This past April, Agulali celebrated his 20th birthday. However, while most young men his age are out celebrating, Agulali was where he always is – training. The Enbo Fight Club was hard at work, pushing for that next big opportunity. The waiting wasn’t all that long.
Having already been tipped off that something big might be in the works, Agulali was not surprised when the UFC officials called with an opportunity to fight in the Road to UFC flyweight tournament. It wasn’t just the hint of something to come that made it so that he was not surprised. He also believes heavily in the work that he’s done and how much he’s dedicated himself to the sport.
“Actually, I’m not surprised, because I started MMA at a very young age. Its my time coming,” Agulali expressed. “I feel very excited, its my opportunity to seize the contract.”
Despite spending a relative short time on this planet compared to many of the other fighters in this tournament, the Sichuan-native has a lot of high level influences in the sport. Chief among them is Israel Adesanya, who not only is an inspiration to him in the cage, but is so out of it.
As you can see on his Instagram, Izzy made a point of sending him a video call encouraging and hyping Agulali’s MMA career. He feels like that’s been a huge boon to his mental preparations up until this point.
“Mr. Adesanya is my role model, and I’ve learned a lot from watching his fight,” he said. “His encouragement means a lot—it makes me feel supported and drives me forward.”
Of course, Adesanya won’t be able to fight the next fight for him. When Road to UFC rolls around this week, Agulali will be by himself in the cage. Alone that is, except for his opponent, Mridul Saikia.
Saikia was familiar to him already when the offer came in, and he feels confident that he has what it takes to turn him away.
“I was familiar with my opponent when they first told me. He is well rounded fighter, but doesn’t excel in any particular area,” Agulali said. “I believe no matter what happens, victory will be mine.”
You can see him look to catch that victory at Road to UFC: Shanghai 2. That card takes place this Thursday at 10am EST and can be seen on UFC Fight Pass.
