Coming into his Dana White’s Contender Series matchup at just 5-0, Mansur Abdul-Malik was one of the greener prospects on the show. Yet the Las Vegas native entered his bout against Wes Schultz as a -300 favorite and quickly proved those odds right.
As Laura Sanko mentioned on the broadcast, every strike the 27-year-old threw carried fight-ending intentions, and his power was connecting with Schultz nearly every time. After a dominant opening frame, it would be the first time in Abdul-Malik’s young career that he needed to go into a second round.
UFC ATLANTA: Fight By Fight Preview
Schultz started putting pressure on and, for a moment, it seemed the tide could be shifting. That didn’t last long, however, as Abdul-Malik defended and reversed one of Schultz’s takedowns, eventually securing top position. With a minute-and-a-half left in the round, Abdul-Malik unleashed a barrage of ground-and-pound strikes until securing a TKO victory.
The Syndicate MMA product made his UFC debut less than three months later against veteran Duško Todorović. While you’d expect Abdul-Malik to be under the most pressure of his career making his UFC debut, he fought like he’d been in the Octagon plenty of times before.
