Youssef Zalal is not particularly fond of the mixed martial arts fanbase and recently expressed why ahead of a high stakes featherweight fight. During an interview with Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie, Zalal touched on multiple topics ahead of his consequential contest with Josh Emmett at UFC 320 on October 4th.
When touching on the MMA fanbase's style of interfacing with the sport from a fighter's perspective, Zalal said,
“The fans are spoiled. All they care about is what you did the last fight. That’s all they care about. They don’t care about your whole story. They don’t care about nothing. Some guys didn’t even, like, I saw some comments, I think they were saying like, ‘Oh, he’s on a like three and three or something like that.’"
"I’m like, you guys obviously are the worst fans I ever seen in my life. I fought four fights in 11 months. I was one of the most active guys in the featherweight. And to go have three finishes and two bonuses, and then they still; it’s not enough. We’re spoiled human beings. It’s crazy.”
Youssef Zalal: Josh Emmett "had no choice" in accepting UFC 320 bout
Youssef Zalal and Josh Emmett have quasi history with one another with the two set to settle their score in the cage in the coming weeks. Zalal previously called out the former UFC interim title challenger but Emmett at the time of the callout, circa February, indicated he was looking for something a bit bigger in the division. Touching on their prior interactions and how we got to this bout booking becoming locked in, Zalal stated [via MMA Junkie],
"He's at a point where he had no choice. He either had to wait a year or so to fight, or fight right now. Obviously, we've got a bunch of young guys coming in and a bunch of prospects coming in, and they need to fight, and that's why I feel he had no choice in a way. It is what it is."
Zalal vs. Emmett pits the number nine and number eight ranked contenders, respectively, at 145 pounds against one another in Las Vegas at UFC 320.