It will be interesting to see if Yusuff can find a new gear, since
it seems like he has plateaued in recent years. Of course, there
are worse fates than if “Super Sodiq” stays in his current
position, given that Yusuff essentially came to the UFC as a
readymade Top 15 featherweight after an impressive win over
Mike
Davis on Dana White’s Contender Series. From there, Yusuff
quickly moved up the rankings behind his powerful striking game,
stringing together four wins that included impressive victories
over veterans Sheymon
Moraes and Andre Fili.
However, after the Fili win early in 2020, Yusuff’s career has
stalled out a bit. Part of that is inactivity—this is essentially
Yusuff’s third fight over the past three years—but Arnold
Allen made him look a little one-dimensional in handing him his
first UFC loss, and the Nigerian-American did not show much in the
way of new wrinkles in a rebound victory over Alex
Caceres in March. After some late shuffling, Yusuff gets a
clear step back with a UFC newcomer in Shainis. A well-traveled
competitor on the Northeast scene, “Shameless” should be able to
cause some damage up to a certain level on the UFC’s featherweight
roster. He is a fireplug of a fighter with some impressive
resilience and can be quite persistent with his willingness to
charge forward with powerful strikes in pursuit of a takedown. If
he survives the early going, there is a chance he can make this an
ugly affair—Yusuff is still a strong enough wrestler and grappler
in his own right to take this—but Shainis figures to march forward
into plenty of pain almost immediately out of the gates. The pick
is Yusuff via first-round knockout.
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