UFC featherweight prospect Youssef Zalal doesn’t care how he gets to a title shot, he’s simply determined to get there. Just a couple of days after his win against Calvin Kattar at UFC Fight Night 251, ‘The Morrocon Devil’ feels title shots in the UFC aren’t about rankings or fights under one’s belt. If you can put on a show and make the best of the opportunities you get, the times will change for you, he believes.
He’s not wrong. Light heavyweight fighter Khaleel Rountree was sitting on rank 8 before he took on light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira at UFC 308! Rountree might have lost the fight by a 4th round KO/TKO, but he won every round before that and gave Pereira the toughest fight of his reign.
Zalal even cites the examples of featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, who he claims is on a different level right now. But he is happy to remind everyone that Topuria’s title shot came courtesy of a decision win against Josh Emmett. Topuria was ranked 7 at the time. Half a year later, he fought Alexander Volkanovski for the title and knocked him out, and hasn’t lost since!
Zalal believes he could do that as well. Or he could also take the more traditional route and fight just about everyone in his division on his way to the top. Either way is fine for him.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani, he said, “If I need to go with the Dustin Poirier and the Belal Muhammad route, it is what it is. If I need to go in a Diego Lopes route, it is what it is as well. I’m just here and I’m excited to keep growing and showing out.”
“If I need to go with the Dustin Poirier and the [Belal Muhammad] route, it is what it is. If I need to go in a [Diego Lopes] route, it is what it is as well.
I’m just here and I’m excited to keep growing and showing out.”@moroccandevil45 on getting into title contention. pic.twitter.com/RdVviLRU4i
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 17, 2025
However, the difference between the fighters he named and himself right now is that they were all adored by fans. Zalal, on the other hand, is getting some stick for his performance against Kattar last week.
This man, who simply couldn’t get over just how much Zalal avoided confrontation in the 3rd around against Kattar to secure a win, said, “Don’t let that dude anywhere near a title. He literally ran from Katar for 15 mins. No one wants to see that shit“. Another seemed puzzled by his statement and asked, “The hell is he talking about the DP route?”
Don’t let that dude anywhere near a title. He literally ran from Katar for 15 mins. No one wants to see that shit
— Ryan (@ryanmcd92) February 17, 2025
This Twitter user joked and said, “He’s going the Usain Bolt route”. Meanwhile, another UFC fan had a message for the promotion, that read, “Please never bring this bum back on your show and make him think what he’s doing is good or cool. Thanks.”
A lot of the responses were built around the same question and fair points to them for voicing their opinions. However, Zalal has had 3 finishes in his last 4 fights. So, why was he running away from Kattar, especially after he dominated him for 2 rounds?
During the post-fight presser, Zalal accused Kattar of being suspiciously slippery!
Zalal’s ‘vaseline’ problem
‘The Moroccan Devil’ shot for 8 takedowns during the fight. He failed each time. He addressed it later and claimed, “I feel like there’s Vaseline all over his legs. It was the slipperiest guy I’ve ever seen in my life.” He further claimed having trained with top-class grapplers like Jack Shore, who wasn’t as good at getting away from him as Kattar was that night.
Could this be the reason why he didn’t want to risk shooting in the third round? Zalal didn’t specify. And to be fair to him, he shouldn’t really have to. While fans, and analysts like Henry Cejudo made a big deal out it, the truth is that Zalal showed some incredibly well-executed defensive techniques and survived the round.
And that’s all he had to do to win!
