UFC welterweight contender Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos is struggling to find a ranked opponent who will do battle with him.
Dos Santos has won his last seven fights in a row, most recently submitting rising star Curtis Millender at UFC Wichita. He notably has finishes in his last three wins as well.
However, he is yet to face someone in the top 15 as he ponders whether certain welterweights are scared to risk their spot in the rankings.
“That might be happening, yes,” Zaleski recently said at UFC 237 (via MMA Fighting). “They get to a point that they get comfortable, when they are in the ranking, and they don’t want to fight, they just want to guarantee (their spots). We have to fight, things have to move in this division, which is a stacked division.
”If you’re not going to fight, get out. Go do something else, I don’t know. A fighter has to fight.”
Making A Case For Himself
If Dos Santos is unable to secure a ranked opponent, he will at least try and make the effort.
When Tyron Woodley pulled out of his fight with Robbie Lawler, the Brazilian made his case to be a short-notice replacement.
In the end, Lawler had no interest in facing anyone other than Woodley or Ben Askren, so the fight was called off.
However, Dos Santos has other opponents in mind as well. In particular, Leon Edwards, who is not only on a seven-fight win streak as well, but also struggling to get a highly-ranked opponent.
“I think an interesting fight would be against Leon Edwards, who’s also coming off seven straight wins and is anxious to fight,” Zaleski added. “Why don’t we meet there to see who gets the eighth straight victory?”
“There’s also Colby (Covington), who only talks, talks and talks, but never fights. I think that’s also an interesting fight. I’d go out there to fight him, since he’s scared to come fight in Brazil. He says a bunch of stuff and now is scared to come fight here. We can make that fight. That’s also an interesting one.”
Covington is slated to face Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title next, but a matchup with Edwards certainly makes sense.
However, the same problem arises for Dos Santos — would Edwards fight someone ranked below him when he’s targeting a top five opponent?
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