Preview: UFC 320 ‘Ankalaev vs. Pereira 2’

Featherweights

Youssef Zalal (17-5-1, 7-3-1 UFC) vs. Josh Emmett (19-5, 10-5 UFC)

BETTING ODDS: Zalal (-440), Emmett (+340)

Zalal’s return and resurgence was an unexpected surprise, and “The Moroccan Devil” looks to announce himself as a contender in this outing. A late-notice signing early in 2020, Zalal was obviously talented but also clearly undercooked, flashing a lot of skills with a game that didn’t look built to handle much adversity. That didn’t seemingly matter at the start of Zalal’s UFC career, as he cruised to three clear wins over lower-level opposition, but when things turned on him, they turned hard. He then went winless in four straight fights and slid out of the promotion. In retrospect, a lot of those fights were tough performances against opponents who would go onto prove themselves—including future two-division champion Ilia Topuria—so it wasn’t a surprise that Zalal ran through his regional competition and got the return call to the UFC early in 2024. What was a surprise? Zalal seemingly jumped his game up by several levels, looking sharp on the feet and lethal on the mat while working his way to finishes of Billy Quarantillo, Jarno Errens and Jack Shore. Thanks to the high standard that Zalal had set, his February win over Calvin Kattar was a bit of a disappointment. It was a clear win, as Zalal used his combination of size and speed to stay out of trouble and consistently ahead of what looks like a fading Kattar, but he didn’t show any of the ability to turn defense into offense that had made his last few victories so electric. Even so, a win is a win, and Zalal is faced with a similar proposition in taking on a dangerous—if outmaneuverable—former contender like Emmett.

Emmett came to the UFC as a full-time lightweight in 2016 and did well enough in that weight class, but things truly decided to pop once he cut down to 145 pounds a year later. It quickly became apparent that Emmett had outlier power against Felipe Arantes, as the Brazilian was seemingly knocked down every time he was touched. In short order, Emmett had scored an upset knockout of Ricardo Lamas to announce himself as a contender. It looked like Emmett’s time in the sun might be short-lived, as he suffered some career-threatening facial injuries in a subsequent knockout loss to Jeremy Stephens, but upon his return, it was off to the races, as he rang up five straight wins to vault into the title picture. Emmett’s approach is fairly one-dimensional, centered around powerful hooks and the occasional takedown, but he has become quite adept in terms of implementing those striking weapons. Emmett can land with the same level of nuclear power going forwards and backwards while also maintaining that power through the end of his fights. However, Emmett has finally started to struggle against this latest crop of contenders, who have had some combination of speed, size and boxing craft to stay ahead of his best weapons. His 2023 loss to Yair Rodriguez, in particular, had Emmett looking fairly lost trying to track down a much faster and offensively diverse opponent. Zalal is unlikely to shred Emmett to that level, but this does appear to have a similar dynamic where Emmett should have trouble tracking down someone who’s content to stay at range and refusing to engage to any great degree. The good from the Emmett side is that he usually finds at least one or two big moments per fight. Plus, Zalal is particularly untested when it comes to absorbing Emmett’s level of power. Still, the read is that Zalal can survive and coast this out. The pick is Zalal via decision.



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Ankalaev vs. Pereira
Dvalishvili vs. Sandhagen
Prochazka vs. Rountree
Zalal vs. Emmett
Pyfer vs. Magomedov
The Prelims