Alessio Di Chirico vs Aliaskhab Khizriev Preview
UFC Fight Night: Barbosa vs Chikadze will have a very interesting fight on the main card that has all of the potential to get fight fans talking.
Whilst there are a number of different UFC contests set to take place in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 28, the fight between Alessio Di Chirico and Aliaskhab Khizriev has a couple of interesting storylines attached to it.
Aliaskhab Khizriev’s first match in the Octagon
Most eyes will be on the Russian fighter, Khizriev, as it will be the first time that he enters the Octagon with the UFC as a professional fighter. Nicknamed “The Black Wolf”, the 31-year-old already has an impressive record when competing, as he has managed to put together a record that reads 13-0-0 with a variety of different win methods.
However, his performance in the Contender Series that is held by the UFC’s president, Dana White, caught the eye as he managed to make Henrique Shigemoto submit in under a minute back in September 2020, which has led to him being given a UFC contract.
Indeed, that performance has made him a firm favorite in the UFC betting ring, with Unibet Indiana having provided Khizriev with odds of -225 at the time of writing. It has been a long time coming for the Russian middleweight, though, as he was supposed to have had two fights in the first half of 2021, but those two bouts did not go ahead against Wellington Turman and Kyle Daukaus.
Alessio Di Chirico could provide a stern test
Despite having been rather impressive in his AMC Fight Nights Global days and a welterweight champion in that promotion, Khizriev will face a tough challenge on his debut for the UFC and in the Octagon.
Italian Alessio Di Chirico is an experienced fighter with the eight-sided ring and although his record suggests he has had a challenging time recently, the 31-year-old has recently managed to put the poor form behind him and get back into winning ways.
Nicknamed “Manzo”, the No. 32 ranked in the world middleweight fighter had been on a three-fight losing streak recently but managed to put his name in the win column in his most recent fight with a performance of the highest quality.
Di Chirico managed to knock out Joaquin Buckley in the opening round of their contest in Abu Dhabi six months ago with a head kick. The win took his overall record to 4-5 in the UFC whilst he is 13-5-0 in total, but he also managed to take home the additional $50,000 for the “Performance of the Night” bonus.
Admittedly, the odds he has been provided of +170 do little to suggest that he has a chance, but if he performs as well as he can, Khizriev could have a challenging night ahead of him.
Who will win and how?
Naturally, there will be many who will be looking to predict who will be the winner of this contest and all signs will point towards Khizriev being the winner of this contest.
However, it would not be a surprise if the fight went the distance between the two middleweights, with the Russian winning by decision, rather than knockout or submission. The experienced Italian will likely have enough to keep the Russian working, but with both men having seen many of their fights go the full distance on a vast number of occasions, it would not be a surprise to see this one does the same, as well.
