I'm a little confused by this one, Abbasov is 28-3 and has some pretty big wins over Marif Piraev and Shamil Zavurov, like for Contender Series level fighters these are absolutely astronomical wins. Why would Nariman, who's probably a top 5 LW Free agent get signed to the contender series and not the UFC directly? Ontop of this hes fighting 17-3 Ismael Bonfim who is arguably Brazil's best LW prospect, both of these men are on 13 fight and 11 fight win streaks respectively.
I'm just a little confused, this fight is absurdly high level between two blue chip prospects just entering their primes at 26 (Bonfim) and 28 (Abbasov) but 90% of the talent they sign to the contenders series are much less talented and much less accomplished fighters than these two, why not sign them directly to the UFC? And why match them up against each other of all people? I understand they could both possibly get signed or the loser will probably get a second chance, especially since they are both exciting fighters who like to bang.
But how does this make any sense? These feels like a UFC fight where the winner gets a top 10 ranking more than a contender series fight. You'd think they'd give them both lobs vs some 9-1 prospect that they crush and give them both contracts.
(sorry mods for the double post, wasn't sure if I was supposed to post this in here or not, taking the gamble)
