Sharabutdin Magomedov vs Armen Petrosyan Prediction: Check the Highlights of the Main Saturday Bout

On October 26th, UFC 308's main card will feature two Russians, both known for their powerful punches: Shara Bullet and Armen Petrosyan. The fight will be in the middleweight division.

Shara Bullet's career is pretty impressive and almost already brilliant. In a nutshell, he started out in football but was excommunicated from the sport after getting into a bout. When he was younger, he used to fight a lot on the street and do Thai boxing. On one occasion, he got really angry after the referee made a wrong decision at the TATNEFT tournament, so he ended up going to Thailand. He participated in the Thai and Chinese leagues, and it was in China that he made a name for himself, becoming almost a national hero.

After he came back to Russia, he won the Nashe Delo league title, fought a few times at AMC Fight Nights and RCC, and finally got invited to the UFC. He's well-liked here and has faced relatively easy opponents so far. He's being handled very carefully. It's clear that Dana White sees him as a major star; in fact, Shara Bullet is already a big name in the industry. He's a great fighter and a great speaker. He has virtually no haters and plenty of fans all over the world. Shara has already fought twice this year. He knocked out Antonio Trocoli and defeated Michal Oleksiejczuk on points. However, many experts believe that Armen Petrosyan will be his biggest career challenge.

Armen Petrosyan is a multiple Russian and world champion in Thai boxing, so his technique is all about by-the-book skills. Armen has also improved his wrestling, and those who train with him say it's now at a very high level. In 2021, Petrosyan became the AMC Fight Nights champion, and a year later, he made his UFC debut. In the strongest league in the world, he hasn't been able to finish anyone yet. He alternates wins and losses here, and in his last fight (with Rodolfo Vieira), he got caught in a triangle choke.

It's not as straightforward as the bookmakers are making out. Shara Bullet is the favorite, but not an unqualified one at all. The difference in odds is because he's expected to win again, and fans worldwide will place bets on him. At the same time, we've seen that he has some issues with wrestling, which Armen Petrosyan is well-positioned to exploit. On his feet, Shara sometimes misses heavy punches (look at the fight with Michal). We think there are two possible outcomes here. Either it'll be an active exchange on the feet, or Petrosyan will try to wrestle. We don't think there'll be a knockout, even though we'd like to see one. The judges will be busy counting points. We think they'll give Magomedov the edge because his leg kicks will be more impressive and dangerous. Equally, the aura of the Pirate could also play a part.