Rivalries: Youssef Zalal

Youssef Zalal’s climb to contention appears to be well underway.

The Casablanca, Morocco, native will attempt to climb another rung on the Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight ladder when he tackles Team Alpha Male export Josh Emmett in a featured UFC 320 attraction this Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Zalal has rattled off seven consecutive victories, six of them finishes inside two rounds. He has not suffered a defeat since he wound up on the wrong side of split scorecards against Sean Woodson in June 2021.

As Zalal approaches his high-stakes clash with Emmett at 145 pounds, a look at a few of the rivalries that have helped shape his career to this point:

Ilia Topuria

The future two-division champion kept his perfect professional record intact in his Octagon debut, as he laid claim to a unanimous decision over Zalal in their UFC Fight Night 179 featherweight feature on Oct. 10, 2020 at the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. A short-notice fill-in for Seung Woo Choi, Topuria swept the scorecards with 29-28 marks across the board. Zalal played right into the Spaniard’s hands. Topuria secured multiple takedowns, achieved full mount on two occasions and made passes at a series of submissions, including guillotines, anaconda chokes, arm-triangles and rear-naked chokes. None of them stuck, but his efforts built an insurmountable lead and afforded him the breathing room he needed to overcome fatigue in the latter stages of the match. The setback was Zalal’s first in well over a year.

Da'Mon Blackshear

A short-notice replacement for Cristian Quinonez, the former Cage Fury Fighting Championships titleholder battled Zalal to a majority draw as part of the UFC on ESPN 41 undercard on Aug. 13, 2022 at Pechanga Arena in San Diego. Judges Michael Bell and Sal D’Amato turned in 28-28 scorecards, while Chris Crail saw it 29-28 for Blackshear. Operating in the shadows of the Dominick Cruz-Marlon Vera main event, Blackshear spent the first two rounds putting some distance between himself and his Factory X-trained adversary. Likely sensing he was behind on the scorecards, Zalal upped his aggression across the final five minutes and cut loose with a variety of weapons. He dropped Blackshear to a knee with a wicked body shot late in the third round and powered into top position before unleashing a violent volley of elbows, punches and hammerfists. Zalal eventually climbed to full mount and continued to pile on the punishment—referee Herb Dean seemed to be no more than a breath away from waving it off—but ultimately ran out of time. He was released by the UFC some two weeks later.

Billy Quarantillo

A revamped Zalal returned to the Ultimate Fighting Championship for the first time in 19 months at UFC on ESPN 53, where he disposed of the former King of the Cage titleholder with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their featherweight feature on March 23, 2024 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Quarantillo bowed out 1:50 into Round 2, suffering the first submission defeat of his career. A late-notice substitution for Gabriel Miranda, Zalal flirted with perfection. The Marc Montoya protege rocked Quarantillo with a knee strike in the first round, tripped him to the canvas, moved to the back with a body triangle and threatened with a face crank. The bell sounded with the stoppage near. Zalal picked up where he left off in the middle stanza, swept the Gracie Tampa South standout to the mat and again advanced to the back. He snuck his forearm underneath the chin, tightened his squeeze and closed the deal.

Calvin Kattar

Zalal outstruck and outmaneuvered the New England Cartel standout to a unanimous decision in their three-round UFC Fight Night 251 co-main event on Feb. 15, 2025 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three judges scored it 29-28. Kattar spent much of the match giving chase and swinging at air. Zalal’s skill, athleticism and mobility proved to be too difficult a puzzle to solve for the seasoned Massachusetts native. He hammered away at Kattar with jabs—two, three and four at a time—and sharp leg kicks while also putting stance switches, feints and level changes to use. All of it conspired to keep Kattar frustrated and off-balance. “The Boston Finisher” applied maximum pressure in the third round, and while he enjoyed some late success against a backpedaling Zalal, the outcome had already been decided.