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Youssef Zalal is irked that UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski is yet to recognize him as a title contender.
Volkanovski (28-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) has shown a willingness to take on any challenger, and there are plenty of top featherweights awaiting their opportunity. He addressed various fighters such as Movsar Evloev, Lerone Murphy, Jean Silva, but not Zalal.
Zalal (18-5-1 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC), who's on an eight-fight winning streak, meets Aljamain Sterling (20-5 MMA, 17-5 UFC) in the UFC Fight Night 274 headliner on April 25 at the Meta APEX (Paramount+).
"The one thing that still pisses me off, and I can't wait to prove it this fight and keep moving on, is Volk doesn't even mention my name ever in any interviews or anything," Zalal told MMA Junkie. "He mentioned Aljamain plenty of times, so I'm excited to go put a statement and show 'The Great' how great I am. I can't wait to go do that."
Sterling's past two outings at featherweight came against Movsar Evloev and Brian Ortega. In his close loss to Evloev, Sterling was more than willing to tussle on the ground, but against Ortega, he showed improvements in his striking by outpointing the former title challenger.
So where does Zalal expect their fight to take place?
"I almost guarantee you this fight is going to go on the ground," Zalal said. "Obviously it's MMA, but it's almost guaranteed when you have two grapplers it's going to be a striking match or a grappling match, but a lot of people forget I'm a striker. My background is striking. That's what a lot of people forget, so I'm excited to go show some of my striking a little bit.
"My last fight, the Josh Emmett fight, I was willing to strike and all that, but I was like, it's Josh Emmett. I'm not trying to risk the chances of anything, so I wanted to have an easy night and get out, and I did that. Then you've got the Argentinian (Vallejos) comes in and destroys him in the first round, as well. Now the whole division is who can out-better the other guy."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Youssef Zalal plans to get Volkanovski's attention with Sterling win
Continue reading...
Volkanovski (28-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) has shown a willingness to take on any challenger, and there are plenty of top featherweights awaiting their opportunity. He addressed various fighters such as Movsar Evloev, Lerone Murphy, Jean Silva, but not Zalal.
Zalal (18-5-1 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC), who's on an eight-fight winning streak, meets Aljamain Sterling (20-5 MMA, 17-5 UFC) in the UFC Fight Night 274 headliner on April 25 at the Meta APEX (Paramount+).
"The one thing that still pisses me off, and I can't wait to prove it this fight and keep moving on, is Volk doesn't even mention my name ever in any interviews or anything," Zalal told MMA Junkie. "He mentioned Aljamain plenty of times, so I'm excited to go put a statement and show 'The Great' how great I am. I can't wait to go do that."
Sterling's past two outings at featherweight came against Movsar Evloev and Brian Ortega. In his close loss to Evloev, Sterling was more than willing to tussle on the ground, but against Ortega, he showed improvements in his striking by outpointing the former title challenger.
So where does Zalal expect their fight to take place?
"I almost guarantee you this fight is going to go on the ground," Zalal said. "Obviously it's MMA, but it's almost guaranteed when you have two grapplers it's going to be a striking match or a grappling match, but a lot of people forget I'm a striker. My background is striking. That's what a lot of people forget, so I'm excited to go show some of my striking a little bit.
"My last fight, the Josh Emmett fight, I was willing to strike and all that, but I was like, it's Josh Emmett. I'm not trying to risk the chances of anything, so I wanted to have an easy night and get out, and I did that. Then you've got the Argentinian (Vallejos) comes in and destroys him in the first round, as well. Now the whole division is who can out-better the other guy."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Youssef Zalal plans to get Volkanovski's attention with Sterling win
Continue reading...
