Ex-UFC vet sees Youssef Zalal “winning in this [Josh Emmett] fight” at UFC 320

Josh Emmett battles Youssef Zalal at UFC 320: Ankalaev vs. Pereira 2 on October 4th, and a former UFC fighter has broken down that featherweight fight.

Khalid Taha was the combatant in question who broke down the looming contest. Taha did so ahead of his own clash with Edgar Delgado Jimenez that went down at Oktagon 75 on September 13th. Taha appeared on Bowks Talking Bouts and when asked for his thoughts on that UFC 320 fight with Josh Emmett taking on Youssef Zalal, Taha said,

“Honestly, I had never [had] Zalal on my radar, you know. He was a bantamweight then he got cut from the UFC. Then he got re-signed again and started at featherweight. Since then, he won like every match, and honestly, if I watch him fight, he doesn’t look that good. But however, he wins every fight, you know. So he has to be very good. So I’m not very sure.”

“Josh Emmett is very dangerous, is a veteran, has a crazy knockout power, you know. So everything can happen. But at the end of the day, I see Zalal winning in this fight, because like he’s more well-rounded, you know. But of course, Emmett if he catches you, your lights [are] going to go out, so. But I lean to Youssef Zalal, yeah.”

Youssef Zalal on why Josh Emmett “had no choice” but to take this UFC 320 fight

Youssef Zalal called out Josh Emmett around February, with the latter indicating he was looking for a bit of a bigger name in the division for his next fight. Things obviously played out to where that didn’t pan out for Emmett.

When touching on their quasi history together leading into this UFC 320 fight, Zalal stated [via MMA Junkie],

“He’s at a point where he had no choice. He either had to wait a year or so to fight, or fight right now. Obviously, we’ve got a bunch of young guys coming in and a bunch of prospects coming in, and they need to fight, and that’s why I feel he had no choice in a way. It is what it is.”