Exciting UK prospect Jack McGann can claim the biggest scalp of his blossoming career when he travels to the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala on September 24th to take on leading Russian lightweight Murad Machaev.
Machaev, known as ‘The Strangler’, became the top-ranked Russian lightweight competing in his homeland when he defeated the formidable Alexander Sarnavskiy in February. With a 19-1 record, his sole defeat was back in 2012 in Bellator against recent world title challenger Marcin Held.
Yet McGann, 10-2, returns to the lions den confident following his last outing when he knocked out Russian prospect and home crowd favorite Abdula Dadaev on the previous Fight Nights Global 50 event, headlined by Fedor Emelianenko’s return against Fabio Maldonado.
Dadaev was hurt first with a high knee strike that crumpled him, then McGann followed up with a three-punch combination to finish the job is spectacular fashion. It was due to this performance and the overwhelming praise of the Russian fans that forced EFN executives to offer McGann the Machaev fight.
The 23-year-old from Liverpool, England, boasts a 100% first round stoppage rate in all of his 10 wins, with nine of those stoppages via knockout – giving him an average fight time of just one minute 45 seconds.
Machaev, meanwhile, is ranked 38th in the world and only six places behind UFC standout Joe Lauzon, according to the FightMatrix rankings.
The fight will be broadcast live on UFC Fight Pass featuring on the main card at Fight Nights 51, with the event one of highest ranking in terms of viewers outside of the UFC globally.
McGann will have a tough time defeating the opponent who has lost only once in 20 fights. However, the young Scouser’s ability to knock guys out is unprecedented. A win over the the Russian would set McGann – who counts Hollywood star Tom Hardy as his number one fan – up for a huge 2017.
