of drive home that this is a number
03:18one contender's fight at 205 pounds.
03:20The next one is Sharabutin Magomedov, apologies for the pronunciation, obviously he's a cat
03:27who's got a bit of a unique look, and he has also been winning fights.
03:31And I do think that there is a ceiling on where this guy can go in terms of talent levels
03:37and things like that, but I also do like that there has been a, a, um, hesitancy to really
03:47rocket him up.
03:48I think that given his popularity in this part of the world, and again, you put this
03:53guy out there for an interview as a cage fighter, and you're going to get a lot of attention
03:57to it.
03:58There would be, I think at different times, a rush to, alright, that title shot this motherfucka,
04:03let's go, let's just throw him in there and really lock this thing down and get this guy
04:08into a bunch of opportunities, and then you put him into a spot he's not ready for, and
04:11get the hell beat out of him.
04:13I don't think that is going to be the case here, I think that this is someone who they
04:15are really slow rolling it with and just letting him go out there, letting him get
04:19those wins, he is undefeated, um, and he's winning all these fights, and they're not
04:23kind of rushing it.
04:24So I do like how they have approached his growth and his development so far.
04:28And the last one is Farid Basharat, who is coming into this one, again, undefeated.
04:33He has fought, I think, two guys with Wikipedia pages, so again, this isn't a, a hot shot
04:38rising up, this guy wins this fight and he's going to get a title opportunity.
04:41He's probably a fight away from being a fight away from a top 15, sort of a look, even.
04:46But this is still, at 27 years old, he has just been racking up win after win after win.
04:52Comes off of a victory on the Contender Series, is now 3-0 in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
04:57I think that this is a guy that we should be watching out for on the undercard to see,
05:00like, maybe there is a progression here, and this is someone who could be in for a pretty
05:04big 2025 if things continue to go his way.
05:08So those are the non-main event fighters that you should be watching for on UFC 208.
05:12Coming up tomorrow, we're going to be looking at some other UFC fight announcements and
05:15the rest of the UFC calendar as we get ready to head off into 2025.