Youssef Zalal

Compare with another fighter

Youssef Zalal

Nickname“The Moroccan Devil”

Record

18-6-1

Streak

L1

Age

29

Date of birth

Sep 4, 1996

Fighting out of: Englewood, Colorado
Born: United States
Camp: Factory X
Weight class: Featherweight
Height: 5'10" · 178 cm
Reach: 72" · 183 cm
Stance: Switch
Last fight: Apr 25, 2026

UFC fight history

ResultOpponentMethodDetailEvent

Aljamain Sterling

#5Aljamain Sterling

Featherweight · Decision · Unanimous · R5 · 5:00

UFC Fight Night: Sterling vs. Zalal · Apr 25, 2026

UFC Fight Night: Sterling vs. Zalal

Josh Emmett

Featherweight · Submission · Armbar From Back Control · R1 · 1:38

UFC 320: Ankalaev vs. Pereira 2 · Oct 4, 2025

Armbar From Back Control

UFC 320: Ankalaev vs. Pereira 2

Calvin Kattar

#10Calvin Kattar

Featherweight · Decision · Unanimous · R3 · 5:00

UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs. Rodrigues · Feb 15, 2025

UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs. Rodrigues

Jack Shore

Featherweight · Submission · Arm Triangle From Half Guard · R2 · 0:59

UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs. Albazi · Nov 2, 2024

Arm Triangle From Half Guard

UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs. Albazi

Jarno Errens

Featherweight · Submission · Rear Naked Choke · R1 · 3:52

UFC Fight Night: Tybura vs. Spivac 2 · Aug 10, 2024

Rear Naked Choke

UFC Fight Night: Tybura vs. Spivac 2

Billy Quarantillo

Billy Quarantillo

Featherweight · Submission · Rear Naked Choke · R2 · 1:50

UFC Fight Night: Ribas vs. Namajunas · Mar 23, 2024

Rear Naked Choke

UFC Fight Night: Ribas vs. Namajunas

Da'Mon Blackshear

Da'Mon Blackshear

Bantamweight · Draw · R3 · 5:00

UFC Fight Night: Vera vs. Cruz · Aug 13, 2022

UFC Fight Night: Vera vs. Cruz

Sean Woodson

Featherweight · Decision · Split · R3 · 5:00

UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Sakai · Jun 5, 2021

UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Sakai

SeungWoo Choi

Featherweight · Decision · Unanimous · R3 · 5:00

UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Volkov · Feb 6, 2021

UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Volkov

Ilia Topuria

Featherweight · Decision · Unanimous · R3 · 5:00

UFC Fight Night: Moraes vs. Sandhagen · Oct 10, 2020

UFC Fight Night: Moraes vs. Sandhagen

Peter Barrett

Featherweight · Decision · Unanimous · R3 · 5:00

UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Oleinik · Aug 8, 2020

UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Oleinik

Jordan Griffin

Featherweight · Decision · Unanimous · R3 · 5:00

UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs. Hooker · Jun 27, 2020

UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs. Hooker

Austin Lingo

Featherweight · Decision · Unanimous · R3 · 5:00

UFC 247: Jones vs. Reyes · Feb 8, 2020

UFC 247: Jones vs. Reyes

Outside the UFC

10-2across 12 bouts · 6 promotions · wins by 4 KO · 6 subLFA · Sparta Combat League · Sparta Sports and Entertainment · Paramount MMA · Mile High MMAyhem +1

Res	Opponent	Outcome	Finish	Rd	Time	Promotion	Date
W	Vadim Zadnipryanyi2-2	Submission	Arm-Triangle Choke	R1	3:48	Sparta Sports and Entertainment	Aug 19, 2023
W	Jake Childers9-4	KO/TKO	Punches	R1	1:53	Sparta Combat League	Jan 20, 2023
W	Edwin Chavez7-5	KO/TKO	Punches	R1	3:44	Sparta Combat League	Nov 18, 2022
W	Jaime Hernandez4-4	KO/TKO	Flying Knee	R1	2:15	LFA	Nov 22, 2019
L	Matt Jones11-5	Decision	Split	R3	5:00	LFA	May 3, 2019
L	Jose Mariscal18-7	Decision	Unanimous	R3	5:00	LFA	Jan 18, 2019
W	Steven Merrill5-9	Submission	Brabo Choke	R1	3:22	LFA	Dec 7, 2018
W	Daniel Soto6-8-1	Submission	Rear-Naked Choke	R2	1:38	LFA	May 4, 2018
W	Joey Banks5-3	Submission	Armbar	R3	1:58	Paramount MMA	Mar 16, 2018
W	Clay Wimer8-4	Submission	Guillotine Choke	R2	2:42	Mile High MMAyhem	Oct 27, 2017
W	Maurice Salazar1-2	KO/TKO	Punches	R2	4:41	LFA	Sep 8, 2017
W	Michael Santos3-3	Submission	Brabo Choke	R3	1:38	SCL 61	Aug 19, 2017

