Abusupiyan Magomedov vs Sean Strickland Prediction: the Dagestani to Continue His Way Up

The UFC Vegas 76 event will occur on the night of July 2 at the league's UFC APEX Arena. Abusupyan Magomedov, who has fought only once in the promotion, suddenly won the right to headline the event. His opponent will be top fighter Sean Strickland (ranked seventh). The bout will be in the middleweight division.

Dagestani fighter Abusupyan Magomedov has been living in Germany and pursuing a career abroad for a long time. He has not had a single fight in the Russian leagues. Abus performs quite successfully - since 2016 (fourteen fights), he has lost only once and sealed a draw.

Both of those unsuccessful fights are worth mentioning. The tie with Gasan Umalatov in 2018 at the PFL tournament was frankly friendly, if not contractual - the fighters were rarely passive. But the final of the same league and in the same year with Louis Taylor could have been a key one in Magomedov's career - Abus was knocked out exactly at the 33rd second of the first round.

After that trouble, Magomedov had three bouts, winning each early. In the most recent one (his UFC debut), he finished Dustin Stoltzfus in just nineteen seconds.

Strickland has been in the top ranks since time immemorial. The interesting thing about this story is that he fights without any title ambitions, but he doesn't fall below a certain level. Last year Sean failed twice, by TKO in the first round to Alex Pereira and by split decision to Jared Cannonier in a beautiful bout.

In January 2023, he came out for a pay-per-view on the week notice against Nassourdine Imavov and unexpectedly outboxed the fighter the league had high hopes for.

Sean likes to fight in standing with his hands. He is adamant; occasionally, he provokes some mutual exchanges but doesn't like wrestling.

Sean Strickland is a very unstable fighter and can't change his plan. The most vivid example is Alex Pereira, who just started to beat him, and Sean, without changing anything, continued to take punches to the face. But if everything goes according to plan, he can fight like with Cannonier or just fight at a distance, like with Imavov.

So everything will depend on Magomedov - if he has a good plan, he will win. Abus is not inferior to him in standing and superior on the ground. And if he manages to impose his style, he will win. It's quite possible for him.

On the other hand, it will not be an easy victory, and it may not be over quickly. Magomedov won't go to the trouble, and Strickland may hold his ground. Even if they get emotional, they'll go three or four rounds before they run out of steam.