The Prelim Breakout Star is a once per event article that helps fans get to know those who will be entertaining them from the undercard. The intention of the article is not to bring attention to the most talented fighter on the preliminary card, but rather one that the common fan may have overlooked or underestimated.
Now back in the saddle, the events are coming at us quick. It’s not always easy to keep up with all these prelims, so let us give you some help with one you shouldn’t miss on.
su mudaerji
Nickname – The Tibetan Eagle
Affiliation – Enbo Fight Club
From – Sichuan, China
Height – 5’8″
Weight – 125 lbs (Flyweight)
Record – 13-4 (2-1 UFC)
What makes him impressive
It’s not often that the first word that comes to your mind when talking about a flyweight is powerful, but that is precisely what Mudaerji is. When he swings with his hands or his feet, he does so with the intention of putting a hurt on someone. That’s not to say that he is reckless, though. In fact, he is quite composed with good distance management. The strikes he does unleash are plenty hard to knock out just about any flyweight, especially given his size advantage since he’s moved down.
Why he has been overlooked
In his first two UFC bouts, Mudaerji looked fairly pedestrian. Fighting up at bantamweight, he lost his debut against Louis Smolka and then followed it up with a decision win over Andre Soukhamthath. The drop to flyweight though, while I was at first skeptical, makes him look like a world beater. Not only does he now have a size advantage over all of his opponents, but the strength and power he possessed up at bantamweight now looks even more devastating. If he is able to replicate what he did to Malcolm Gordon in his UFC flyweight debut, there isn’t going to be anything we can say about him being overlooked anymore.
What makes this a good match-up
Zarrukh Adashev is the type of fighter who just barrels forward and looks to lock up a clinch. While that style works for wrestle-heavy types like himself, he’s shown that he is prone to eating a shot or two on the way in. In his UFC debut, he ate one from Tyson Nam, one of the other big flyweight punchers, and it didn’t go well. The UFC then set him up with yet another of that style of fighter, and I have to imagine it ends similarly.
Prelim Breakout Star Record: 211-93-1 (2 NC) (13 DNF)
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