Preview: UFC on ESPN 53 ‘Ribas vs. Namajunas’

Featherweights

Billy Quarantillo (18-5, 6-3 UFC) vs. Youssef Zalal (13-5-1, 3-3-1 UFC)

ODDS: Quarantillo (-148), Zalal (+124)

As with most Quarantillo fights, this should be one of the highlights of the card. Already well-seasoned upon making it to the UFC in 2019, Quarantillo has made his hay behind a fairly straightforward approach, marching forward and swamping his opponents with the confidence that they will break first. Quarantillo’s iron chin has made that true more often than not. A brutal Edson Barboza knee in April marked the only time in the UFC that Quarantillo has been knocked out, and his other losses have typically seen him get stalled out rather than ever truly dissuaded from his game. An August barnburner against Damon Jackson picked up where Quarantillo typically leaves off, as it was another fight where he stormed back from an early beating to score the victory. After some late opponent changes, Quarantillo draws a UFC returnee in Zalal for his next fight.

Zalal had a seven-fight UFC run that spanned 2020 to 2022, and it was a story of two streaks for “The Moroccan Devil.” Zalal did not look particularly UFC-ready upon getting the late-notice call for his debut, but he proved capable of stringing together three wins against the bottom of the featherweight roster, which raised some hope that he could learn on the job and round into a contender. Instead, Zalal had the bad luck of welcoming Ilia Topuria to the UFC, and while it is impressive in retrospect that he was able to hang tough for three rounds against the current featherweight champion, that was also the start of Zalal’s record crashing back to earth, as he found himself unable to overcome some effective specialists and eventually slid out of the promotion. Zalal’s career in the interim has seen him blow through some overmatched competition on the regional scene, which is a nice reminder of exactly how good he can be, but Quarantillo makes for a rough welcome back to the Octagon. Zalal might not even be potent enough early to ward off Quarantillo, and either way, this figures to turn into Quarantillo dominating a fast-paced war by the end of three rounds. The pick is Quarantillo via decision.

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Ribas vs. Namajunas
Williams vs. Tafa
Shahbazyan vs. Dobson
Talbott vs. Saaiman
Quarantillo vs. Zalal
Padilla vs. Pajuelo
The Prelims