Finishers Alert: (14-0) Michael Morales to face (19-1) Rinat Fakhretdinov at UFC Fight Night 216
It appears we have the return of undefeated Brazilian talent Michael Morales scheduled, as he’s slated to face Rinat Fakhretdinov at UFC Fight Night 216.
UFC Fight Night 216 is to go down on December 17, 2022, live from the UFC Apex in Enterprise, Nevada.
This is such an exciting clash of the titans!
Michael Morales made his way to the Ultimate Fighting Championship in earlier this year in January following a unanimous decision win on Dana White’s Contender Series in September of 2021, where he defeated fellow knockout artist Nikolay Veretennikov.
The Brazilian prodigy would then KO another fellow knockout artist, Trevin Giles, in round one of his promotional debut, before doing the same to multi-organization champion Adam Fugitt in round three of their bout over the summer.
This was a much tougher test for Morales than most expected it to be. Nonetheless, it improved him to 2-0 inside the octagon with two knockouts, securing the 12th finish of his 14-fight career in the process.
Then we have his opponent, Russian talent, former GFC champion Rinat Fakhretdinov, who comes into the bout with an astounding record of 19-1 following his UFC debut win over Andreas Michailidis in June.
Fakhretdinov also KO’d UFC veteran Eric Spicely in just 55 seconds at UAE Warriors 15 just prior to joining the world’s leading mixed martial arts promotion. He too, like Morales, is a dangerous finisher, securing 11 knockout wins in that time with five submissions and just three decisions.
Morales boasts 11 knockouts himself, with one triangle choke submission and a mere two decisions.
Born in the year 2000, Morales just turned 22 years of age in June, making him one of the youngest talents on the UFC roster. Because of this, let alone his success inside the cage, many peg him to be a future champion, and for good reason.
Morales has shown us he can dominate and finish quality opponents, but he also showed us he can overcome adversity without becoming discouraged in his most recent outing. This will be a true test to see what he’s capable of, going into a fight against a 31-year-old grown man that’s won 19 of his 20 professional fights.
What a high-level matchup this is; of their 34 combined fights, they have 33 wins between them with 28 finishes.
Who do you see coming out on top in this welterweight affair going down at UFC Fight Night 216?
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