The 31-year-old Daniel Gracie protégé will attempt to move another step closer to a Top 15 ranking at 145 pounds when he takes on former TKO Major League MMA champion T.J. Laramie in a UFC on ESPN 34 featherweight pairing this Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Sabatini enters the Octagon on the strength of a five-fight winning streak that now spans more than two years. He last competed at UFC Fight Night 198, where he laid claim to a unanimous decision over two-time Dana White’s Contender Series alum Tucker Lutz on Nov. 20.
As Sabatini pores over the remaining details associated with his three-round battle against Laramie, here are five things you might not know about him:
1. He was raised in the suburbs.
Sabatini was born on Nov. 9, 1990 in Bristol, Pennsylvania—a small town of some 10,000 people located roughly 20 miles northeast of Philadelphia. He shares a hometown with actress Lauren Holly, who starred opposite Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in “Dumb and Dumber” in 1994.
2. He stood out in the singlet.
The Pennsylvania native made waves on the mat at Bristol High School, where he became the first wrestler in school history to record 100 wins.
3. Academics were not an issue.
Sabatini graduated from Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Among the school’s other notable alumni: Al Downing, the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher who surrendered Hank Aaron’s record-setting 715th home run on April 9, 1974 in Atlanta.
4. He built on his base.
The Rider University graduate holds the rank of black belt in tang soo do and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and those credentials serve as a warning. Sabatini has delivered 10 of his 16 career victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission, seven of them inside one round.
5. Championship mileposts marked his rise.
Sabatini was a two-time Cage Fury Fighting Championships featherweight titleholder. He held the company’s 145-pound crown from Sept. 16, 2017 to Feb. 1, 2020 and again from Dec. 18, 2020 until he signed with the UFC in 2021. Sabatini remains one of only 10 men to strike featherweight gold in CFFC and one of only two men—Levan Makashvili was the other—to do so twice.