Nolan King: A featherweight banger that can’t possibly be boring
This is an easy one for me.
On paper, one of UFC 246’s best fights isn’t taking place on the evening’s main card. Chronologically the second to last preliminary card fight of the night, [autotag]Andre Fili[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Sodiq Yusuff[/autotag] should be nothing short of fireworks.
A winner of four out of his most recent five outings, Team Alpha Male’s Fili has reinvented himself. The 29-year-old featherweight has always shown signs of improvement, but now he’s really figuring out how to put it all together. This was evident in his most recent fight, a 187-second shellacking of Sheymon Moraes at UFC on ESPN+ 13 in July.
As for Yusuff, he’s one of the hottest rising stars in MMA regardless of weight class. The Nigeria-born striker is a fan-friendly stylist with heavy knockout punching abilities and thunderous leg kicks. Yusuff is undefeated in the UFC thus far with victories over Suman Mokhtarian, Sheymon Moraes, and Gabriel Benitez.
The winner of this fight could very well set themselves up for a matchup against a top 10 opponent in their next fight. Regardless of outcome, this fight should be a banger.
It’s possible someone could go down hard early on – or the Vegas crowd could be in for a three-round treat. Either way, this fight hasn’t received the respect it deserves. Come Saturday night, I think that’ll all change.
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