Short Notice Replacement Davis Looking to Shock the World and Defeat #15 Ranked Featherweight (15-1) Zabit Magomedsharipov (Via: UFC)

On Saturday, (9-4) Brandon “Killa B” Davis will enter the Octagon for the fourth time in 2018. The Mississippi native is looking to do what no other fighter has been able to do in the UFC, solve the puzzle that is Zabit Magomedsharipov. Making the feat even more impressive would be the fact that Davis was brought in a little over a week ago to face the Ricardo Almeida and Mark Henry trained Russian. For Davis to be successful in his opportunity, he has to look no further than the pair’s common opponent.

Both fighters ran into Kyle Bochniak earlier this year, and the Massachusetts product gave both Davis and Magomedsharipov a run for their money. In Bochniak’s fight against Davis at UFC 220, Bochniak was out struck a total of 59-35; however takedowns were the difference in the fight and the hometown fans went away happy with a unanimous decision win in favour of Bochniak.

Magomedsharipov then met with Bochniak at UFC 223 in April, and the Dagestanian fighter pushed the pace out striking Bochniak by a total of 114-44 and landing 5/11 takedown attempts.

The keys to Davis returning to the win column are simple, push the pace and pounce in the final minutes of the fight. We’ve seen Davis excel with his “stand and trade” style over the course of his tenure in the UFC. This is the same style he was met with at UFC 220 against Bochniak, and like a zombie, Bochniak was able to replicate this against Magomedsharipov at UFC 223. After being heavily out struck in the first two rounds, in the final 1:20 of the third round, Bochniak cracked Magomedsharipov with hook after hook. Davis, though on short notice, needs to be able to outlast the Russian and look to finish the fight late.