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Take a deep dive into the key stats of some of the biggest upcoming match-ups at Fight Night on August 8

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One of the most anticipated featherweight bouts won’t be happening this August.

A men’s featherweight fight that could’ve seen the winner get a title shot is now off.

Following a report from Milenio, UFC president Dana White confirmed that an August 29th main event between Yair Rodriguez and Zabit Magomedsharipov has been scrapped following an ankle injury to Rodriguez. The promotion is now seeking a replacement for Yair, and one option could be Calvin Kattar.

ESPN’s Ariel Helwani says that Kattar has agreed to fight on short notice, although he later clarified that the fight hasn’t actually been offered to him yet. Kattar fought Zabit to a decision loss last November, but it was a three-rounder due to the late notice bump from co-main to main event. He’s coming off a win over Dan Ige last month, but is otherwise recovering from a broken nose.

Rodriguez (13-2, 1 NC) won his rematch over Jeremy Stephens by unanimous decision after the first encounter ended in a rapid-fire eye poke no contest. The talented Mexican sensation is in prime title contention in large part because of his dramatic KO win over Chan Sung Jung in the literal final second of a fight he was trailing on the scorecards.

Magomedsharipov (18-1) is on a 14-fight winning streak, with six of those victories coming under the UFC banner. The native of Dagestan has the aforementioned win over Kattar, as well as a decision over Stephens. One concern with Zabit has been his gas tank, as he’s yet to go five rounds in his career and has had issues fading late in bouts. That aside, this was a matchup between two dynamic, exciting talents with title implications and now it’s on the shelf.

We’ll see if Kattar does the get the call to take on Zabit, or if the UFC looks elsewhere for August 29th.

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Some things just are not meant to be.

UFC has tried to book Yair Rodriguez and Zabit Magomedsharipov to fight several times previously, and why not? The two Featherweight contenders are young, proven action-fighters, and would likely flip and spin all over the cage. It’s guaranteed entertainment … assuming both fighters make it to the cage.

Unfortunately, ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reported that Rodriguez was forced to withdraw due to an ankle injury. In addition, Calvin Kattar has thrown his hat in the ring as possible replacement.

Rodriguez’s injury is unfortunately going to come under scrutiny. Back in 2018 at UFC 227 when the two were first paired up, Rodriguez was briefly released from the UFC roster for declining the fight. Since then, fans have accused Rodriguez of ducking Zabit, and this withdrawal will only add fuel to that fire. Plus, this is the second time Rodriguez pulled out of a fight with Magomedsharipov due to injury.

With Rodriguez injured, who will fight Zabit on August 29th? Calvin Kattar is not a bad option, as he’s a top contender coming off a main event win, but he’s also Magomedsharipov’s most recent victory. If UFC wants a fresh match up, either Chan Sung Jung or Brian Ortega would make the most sense, though Jung is seemingly stuck in South Korea due to COVID-19.

Stay tuned for more updates on Zabit Magomedsharipov’s next opponent, as well as card info for the August 29 event.

Insomnia

Maybe Anthony Johnson is planning a return sooner than expected? I cannot imagine sparring a killer like Tyrone Spong for no reason!

I want Bellator to do well, but … I don’t know what Pluto TV is. It does not sound major.

Did everyone enjoy the return of “Contender’s Series?”

This old boxer still has some pep in his step and pop in his punches!

One last ride for the three kings of American Kickboxing Academy (Khabib disapproves of this exclusion).

No-gi BJJ GOAT Gordon Ryan can be unbearable on social media, but yeah, this hits the mark regarding jiu-jitsu competition.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Sneaking a high kick over a punch requires a great deal of timing, kicking technique, and speed.

I don’t know how much of this caption is true, the man was certainly throwing clean combinations!

Losing via low kick has to be one of the least pleasant ways to go. The fight progressively getting worse as the leg grows more and more powerless …

Random Land

Pray for Beirut (and/or donate to the Lebanese Red Cross).

Midnight Music: My girlfriend recently grabbed a CD of Marcy Playground’s debut album when I dragged her into a record store with me, so that’s been playing a fair amount in the car lately. Angsty ‘90s pop!

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.

Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images

A battle of heavyweights will go down on October 10th.

Two heavyweights on winning streaks are set to clash on a planned October 10th UFC event. MMA Fighting is reporting that Ben Rothwell will return to the Octagon to take on Marcin Tybura.

Rothwell (38-12, 8-6 UFC) is coming off a split decision win over former light heavyweight Ovince Saint Preux in May. He had previously stopped Stefan Struve via strikes back in December.

The 34-year-old Tybura (19-6, 6-5 UFC) is also on a two-fight winning streak, taking unanimous decision victories over Sergey Spivak and Maxim Grishin in February and July, respectively.

Neither man is currently a part of the heavyweight rankings at the moment, though Tybura has bounced on and off of them for a while now.

The planned October 10th card does not have a set location as of yet, though Vegas would be the logical choice. The card is expected to air on ESPN+. There are no other fights attached to the event right now.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is bringing more “Prelims” fights to ESPN+ this weekend (Sat., Aug. 8, 2020) when UFC Vegas 6: “Lewis vs. Oleinik” revisits UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada. MMAmania.com’s Patrick Stumberg continues the UFC Vegas 6 “Prelims” party with the second (and final) installment of a two-part undercard preview series below.

