{"id":25023,"date":"2025-07-26T07:52:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T07:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/25023\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T07:52:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T07:52:18","slug":"carlos-leal-aims-to-destroy-muslim-salikhov-and-avoid-another-ufc-abu-dhabi-robbery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/25023\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlos Leal aims to destroy Muslim Salikhov and avoid another UFC Abu Dhabi robbery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brazilian welterweight Carlos Leal<\/a> is 1-1 under the UFC banner, but he will have a different answer if you ask him for his octagon record.<\/p>\n

Set to face Muslim Salikhov<\/a> in the preliminary portion of UFC Abu Dhabi<\/a> on July 26, Leal admits he hasn\u2019t moved on from this late-notice debut loss to Rinat Fakhretdinov<\/a>. They met in October 2024, inside the same venue he returns to this weekend, and Leal lost a highly controversial decision when Hadi Mohamed Ali, Michael Bell and David Lethaby unanimously awarded Fakhretdinov the win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI put this pressure, this weight over myself,\u201d Leal told MMA Fighting. \u201cAnd I didn\u2019t turn down the fight knowing it was on the same place. \u2018I have to go there, I have a history there.\u2019 It should have been a perfect story but I was hurt by the judges, so I have to go there and show the UFC I won\u2019t be like, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m not fighting this guy on that place.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I want to be a good employee, I want to show I\u2019ll fight anyone in any corner of the world. I put this pressure over myself. \u2018I have to knock him out, I have to submit him because he\u2019s pretty much fighting on home turf.\u2019 It\u2019s all in his favor, so I have to break the bank.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leal said he has experienced that in the past, leaving a cage feeling wronged by the judges, but the fact that this one happened under the bright lights of the UFC made it a bigger deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter I saw the repercussion, it only made me know more that I had won the fight,\u201d Leal said. \u201cIt\u2019s what I tell everybody. I have two fight and two wins in the UFC. Who disagrees with that can just go back and watch the fight. \u2026 I was happy with my performance because I took the Rinat fight during that week. I wasn\u2019t even training to fight someone like him and still put on a good fight. That loss put me over more than anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leal came back eager after such heartbreak, demolishing Alex Morono<\/a> for a violent first-round knockout in March. \u201cThe Lion\u201d said the mindset remains the same for Salikhov and whoever comes after that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in the world\u2019s biggest promotion, and I need to show I\u2019m one of the best in the world,\u201d Leal said. \u201cThat was my mindset after the Rinat fight. Not only for the Morono fight, but also this one. I\u2019m coming with the same mindset especially because of where this is, of me needing to end this before the decision. And if it goes the distance, it has to be a bigger beatdown than the one on Rinat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leal said Salikhov is a better striker than Morono, much more precise with his attacks, but won\u2019t be able to deal with his muay thai skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to be more smart when I close the distance, especially early in the fight, because that\u2019s when he\u2019s more dangerous,\u201d Leal said. \u201cI like to start the fight feeling my opponent\u2019s speed and power. Against Morono, when he started landing punches and kicks, I realized I was faster than him. I was seeing his movement. As my coach says, \u2018He\u2019s in slow motion, unleash your game now.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how I\u2019ll start with Salikhov. If I see I\u2019m a step ahead of him, I\u2019ll push the pace just like I did against Morono. If I see he\u2019s dangerous, that his hands are fast and strong, I\u2019ll be more cautious with my approach and force him to burn fuel early and then expose himself. But the goal is always the same: show that my striking is on another level. Fight a dangerous striker and knock him out. That\u2019s the main goal. I know he\u2019s been knocked out before, and I want to show I\u2019m on a different level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure the UFC will see me with other eyes [after this win],\u201d he continued. \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to ask the UFC to test me against ranked fighters because I have all it takes to become the champion of this division. But it all depends not only on the win, but how I win. I\u2019ll show I\u2019m not just another fighter to take part in the UFC. I\u2019m here to write my name in history as one of the greatest.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brazilian welterweight Carlos Leal is 1-1 under the UFC banner, but he will have a different answer if…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[4639,16442,1203,2548,20294,49,48,5579,20291,4640,641,700,701,20290,638,20292,20295,20293,82,696,640,702],"class_list":["post-25023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-abu","tag-aims","tag-and","tag-another","tag-avoid","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-carlos","tag-destroy","tag-dhabi","tag-fighting","tag-front-page","tag-latest-news","tag-leal","tag-mma","tag-muslim","tag-robbery","tag-salikhov","tag-sports","tag-to","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}