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The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to the Middle East has arrived. Looming for weeks as one of the most stacked cards of the year, UFC 280 on Saturday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, sets up shop with an excellent eight-fight undercard in tow. The featured prelim is one of the more interesting fights on a deep card, as Belal Muhammad has become one of the steadiest potential contenders in the welterweight division but needs to hold serve against the surging and undefeated Sean Brady. An intriguing light heavyweight affair between ranked contenders Volkan Oezdemir and Nikita Krylov is deeper down, and beyond that, there is an interesting assortment of prospects, with flyweight Muhammad Mokaev and middleweight Caio Borralho leading the way. It seems inevitable that a few of these matchups will turn into absolute grinds, but with a rare combination of talent and stakes for an undercard, this is a worthy appetizer to an excellent pay-per-view event.
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Welterweights
#8 WW | Sean Brady (15-0, 5-0 UFC) vs. #5 WW | Belal Muhammad (21-3, 12-3 UFC)
ODDS: Brady (-145), Muhammad (+125)
Coming off of a main event win, Muhammad has fully made the move from divisional dark horse to welterweight contender, and it will be fascinating to see if “Remember The Name” can make it all the way to a title shot. Muhammad was one of the better prospects available when the UFC picked him up in 2016, but success at the UFC level was far from guaranteed. Lacking one standout skill, Muhammad was more of a well-rounded fighter that seemed best suited to build over five-round fights, suggesting he might perform better as a regional champion than working his way up the UFC ladder. After a quick knockout loss to Vicente Luque gave Muhammad his second defeat in three UFC bouts, it looked like he was destined to top out somewhere around the middle of the welterweight pack. Then Muhammad just kept winning. Armed with a strong gameplan each time out, Muhammad threaded the needle to outwork and outpoint better athletes and more experienced veterans. A 2019 decision loss to Geoff Neal briefly seemed like a case of Muhammad hitting his plateau, but instead, it has been an outlier. Save for that fight, Muhammad is undefeated in his 13 appearances since losing to Luque in 2016. This whole time, there has been a feeling that Muhammad will eventually hit a ceiling that his smarts cannot overcome, but his last two wins in particular have seen him deal with some rough style matchups. December saw him grind out a win over Stephen Thompson, and his April headliner in a rematch against Luque drove home just how much Muhammad has evolved, as he stayed elusive on the feet and used his wrestling to great effect in order to take a clear decision win. For all his success, Muhammad still is not particularly dynamic, so he is always fighting an uphill battle to get into the true welterweight title mix. As an example, he is forced to hold serve against another tough test in the unbeaten Brady.
Brady was in a similar spot as Muhammad upon signing with the UFC in 2019. A highly successful regional fighter and obvious top prospect, Brady read as a well-rounded fighter who might be without the standout skill to navigate through the shark tank at 170 pounds. Unlike Muhammad, Brady immediately hit the ground running in his Octagon campaign. After a workmanlike win over Court McGee in his debut, a subsequent win over Ismail Naurdiev showed off Brady’s skill as a powerful wrestler. Brady’s ability to bully his opponents and hunt for submissions has been the bedrock of his success, particularly during a breakout 2021. He not only outwrestled Jake Matthews and Michael Chiesa but made it look easy against two opponents best known for their own physical approach. At the same time, this last move up in competition has raised some questions about Brady’s striking. He seems durable enough to make it a moot point, but Brady has gotten clipped recently and seemed to have some issues dealing with Chiesa—a willing if not particularly sound striker. That figures to cost the Philadelphian against an opponent capable of outmaneuvering him on the feet and with the rare level of smarts to actually do so, though that does come with some caveats. It has been nearly a year since we last saw Brady at a time when he is clearly improving, and any striking dynamics could be a non-factor if he proves to yet again be a more dominant wrestler than expected. This is a huge opportunity for Brady, but it is hard not to view Muhammad as the much more reliable competitor and one deserving of the benefit of the doubt. The pick is Muhammad via decision.
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Borralho vs. Muradov
Krylov vs. Oezdemir
Tukhugov vs. Almeida
Nurmagomedov vs. Omargadzhiev
Petrosyan vs. Dobson
Mokaev vs. Gordon
Rosa vs. Lansberg
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