Every fight matters, but some matter just a little more.
A win is a win, and a loss is a loss, of course, but some of them feel bigger than others for various reasons. In some cases, the elevated stakes are easy to define. Picture the fighter on a losing streak who knows he or she is likely fighting for their job, or conversely, any title fight in a top regional organization, where the combatants know the big leagues are almost certainly scouting them. At other times, a fight feels especially important for reasons that are harder to quantify but no less real. Whether it’s the unspoken weight of being a pioneer in MMA from one’s native country or the simple added spice of two fighters who genuinely hate each other’s guts, that fight means just a little more.
This Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UFC 308 will bring a 14-fight card, complete with several undefeated prospects (and a couple of undefeated contenders) as well as a heaping handful of Russian and CIS fighters who have had issues getting visas to fight in North America, and topping it all off is one of the best matchups in all of MMA in 2024: Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway for the featherweight title.
Amid the 28 fighters scheduled to make the walk on Yas Island this weekend, here are a few who should be feeling just a little more pressure to stand and deliver.
Make The Most of The Moment, “Shara Bullet”
Of the above-mentioned fighters who can’t seem to get cleared to fight in North America or Western Europe, Sharabutdin Magomedov is the most prominent and most promising. “Shara Bullet” was a near-total unknown when he made his UFC debut last fall; while his highlight reel was jaw-dropping, it had been accomplished in second- and third-tier shows against opponents so overmatched that it was impossible to tell whether the Dagestani dervish would be able to duplicate those results in a top-level promotion.
Twelve months and three Octagon wins later, Magomedov is clearly a solid fighter and has shown flashes of his incredibly creative and dexterous striking every time out. While he has yet to be tested against a truly sound wrestler, and he has struggled at times on the ground even against the fighters he has faced, he looks more like a work in progress than a flash in the pan. If he continues to win, his progress will eventually be hampered by the UFC having to book him outside of the United States, but that’s a problem for next year. Right now, the UFC is back in the UAE and Magomedov has a coveted main card slot on one of the best cards of 2024. He is being booked against a fellow striker yet again, but at least Armen Petrosyan is quite a good one: a big, powerful 185-pounder with solid kickboxing and serious power. If the UFC is going to continue to give “Shara Bullet” chances to shine with friendly matchmaking and coveted card positioning, it shows that the promotion recognizes his potential as a talent as well as a star. That’s a good thing, but his margin of error is going to be razor-thin, and a single loss on the way up may set him back a full year or more.
Force the UFC’s Hand, Magomed Ankalaev and Lerone Murphy
Ankalaev and Murphy should take encouragement from the recent examples of Merab Dvalishvili, Belal Muhammad and the man Muhammad defeated to win the welterweight title, Leon Edwards. Now that Dvalishvili, Muhammad and Edwards have all fought for and won UFC belts, Ankalaev and Murphy are probably the two most glaring examples of fighters on long unbeaten streaks who keep getting passed up in title discussions. In the case of the first three delayed contenders, some of the same reasons crop up: fight styles that are effective but not necessarily the most entertaining, and lack of an oversize personality on the mic. Even Dvalishvili, the most exuberant character of the bunch, is no Sean O’Malley, which is one reason why he had to wait for O’Malley to win the title and then exhaust all other plausible challenger options before getting his own title shot.
The same factors that led the UFC to slow-roll Merab, Belal and Leon, or at least do them no favors, hold true for Ankalaev, who is 10-0-1 with one no contest since losing his UFC debut to Paul Craig six and a half years ago, and Murphy, who is still undefeated as a professional, and a perfect 6-0 since fighting to a split draw with Zubaira Tukhugov in his UFC debut five years ago.
There are other variables at work for these two, as well. Ankalaev did eventually fight for the vacant light heavyweight belt, against Jan Blachowicz in 2022, but after that fight ended in a draw, please note that Ankalaev went straight back to gen pop rather than be rebooked in a title fight. Murphy, on top of the other factors hampering his progress, is injury prone. Six fights in five years are simply not enough work to make headway in the fast-moving waters of the featherweight division, and Murphy has been left in the dust by other contenders who are less perfect, but more active.
All of that is in the past, however. This weekend, Ankalaev and Murphy will appear on the pay-per-view portion of one of the biggest cards of the year, against Aleksandar Rakic and Dan Ige respectively. Both Ankalaev and Murphy are among the biggest betting favorites on the night. It’s as if the UFC is making a good-faith gesture, an opportunity to shine, maybe pick up a much-needed highlight for the reel and make their cases for a title shot on the biggest stage under the brightest lights. They would be well served not to squander it, because given the promotion’s history, and Ankalaev and Murphy’s own history, it is an opportunity that is not likely to come again for a long, long time if they do.