Preview: UFC on ABC 7 ‘Sandhagen vs. Nurmagomedov’

Middleweights

Sharabutdin Magomedov (13-0, 2-0 UFC) vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk (19-8, 7-6 UFC)

ODDS: Magomedov (-238), Oleksiejczuk (+195)

It’s nice to see Magomedov fight on a quick turnaround for a late addition to this card, if only to help figure out where “Shara Bullet” actually stands in the 185-pound pecking order. With a villainous appearance straight out of central casting, Magomedov built both a fanbase and a highlight reel as a flashy kickboxer ahead of his much-hyped UFC debut in October. That debut, a decision win over Bruno Silva, was a mixed bag. Magomedov’s speed and athleticism were clearly on display even as he spent a lot of time getting outwrestled by Silva, who isn’t historically known as much of a takedown artist. Magomedov’s return engagement came in June, and after some late opponent changes resulted in him facing UFC newcomer Antonio Trocoli, it was expected that the Russian would impress in a walkover fight. Instead, Trocoli mostly succeeded in making things an ugly grind before tiring and falling victim to a late Magomedov knockout. Magomedov is more curiosity than contender at this point, and Oleksiejczuk looks like the perfect litmus test to see exactly where he currently stands.

Oleksiejczuk has had an interesting run under the UFC banner, first coming to the promotion as a light heavyweight in 2017. At that point, Oleksiejczuk’s approach was built around absorbing a ton of offense and tiring his opponents out, and that proved crazy enough to work early on, with the Pole even successfully eating shots from hitters as hard as Khalil Rountree. At some point, Oleksiejczuk’s game developed along a somewhat tragically comic path, ending in him becoming the exact type of fighter he used to take advantage of, hunting for the quick knockout before tiring himself out. As an undersized light heavyweight, it wasn’t a shock to see Oleksiejczuk eventually move down to 185 pounds, but it hasn’t changed his fortunes much. There’s still some trickiness to his aggressive boxing, but he still tends to get blown out of the water against much better athletes. The interesting thing here is that while Oleksiejczuk has gotten rocked hard in most of his losses, he has still never actually been knocked out in the UFC. Instead, opponents have typically found success hopping on a submission once Oleksiejczuk is taken out of his game. With Magomedov having shown little—if any—grappling skills to date, it seems worth the flier to think that Oleksiejczuk is tough enough to survive and drag him into his deepest waters yet, with high potential that he can turn that into an upset. The pick is Oleksiejczuk via second-round stoppage.

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Sandhagen vs. Nurmagomedov
Magomedov vs. Oleksiejczuk
Figueiredo vs. Vera
Chiesa vs. Ferguson
Dern vs. Godinez
Alvarez vs. Brener
The Prelims