UFC Vegas 6’s ESPN+-streamed main event features five possible rounds this weekend (Sat., Aug. 8, 2020), but they probably won’t be necessary when Derrick Lewis and Aleksei Oleinik lock horns. UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, will also host former champ Chris Weidman’s do-or-die Middleweight tussle with Omari Akhmedov and a quality Lightweight scrap pitting Beneil Dariush against Scott Holtzman.

Three UFC Vegas 6 “Prelims” undercard bouts remain to preview and predict (check out the batch here). On we go …

170 lbs.: Tim Means vs. Laureano Staropoli

Recent sailing has not been smooth for Tim Means (29-12-1), who finds himself 3-5 (1 NC) since an impressive 6-1 run. His most recent effort pitted him against late-notice foe Daniel Rodriguez, who hurt Means in the second round before finishing him with a guillotine choke.

“The Dirty Bird” has knocked out 19 pro foes and submitted five others.

Laureano Staropoli (9-2) got off to a red-hot Octagon start in 2018, brawling his way past Hector Aldana and Thiago Alves to establish himself as a credible Welterweight threat. The momentum failed to carry him past Muslim Salikhov, resulting in a decision loss in Singapore.

“Pepi” gives up an inch of height and 3.5 inches of reach to Means.

This fight is essentially a referendum on how much Means has left in the tank. He has a clear technical edge on Staropoli on top of his reach advantage, but falling to an ostensibly far lesser striker in Daniel Rodriguez is cause for concern.

At the same time, it’s worth noting that Staropoli’s only UFC wins came over Hector Aldana — who’s 0-3 in the Octagon — and a thoroughly shot Thiago Alves. “Pepi” was decisively outclassed by Salikhov, even surrendering three takedowns to the Kung Fu specialist. That should give Means plenty of confidence, as he’s got some wrestling in his back pocket alongside the Muay Thai. His length, technique and versatility get him back in the win column.

Prediction: Means via unanimous decision

155 lbs.: Nasrat Haqparast vs. Alex Munoz

A loss to Marcin Held in his short-notice UFC debut didn’t stop Nasrat Haqparast (11-3) from punching his way into title contention with three consecutive wins, among them a bonus-winning knockout of Joaquim Silva in Newark. The run wasn’t to last, as the surging Drew Dober put Haqparast down just 70 seconds into their fight.

The Tristar-trained product has scored nine professional wins by form of knockout.

Team Alpha Male’s Alex Munoz (6-0) received a “Contender Series” headlining slot against Nick Newell in 2018, beating the former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) standout but failing to secure a contract. He would not fight again until almost 15 months later, when he took a unanimous decision over Troy Lamson in Honolulu.

He was originally slated to debut against Luis Pena in February, only to withdraw because of injury.

Losing to Dober — who’s 6-1 in his last seven and really coming into his own as a contender — isn’t cause to write Haqparast off. He remains a blue-chip talent with some of the most vicious hands in the Lightweight division and certainly has the tools to dispatch Munoz. Though the Alpha Male product is a very capable wrestler and has developed a solid counter-striking game, Haqparast’s speed and power look like far more than he can handle.

Munoz’s best chances lie in using his smothering top control to grind out long stretches of the fight on the mat, but Haqparast has proven difficult to wrangle since the Held defeat. The way Munoz appeared to fade down the stretch against Lamson last time out suggests that he might not have the gas tank to keep up with Haqparast’s high-volume offense, so even if he does find some early grappling success, expect Haqparast to wear him down for a finish late in the second or early in the third.

Prediction: Haqparast via second-round technical knockout

185 lbs.: Andrew Sanchez vs. Wellington Turman

Andrew Sanchez (11-5) enjoyed a dominant run through The Ultimate Fighter 23, beating the touted Phil Hawes and Khalil Rountree en route to tournament victory. It’s been a rougher road in the Octagon itself, as he’s lost three of his last five and been stopped twice.

“El Dirte” will have one inch of height and four inches of reach on Wellington Turman (16-3).

Brazil’s “Prodigy” entered the UFC on short notice, replacing John Philips against Karl Roberson and fighting his way to a narrow split decision loss. He entered his sophomore bout against Markus Perez as the underdog, but came on strong to take a decision over the former LFA champ in Sao Paulo.

Seven of his professional wins have come via submission.

The great tragedy of Andrew Sanchez is that he has some genuinely elite skills: heavy hands and quality wrestling combine to make what should be a contender-worthy game. Unfortunately, he’s held back by painfully shoddy cardio.

Luckily for him, this is the sort of fight in which he’ll excel. The three men who beat him in the Octagon, Anthony Smith, Ryan Janes and Marvin Vettori, are all known for their pace and striking volume. Turman, on the other hand, isn’t. Indeed, he’s a grinder to the core, attempting a combined 16 takedowns in his last two appearances. Against Sanchez — who has never been taken down in UFC — that’s not going to cut it. “El Dirte” figures to land the better punches on the feet and control the wrestling to take a wide decision.

Prediction: Sanchez via unanimous decision

UFC Vegas 6 features big dudes with a habit of scoring memorable finishes at the helm, which makes for a solid weekend of entertainment. See you Saturday, Maniacs.

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 6 fight card this weekend, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance on ESPN+ 9 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 6: “Lewis vs. Oleinik” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.

Current UFC “Prelims” Prediction Record for 2020: 67-52-2