Aiemann Zahabi is preparing to fight a former UFC champion at UFC Freedom 250 and one of the former\u2019s peers at Tristar has given his thoughts on that matchup.<\/p>\n
Zahabi has been on a massive run in the UFC. The Canadian combatant is now fighting on that White House card against Sean O\u2019Malley in June. When asked how he sees the Zahabi vs. O\u2019Malley bout playing out, Mandel Nallo<\/a> said [via MMA Canada],<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I think people are underestimating Aiemann [Zahabi], which is crazy to me, but I get it. I think that a lot of the fan base are relatively casual when it comes to how they watch fighting. They don\u2019t really understand the length of Aiemann\u2019s career and the skill he\u2019s acquired and the team he\u2019s on. So all they see is tough fights against \u2018Chito\u2019 [Vera] and [Jose] Aldo<\/a> and that\u2019s like; it\u2019s just a recency thing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere they go like \u2018oh yeah, he got into these tough fights.\u2019 Meanwhile, Sean O\u2019Malley has beat Chito clean. But they\u2019re not understanding how good Aiemann is. So, my opinion, it\u2019s going to be cool because it\u2019s on such a big stage that this is going to be finally the moment where people are like, \u2018Oh my goodness, Aiemann\u2019s Zahabi. What a special talent.\u2019 I think that that\u2019s a really cool thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Aiemann Zahabi is someone \u201cevery Canadian should get on board with\u201d, per Nallo<\/p>\n As Mandel Nallo espoused these thoughts before his long awaited UFC debut that transpired against Jai Herbert at the UFC Winnipeg card, it\u2019s clear that many from the Canadian powerhouse MMA gym have a lot of big things on the go. With some discourse about trying to get Drake to walk Zahabi out for this O\u2019Malley fight to get that superstar cache and to get into the zeitgeist a bit more, Nallo stated [via MMA Canada<\/a>],<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, I think this White House card is, as a competitor, it\u2019s one of the coolest things you could do. Like, politics aside, optics aside, we\u2019re fighters. Doing unique things is kind of part and parcel of the job. Obviously, fighting in the UFC is a unique thing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot many guys do it, but this will never happen again. Aiemann and 11 other guys are the only people that will ever do this. I think that\u2019s extremely cool and every Canadian should get on board with Aiemann competing on that show. It\u2019s very special and he\u2019s just the guy to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n