Can a 40-Year-Old Fighter’s Increased Power Get Him Back in the Win Column?
Featherweight has been a decision that has prided itself on technique, fight IQ, and well-roundedness that many divisions seem to lack. Its champion, Alexander Volkanovski, is heralded as one of the greatest complete martial artists of all time. For someone to become ranked while utilizing only one facet of the nearly unlimited techniques MMA has to offer is nearly impossible. Yet, Josh Emmett has risen to the top and patrolled its upper elevation for years on power and striking alone. Emmett’s UFC run has lasted nine years. In that time, not even one of his wins has come from submission. When he loses, it’s nearly always because he’s being outgrappled. His wrestling and jiu-jitsu are not at a level where they are a threat to his ranked peers. So, why does Emmett keep focusing on his power instead of his other skills?
The saying “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is easily applied to the rapidly dwindling stock of older MMA fighters. In the early days of the UFC and even up until this last decade, fighters had been able to get by on being the best at a singular skill. Even then, fighters who took the time to round themselves out quickly rose above the rest, i.e., George St. Pierre and Demetrious Johnson. Nowadays, nearly every fighter on the UFC roster has some level of authority in nearly all the most prevalent martial arts. Emmett does follow this trend, nor has he made any attempt to. With every loss, he comes back and promises the press that his power has been elevated, and his strikes sharpened. He relies on big moments and his opponents’ mistakes to get his victories. This can be seen most recently in his quick, flatline KO of Bryce Mitchell in 2023. The question is, does Emmett have enough power to catch the up-and-coming prospect, Youseff Zalal?
Zalal has finished three of his last four fights by way of submission. All three of those submissions came before the third round of the fight. He is quick, pursues his opponent endlessly, and is difficult to put away. In all of his 23 fights, Zalal has yet to be finished even once, making Emmett’s threat of a knockout scary, but not inevitable. Zalal has shown that he is as game as any fighter at featherweight, and he has the skillset to back it up. With Emmett already riding a loss bestowed upon him by would-be title challenger Lerone Murphy, is it too late for the UFC veteran to turn his career around? Will this claim of increased power be enough to stop this young, blazing prospect? Personally, I don’t think so. Emmett has relied on striking for too long to still be able to catch high-level opposition, but there’s only one way to find out. We’ll see if my prediction is correct or if Emmett still has some left in the tank tomorrow night at UFC 320.
