Coming off his first year as a pro that saw him go 3-0, featherweight prospect Youssef Zalal was looking to keep his winning ways going heading into his first bout of 2018.
Against Joey Banks at Paramount MMA in March, Zalal was able to display a wide array of skills en route to a third round submission victory.
“I showed a lot of guys I’m good at MMA in general,” Zalal told MMAWeekly.com. “I went out there and proved it to a lot of people. I want to not go over my head and say if he’s a striker that I’m going to strike with him; nah I’ll just stick with the game plan and it will work out for me.”
While Zalal has kept up a fairly high output over the course of his first nine months as a pro, he feels he’s been able to avoid the kind of damage that would prevent him from continuing to fight regularly in the coming year.
“I had my pro debut in August and it hasn’t been a year yet, but I’ve had four fights already,” said Zalal. “The good thing is that I don’t really get hurt at all. I’ll take a week off after the fight, but then I’ll get right back to training. It can be hard at times, but you’ve got to learn to get through it.”
When it comes to training, Zalal feels he has some of the best in the world at FactoryX in Colorado. It offers him the kind of preparation Zalal believes readies him for anything his opponents throw at him.
“They’ve really had an impact on me and my fighting style,” Zalal said. “I have training partners from all over the world who are great at everything. That’s what makes me better, so I can perform better.
“All the stuff (my opponent does) I’ve seen already. With these training partners I can focus on me, and me getting better.”
This article first appeared at News – MMAWeekly.com
