Under The Radar: Sodiq Yusuff vs Sheymon Moraes

Under The Radar: Sodiq Yusuff vs Sheymon Moraes

By Ben Jessop 

The UFC’s octagon returns once again to the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia which hosts a contender for fight of the year as its main event. Barboza vs Gaethje go head to head in the lightweight bout and it’s a real fan favourite this time around. With two of the most technical kickers in the entire sport trading blows it is bound to be fireworks.

Both fighters are also coming off dominant wins, Barboza against Hooker and Gaethje against Vick – it’s no surprise this fight has taken the majority of the evenings limelight and left a whole host of great fights going Under the Radar.

We’ve been spoilt for choice throughout the main card with fights that are not getting the traction they rightly deserve but I’m here to shed at least some light on one of these fights and explain why it could be one of the best fights of the night.

My sights are set on the featherweight showdown between Sodiq Yusuff and Sheymon Moraes. Both fighters are on win steaks, Yusuff has taken this third win in his UFC debut and Moraes is on his second win after a loss to Zabit Magomedsharipov in his UFC debut.

Yusuff came to the UFC via his win on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender series where he KO’d Dylan Tuke in the first round. Explosive KO power has become synonymous with Sodiq Yusuff with six of his eight wins coming via TKO/KO with the other two coming via decision so this is a danger that Sheymon Moraes is going to have to be cautious of.

Moraes comes into this bout as arguably the better-rounded fighter, with a record of both KO’s and decisions with his only two losses coming from formidable opponents, both Magomedsharipov and Marlon Moraes where both losses came via submission so Yusuff would be wise to be training on this during his camp but it’s by no means his speciality.

Both fighters have compatible skills on the feet but Moraes will have to maintain his distance in the opening rounds if he has a chance of avoiding Yusuff’s KO power but Yusuff will be coming in fast as soon as that bells rings and looking for that quick finish so he can avoid the fight going the distance where realistically he doesn’t quite have the skillset to outperform Moraes when it comes to the judges card.

Either way, the finish will be unpredictable and controversial and it will continue to creek open that door on the stacked featherweight division for whoever comes out on top. It really is all to play for, for both fighters.