This Saturday, the UFC is touching down in San Diego, California, USA. The UFC San Diego card is headlined by an exciting fight between Dominick Cruz and Marlon Vera. Badly in need of a win after losing his last three, Youssef Zalal was supposed to fight Cristian Quiñonez. Due to visa issues, Quinonez had to pull out. Out goes Quinonez and in comes CFFC bantamweight champion Da’mon Blackshear.
Da’mon “Da Monster” Blackshear
Standing at 5’10″
Fighting at 135 lbs (bantamweight)
27-years-old
Fighting out of Baytown, Texas, US
Training out of JacksonWink
A pro record of 12-4
1 KO/TKO, 8 Submissions
How will Blackshear fare in the UFC:
Good to see Blackshear getting this shot without having to move up a weight class. He is the now former CFFC bantamweight champion who defended his title once. There are four losses on his record, but two of those are to Danny Sabatello and Pat Sabatini. Those fights were lost because of his takedown defense and speanding too much time off his back. Everyone that knows Sabatello and Sabatini knows they are both top-notch wrestlers and grapplers so no shame in those losses.
Blackshear does get taken down but I wouldn’t say his takedown defense is bad. He does struggle with a wrestle-heavy attack and as the fight goes on, he’s easier to take down. Blackshear does scramble well and does very well never being stationary but is always moving. He has good jiu-jitsu and the majority of his wins come by submission. His RNC is probably his best weapon but on top, he’s a threat in general.
Striking-wise his hands aren’t too tight, instead he throws wide looping strikes. Even though it is wide punches he does good at landing at a high clip. His short right hook is his best weapon on the feet and has some power behind it as well. Competing with his right hand Blackshear has some nice leg kicks as well. Blackshear actively attacks the legs and uses it to slow his opponents down and maintain his range.
I’m not too sure about the ceiling of Blackshear. I think he’s got a lot of tools a lot of guys don’t have but might have trouble putting it together in the UFC. He can easily beat a lot of guys at the bottom of the division but there aren’t many of those at 135. Depends on how he gets booked: I can see him splitting wins and losses in his first four UFC fights.
How he matches up with Zalal:
When Zalal first came to the UFC I thought he had a ton of potential but that has died down. Dropping three in a row he has been on almost a year layoff and now moving down to bantamweight. With a slight reach advantage for Zalal, the pair are nearly the same build. Both these guys are kind of similar in their fighting style as well. Zalal is probably the better striker who is more technical and has more weapons. Blackshear is the better wrestler and probably the better grappler as a whole. It’s a really close fight to call. I’m picking Zalal cause I think he can outpoint Blackshear and the speed will be a good advantage.
