LAS VEGAS – Youssef Zalal can sense he’s on the verge of big things in the UFC’s featherweight division, but he must get past a very tough test in former champion Aljamain Sterling.
In the main event of UFC Fight Night 274 at the Meta APEX, Zalal (18-5-1 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC) clashes with Sterling (25-5 MMA, 17-5 UFC) in what is a very important fight for the division. Holding the No. 7 spot in the UFC’s official rankings, Zalal has an opportunity to enter the division’s elite by knocking off No. 5 in Sterling.
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“The Moroccan Devil” is expecting the best version of “The Funkmaster” we’ve seen, because he believes the former bantamweight champ still has something to prove, despite his accomplishments.
“This is the most dangerous Aljo, just because I think he has a point to prove, you know what I mean?” Zalal said at Wednesday’s media day. “He’s on a proving-point streak right now, so for me it’s like, at the end of the day, stick to my gut, stick to who I am, and be ready because I want to beat the best Aljo. You can’t say you want to be a world champion and you think he’s gonna slide by like some other guys. This guy fought who’s whos and all that stuff. That’s what I look at. I’m like, that’s a very dangerous guy, and also a very experienced guy.”
Sterling has fought multiple Hall of Famers, former champions, and fan favorites throughout his UFC tenure. In comparison, Zalal’s resume doesn’t match up, which he lightheartedly admits with a laugh.
“It’s crazy, it’s making my resume look small as sh*t,” Zalal said. “It’s pretty crazy, I saw they were like, ‘Ah, Youssef hasn’t fought nobody. The only win he has is Josh Emmett,’ and all this stuff. They’re like, ‘(Calvin) Kattar is 0-5,’ and all this. I was like, ‘Those guys fought those guys as well! I don’t know what to tell you!’ This is my time, I was young, these guys are in the f*cking UFC. I was like, it is what it is – but that’s the beauty of this sport. You get to go against a guy like that, beat him, and you get to steal his resume pretty much.”
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For Zalal, his ideal outcome is finishing the fight to make a statement that he has truly arrived among the best names in the division. On his second stint in the promotion, Zalal has not tasted defeat, and is 5-0 since returning in 2024 with four finishes. It’s been quite the run, but Zalal says he’s not one to pick his head up and appreciate what he’s done, because the work just keeps on going. However, thanks to his team, Zalal says they do their best to remind him, especially ahead of the biggest fight of his career to this point, in his first UFC main event.
“It’s really hard for me sometimes,” Zalal said. “I’m a meatthead when it comes to, like, when I focus on a goal, that’s all I care about is that goal, you know what I mean? And sometimes I forget about the outside life. But yeah, I’ve definitely been blessed enough to have great people around me to kind of make me step away a little bit like, ‘Hey, you’ve done this. You did this. You came here and changed your life.’ And I can’t wait to keep changing my life.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC Vegas 116: Youssef Zalal out to ‘steal’ Aljamain Sterling’s resume
