Mandel Nallo has finally punched his ticket to the UFC, and a long-time teammate of his is excited to see the former Bellator MMA veteran finally able to ply his trade under those bright octagon lights. ‘Rat Garbage’ secured a TKO win over Samuel Silva in the opening round of his Dana White’s Contender Series contest on September 2nd, which secured him a contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Mandel Nallo gets it done in 1️⃣ #DWCS
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— COMBAT SPORTS TODAY (@CSTodayNews) September 3, 2025

Now that Mandel Nallo is finally in the UFC, a Tristar compatriot of his wants to see Nallo make his main stage UFC debut on the very same card he himself will next be competing on. That fighter in question is Aiemann Zahabi, who will take on Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera in a clash of ranked bantamweight contenders that transpires on October 18th at UFC Vancouver.

Zahabi appeared on MMA Canada to touch on multiple topics, and when articulating his desire to see fellow Canadian combatant Nallo featured on that looming UFC Vancouver card, Zahabi said,

“Man, I would love it, and we were talking about it all summer, you know. Win this fight on Contender Series, maybe they’ll put you in [UFC] Vancouver. So it was already in the back of our minds, and he’s going to be ready for it. He even asked for [UFC] Paris.”

Mandel Nallo has mastered many elements of fighting and just wants opportunities, per Zahabi

As he kept expounding upon his thoughts regarding Nallo entering the UFC landscape now, Zahabi continued,

“Like he [Mandel Nallo] wants them to know that he’s a finished product and we haven’t been mucking around. You know, he’s 36, but we’re good. We’re; you know, people make fun of my age. I’m going to be 38 in November, man. You know, it’s crazy. But I don’t feel like I look old. I don’t feel like I fight old.”

“I feel like I’m staying with the times. I feel like I’m still ahead of the young bucks. Mandel is the same in that sense. I don’t feel like he is his age. He’s really mastered a lot of the elements of fighting. It would be good to see him get like a really good name or just be on the card. Like we just want opportunities, you know? We just need the opportunities to show you guys how good we are.”