A massive weekend in combat sports kicks off tomorrow when the PFL’s Road to Dubai goes down and in the co-main event, the light heavyweight title is on the line. Corey Anderson (19-6, 1 NC) is dropping back down to 205 to take on a familiar foe in Dovlet Yagshimuradov (25-7-1).
Yagshimuradov and Anderson fought once before in the Bellator Light Heavyweight Grand Prix. In that fight, Anderson dominated with his wrestling and he stopped Yagshimuradov in the third round. Anderson went on to lose in the finals of the Grand Prix to Vadim Nemkov.
Following that loss, Anderson won three fights in a row including capturing the Bellator light heavyweight title. He just fought back in July at heavyweight where he took on 2024 PFL heavyweight champ Denis Goltsov. Now, he’ll take on last year’s light heavyweight champion Yagshimuradov.
Yagshimuradov lost his next bout in Bellator following the Anderson loss, but he hasn’t lost since. Yagshimuradov has won seven in a row including wins over former PFL champions Impa Kasanganay and Rob Wilkinson. He’s hoping to parlay his recent run into avenging his loss against Anderson.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure he’s made up the wrestling gap to get the win tomorrow. I just think Anderson is going to control the grappling in tomorrow’s fight and I think that he’ll ultimately finish this fight in the third or fourth round to become the promotion’s light heavyweight champion.
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