Myktybek Orolbai has been at the nucleus of Tofiq Musayev's recent studies as the latter prepares for his promotional debut at UFC Baku this weekend. Musayev fielded several questions from on-site reporters at the fight week media day leading into UFC on ABC 8 this Saturday as we are now days out from one of the more highly anticipated UFC debuts in recent memory.
This is a massive stage just through the lens of making his debut on this kind of a stage but also the fact that Musayev will be the partisan favorite here as he is a native of Azerbaijan. Orolbai is looking to bounce back from his first UFC loss to Mateusz Rebecki via split decision at UFC 308 last October. This comes on the heels of back to back victories during his first pair of treks into the UFC cage with Orolbai collecting wins over Uros Medic and Elves Brener at UFC Fight Night: Allen vs. Craig and UFC 301, respectively.
When touching on the work heading into this contest as well as his specific thoughts on his opponent, Musayev said,
“I have prepared very well for this fight. Myktybek Orolbai is a tough opponent, but I have studied him. I know his strengths and weaknesses. I am ready for anything he brings. My team and I have a great plan, and I’m confident in it.”
Tofiq Musayev and his body of work in MMA pre-UFC Baku
Tofiq Musayev began his career with a bit of an inauspicious stretch going 4-3 across his first seven bouts before embarking on a fifteen fight winning streak thereafter. Through that impressive stretch, Musayev would cement himself as the Rizin lightweight grand prix champion earning a pair of first round striking-based finishes of Damien Brown and Johnny Case before besting Patricky Pitbull in the tournament finals via unanimous decision at Rizin 20.
After some mixed results across Bellator MMA and Rizin competition, Musayev can now say is coming into UFC Baku on the heels of consecutive victories albeit in a scenario where he will be returning to competition for the first time in over a year and a half this weekend. While this bout was shifted to a 165 pound catchweight bout last minute for undisclosed reasons, the winner will likely be well positioned within the UFC's shark tank of a lightweight division.
