At first glance, this headliner might surprise you. Strickland comes into this weekend with 18 UFC fights under his belt, including four main events, while Magomedov has only one UFC fight to his name. So how did Magomedov find his way into this weekend’s headliner?
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Magomedov’s one UFC fight couldn’t have gone smoother. Last September at UFC Fight Night: Gane vs Tuivasa, Magomedov challenged Dustin Stoltzfus, who was riding the momentum of a victory over Dwight Grant only two months earlier. After evading a few early strikes from Stoltzfus, Magomedov landed a picture-perfect front kick forcing Stoltzfus to retreat to the side of the Octagon.
Magomedov pressed forward and landed a flurry of punches to secure a knockout victory only 19 seconds into the first round. Magomedov took zero damage while simultaneously putting his opponent away with ease in his UFC debut; a scary sight for the rest of the middleweight division, as a new contender was immediately thrown into the mix.
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In the nine months since that fight, Magomedov’s been more than willing to step back into the Octagon to compete, but numerous fight cancellations delayed his return. Then, the always ready Sean Strickland answered the call.
Despite Magomedov being unranked in a stacked 185-pound division, Strickland doesn’t care, and his fight anyone, anywhere mentality earned him his third consecutive main event. After dropping back-to-back fights against former middleweight champion Alex Pereira and former title challenger Jared Cannonier, Strickland proved he was still on the cusp of reaching the middleweight title with a dominant performance over Nassourdine Imavov.
So, this is where things get interesting. Strickland, who’s been competing inside the division’s Top 10 for years, has found most of his success with his volume striking. While he may not possess or utilize one-punch knockout power like Pereira, his crisp boxing and output is overwhelming for anyone standing across him.
Over Strickland’s UFC career, which spans back to 2014, he averages just over six significant strikes landed per minute, the fourth highest rate in the division’s history. On the flip side, Strickland defends over 66 percent of his middleweight opponents’ significant strike attempts, the highest amongst active 185ers and third all-time in the division’s history.
This is important to note because Magomedov, who has 19 seconds of Octagon time, has yet to absorb a punch in the UFC but is taking on one of the promotion’s most prolific strikers.
Prior to the UFC, Magomedov bounced around various other promotions, racking up win after win. Magomedov currently sits at 25-4-1, an impressive record that includes 14 knockouts and six submissions, with 15 of those finishes coming in the first round. Strickland, on the other hand, has only been finished twice in his 31-fight career and has an average fight time of 14 minutes and 26 seconds.
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There’s a lot of unknowns in this matchup, while everything we do know points to these two fighters as being polar opposites. Will Magomedov leap into the middleweight rankings with another win, or will Strickland continue halting rising stars’ momentum while on his own path to the title? Find out this Saturday at UFC Fight Night: Strickland vs Magomedov at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas.
