“Fakhretdinov was ranked 15 when I got the contract. But yeah, for sure. I want to get towards the top as fast as possible. So, no bad blood, but after this fight, I really want to get a higher-ranked opponent.”
The matchup offers another clash of styles for Dalby. After facing, and defeating, striking specialist Muslim Salikhov last June, then submission ace Bonfim last November, he finds himself against a fighter whose style is a marked contrast to his own.
“I think in many ways, we have almost as opposite styles as you can have,” he suggested.
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“I have my base in striking, and that’s where I think, if you see it from the outside, people will judge me to be the best. And he’s got a base in wrestling, and that’s where people from the outside watch him as the best.
“For my own sake, I can only say that I feel confident being in this fight in every distance. But, when we were in Brazil, my coach actually kind of had a feeling that we would get matched against him. So we’ve been looking at him ever since I fought eight months ago. And I feel like it’s paid off in training, a lot.
“Throughout my career, I feel like I’ve faced basically every type of fighter you can have. So I take on all challenges with a smile. I enjoy taking on a challenge and solving that puzzle of how do my abilities match up against my opponent’s? And how do we create the best strategy and gameplan to make a victory for me possible?”