Preview: UFC Saudi Arabia ‘Adesanya vs. Imavov’

Lightweights

Mike Davis (11-2, 4-1 UFC) vs. Fares Ziam (16-4, 6-2 UFC)

ODDS: Davis (-142), Ziam (+120)

Fresh off a breakout performance in September, Ziam looks to keep the momentum going. Ziam’s approach has always made a lot of sense, but “Smile Killer” has typically been far from the most exciting fighter, leveraging his lanky frame into neutralizing his opponents. Ziam’s fights usually take part in one of two phases, with him either picking his opponents apart from range or grinding them out in the clinch; and there has been a sense for most of his career that Ziam has needed to slow things down. One of his losses saw Terrance McKinney quickly overwhelm him, and Ziam has typically shown some obvious discomfort when opponents look to pick up the pace. That made the Frenchman’s most recent win, which saw him take apart Matt Frevola, an impressive turning point. Ziam kept his foot on the gas and was eventually rewarded with one of the most brutal knockouts of the year. Between that showing and the UFC’s increasing focus on the French market, the victory figured to earn Ziam a major fight, so it’s a bit of a surprise to see him instead face Davis, who has a case as one of the most underrated fighters on the UFC roster.

Davis put in one of the most impressive losing efforts on the 2018 edition of Dana White’s Contender Series, going toe to toe with eventual top featherweight prospect Sodiq Yusuff—a showing that was enough to earn him a UFC contract within a matter of months. After expectedly losing his debut to Gilbert Burns, “Beast Boy” has looked excellent in each of his four outings since. However, few have taken notice, understandable since none of those fights have had prominent placing. Plus, four fights in five years isn’t exactly an active schedule. When Davis makes it to the cage, he’s able to work through some obvious anxiety issues and keep an impressive pace, landing hard shots but finding increasing success behind a powerful wrestling game. This should wind up as a referendum on the nature of Ziam’s recent improvements. Davis’ pace alone might be enough to take a win against the typical version of Ziam, but if the Frenchman can approximate his showing against Frevola, he should have enough comfort and power to counter a lot of the American’s ideas and cruise to a win. The pick is Ziam via decision.

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Adesanya vs. Imavov
Magomedov vs. Page
Pavlovich vs. Rozenstruik
Nurmagomedov vs. Oliveira
Davis vs. Ziam
Naimov vs. Ofli
The Prelims