{"id":904812,"date":"2026-09-25T09:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T09:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/904812\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T09:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T09:34:09","slug":"best-prospect-in-the-sport-ufc-333-adds-petr-yans-undefeated-training-partner-asaf-chopurov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/904812\/","title":{"rendered":"Best prospect in the sport? UFC 333 adds Petr Yan\u2019s undefeated training partner, Asaf Chopurov"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/ufc-fight-cards\/465908\/latest-ufc-333-fight-card-start-time-date-location-volkanovski-vs-evloev\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UFC 333<\/a> just scored an incredible new addition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Per a first report from <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/pelunaton\/status\/2103204229028429959?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">Pelunaton<\/a>, blue chip prospect Asaf Chopurov has officially signed to the UFC roster. Undefeated at 11-0 as a professional, Chopurov is a primary sparring partner of UFC Bantamweight kingpin Petr Yan. In addition, Chopurov is the UAE Warriors champion, built up an amateur record of 34-1 before going pro, and has finished 10 of his professional victories.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">The 24-year-old from Azerbaijan will debut versus Alexander Vokanovski\u2019s training partner, Colby Thicknesse, at UFC 333 on Oct. 24 from Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE (h\/t <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/ufc\/colby-thicknesse-draws-undefeated-newcomer-at-ufc-333\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the Heavy<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">There\u2019s a ton of hype behind Chopurov. His credentials and experience certainly speak volumes, but it\u2019s Chopurov\u2019s skills that really jump off the page. He\u2019s a slick ground specialist with unique Judo throws, and yet Chopurov also has composed striking with genuine knockout power.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Here\u2019s a sample of his work:<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Thicknesse is a perfect debut opponent. The Australian holds a 2-1 record in the Octagon, coming up short versus Aleksandre Topuria in his debut before turning away both Josias Musasas and Vince Morales. Well-rounded and well-conditioned, the 27-year-old \u201cSlickness\u201d should help determine whether Chopurov is ready for the highest level of competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UFC 333 just scored an incredible new addition. Per a first report from Pelunaton, blue chip prospect Asaf&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":904813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,40762,785,85,1396],"class_list":["post-904812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=904812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/904813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=904812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=904812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=904812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}