Francisco Trinaldo, UFC Brasilia

Francisco Trinaldo moves up to welterweight, faces Muslim Salikhov

Francisco Trinaldo is making the move up to welterweight and he takes on Muslim Salikhov at a UFC Fight Night card set for June 5.

Trinaldo is coming off of an unbelievable KO win over Jai Herbert on Fight Island last summer, but he missed weight for the fight. The 42-year-old Trinaldo decided that the cut to 155lbs was just too much for his body at this later stage of his career and so he is moving up to 170lbs when he takes on Salikhov. MMAFighting.com was the first to report the Trinaldo vs. Salikhov matchup. It will take place on June 5 at a location TBD.

Trinaldo (26-7) has been in the UFC since 2012, and he’s racked up an impressive 16-6 record in the organization during that time. The Brazilian is coming off of three straight wins over Herbert, John Makdessi, and Bobby Green and overall has looked outstanding despite being one of the oldest fighters in the UFC. He has fought and defeated some of the best lightweights in the UFC during that time, including Paul Felder and Jim Miller. At age 42, Trinaldo is one of the oldest fighters on the UFC roster. But he has proven time and time again that he is still a great fighter and you can’t count him out despite his advanced age.

Salikhov (17-2) joined the UFC in 2017 and has gone 4-1 so far in the promotion. The Russian lost his UFC debut against Alex Garcia, but since then he has won four straight fights over Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos, Laureano Staropoli, Nordine Taleb, and Ricky Rainey. He is a world-class striker and has shown that throughout his UFC career. A win over Trinaldo could potentially earn himself a top-15 opponent his next time out. He was previously booked to fight Santiago Ponzinibbio in January but pulled out due to COVID-19.

Who do you think wins, Francisco Trinaldo or Muslim Salikhov?

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Adam Martin
MMA journalist, podcast host, and handicapper for MyMMANews.com, MMAoddsbreaker.com, and Bookies.com. MMAOB Daily Podcast host. Join me LIVE @ 5 pm EST every Monday for my live free podcast. Over 10 years of experience writing about MMA. I love this sport.