Da’Mon Blackshear will make his UFC debut at UFC San Diego this weekend. He will fight Youssef Zalal in the prelims of the event and the bout will take place in the bantamweight division.
Youssef Zalal started fighting as a pro-MMA fighter in 2017. Before joining the UFC, Zalal had a record of 7-2. He had a dream start to his UFC journey as he defeated Austin Lingo, Jordan Griffin and Peter Barrett in his first 3 fights. However, Zalal then went on to lose all 3 of his next fights against Ilia Topuria, Seung Woo Choi and Sean Woodson.
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Before joining the UFC, Da’Mon Blackshear had wins in 6 of his last 7 fights. Out of those 6 wins, he has 5 finishes. While 3 of those wins came via rear-naked chokes, the other two came via arm triangle choke and guillotine choke respectively. In his last fight against Josh Smith, he defended his CFFC Bantamweight belt. He won it against DeAndre Anderson in the fight before that.
UFC Fight Night Prelims, Youssef Zalal vs Da’Mon Blackshear: Stats
Stats | Youssef Zalal | Da’Mon Blackshear |
---|---|---|
Wins | 10 | 12 |
Losses | 5 | 4 |
Height | 1.78 m | 1.78 m |
Division | Bantamweight | Bantamweight |
Reach | 182.9 cm | 182.9 cm |
Age | 25 | 28 |
Youssef Zalal vs Da’Mon Blackshear: Fight Breakdown
The fight will feature two great grapplers going at it. Youssef has 7 finishes that consist of 2 knockouts and 5 submissions. On the other hand, Da’Mon has 1 knockout and 8 submissions. So it will be interesting to see whether they engage in grappling or they opt to strike instead.
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Nicknamed The Moroccan Devil, Youssef lands 2.51 strikes per minute while absorbing 1.74 strikes in the same period. So it is apparent that Zalal is not really that comfortable on his feet. However, he lands 2.33 takedowns per fight with an accuracy rate of 29%. The 25-year-old also attempts 1.2 submissions per fight.
As the fans often see, when two grapplers meet in the middle of the Octagon, they often decide to abandon their strong suit and engage in striking. If that is the case, Zalal may just be the favourite to win. Although he has 5 losses, none of them came via knockout or submission. But, so is the case with Blackshear’s 4 losses.
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So there remains a possibility that the fight goes down to the judges’ cards. But Youssef Zalal’s UFC experience may just give him the edge over the debutant fighter.