Featherweights
Youssef Zalal (15-5-1, 5-3-1 UFC) vs. Jack Shore (17-2, 6-2 UFC)It speaks to the depth of the UFC’s featherweight division that a fight this well-made can go under the radar. Zalal made his return to the UFC in March and has looked absolutely electric, cashing in on some of the potential he showed in his first stint with the promotion. “The Moroccan Devil” looked talented if a bit undercooked when the UFC first picked him up in 2020, which made it a bit of a surprise when he quickly racked up three straight wins, albeit all against fighters that didn’t last long in the promotion. Then Zalal’s fortunes quickly turned, as he went winless in his next four fights and slid out of the UFC, though in his defense, those fights came against opponents—he fought Ilia Topuria in the Spaniard’s late-notice debut—who went on to bigger and better things. Zalal went back to quickly crushing competition upon his return to the regional scene, earning the late-notice call from the UFC in March, and he has made wins over Billy Quarantillo and Jarno Errens look surprisingly easy. Zalal’s rangy striking has been as efficient and accurate as ever, and he has supplemented that with a sneakily lethal grappling game, beating both Quarantillo and Errens via rear-naked choke. Zalal suddenly looks every bit the level of fighter who can make a run towards title contention, but Shore should prove to be the toughest test of his UFC return to date.
Inactivity has dulled Shore’s momentum in recent years, but through 2022, “Tank” looked like one of the bantamweight division’s top young prospects. The Welshman didn’t have elite-level athleticism, but he could consistently overwhelm opponents with a steady pressure game, eventually getting his striking and wrestling humming by the third round of his fights. After Shore suffered his first loss to Ricky Simon, a better athlete who could overpower him as a wrestler, he announced a move up to 145 pounds, which hasn’t done much to change the overall outlook of his career. His physicality has held up surprisingly well when he has attempted to go strength-for-strength with featherweights, but a May loss to Joanderson Brito showed that he will still struggle to compete with more explosive opponents, as things were going south even before their fight ended in a controversial cut stoppage. Shore figures to be powerful and practiced enough to at least take Zalal’s weapons on the mat—if the Factory X rep scores another submission here, it will be a particularly impressive piece of work—but this still looks like the Moroccan’s fight to lose on the feet, owing to his combination of size and speed. If there’s a concern from the Zalal corner, it’s that this figures to be the first time in a while that he will be forced to keep up his pace for three rounds, but the read is that he can get this over the finish line. The pick is Zalal via decision.
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