Non-UFC bouts (regional/other promotions) — shown for context only, excluded from Schedule Score, striking/grappling rates, and every UFC-scoped metric.

Amateur

4-1across 5 amateur bouts · 5 promotionsSCL 56 · SCL 50 · SCL 47 · SCL 45 · SCL 43

Res	Opponent	Outcome	Finish	Rd	Time	Promotion	Date
W	Slade Ring0-1	Decision	Unanimous	R3	3:00	SCL 56	Jan 7, 2017
L	David O'Brien3-1	Decision	Unanimous	R3	3:00	SCL 50	Jul 16, 2016
W	Bobby Molinar1-1	Submission	Triangle Choke	R2	1:27	SCL 47	Jan 23, 2016
W	Brandon Robinson0-2	KO/TKO	Punches	R2	2:13	SCL 45	Oct 24, 2015
W	Steve Peters2-1	KO/TKO	Punches	R2	0:20	SCL 43	Aug 22, 2015

Amateur (pre-professional) bouts — shown for context only and excluded from the professional record and every UFC-scoped metric.

Career striking

OverallB61st

50%454 / 892

Striking accuracy

64%

Striking defense

Sig. strikes / min+0.99 differential

Landed2.78

Absorbed1.79

60%str + td

Defensive rating

Striking edge

+14%accuracy vs opp. landing

worseevenbetter

Strike maps

Sig. strikes by target

Head63%40th288
Body17%32nd76
Leg20%53rd90

Color = division rank · green elite → red low · % = share of strikes

Sig. strikes by position

86%Standing

Standing86%389
Clinch6%28
Ground8%37

Striking zones

Per-15-minute breakdown — where this fighter lands, and where they get hit.

UFC only

Youssef Zalal

Youssef Zalal

Landed per 15

Head

D

35th

26.5

35th

Body

D

25th

7.0

25th

Leg

C

53rd

8.3

53rd

Ranks are division percentiles — e.g. 90th = top 10% of the weight class. Higher is always better: on “absorbed” rows the rank is inverted, so a high rank means they get hit less.

Absorbed per 15

Head

A+

91st

16.5

91st

Body

A+

86th

5.9

86th

Leg

A

79th

4.4

79th

Ranks are division percentiles — e.g. 90th = top 10% of the weight class. Higher is always better: on “absorbed” rows the rank is inverted, so a high rank means they get hit less.

Career totals — landed / attempted

Landed (career total)

Zone	Per 15	Landed	Attempted	Accuracy
Head	26.5	288	677	43%
Body	7.0	76	107	71%
Leg	8.3	90	108	83%

Absorbed (career total)

Zone	Per 15	Landed	Attempted	Accuracy
Head	16.5	180	634	28%
Body	5.9	64	108	59%
Leg	4.4	48	89	54%

UFCStats career rates, per 15 minutes. Percentiles vs the division; absorbed is inverted so higher is better.

Pace & fade

Round-by-round work rate, and whether they fade.

UFC only

Youssef Zalal

Youssef Zalal

13 UFC bouts (per‑round) · 163 min

148%

R3 pace · 9 bouts

Zalal builds (+18% per round through round 3). Within fights that reached round 3, Zalal lifts to 148% of round-1 output by round 3 (9 bouts).

Youssef Zalal

Zalal ▲ BUILDSOutput / min

Faded points are drawn from a single bout that reached that round, so they’re less reliable than the solid points averaged over many fights.

Rounds backed by fewer than 2 bouts are drawn smaller and dimmed with an n= count — a deep round seen in one or two fights is a thin sample, not a settled rate. Per-round bout counts are in the breakdown below.

Full per-round breakdown

What drives the pace · per round

The composite output line above blends these three inputs — splitting them out shows whether the work rate is built on striking volume, takedown pressure, or top control, and which input fades.

Sig. strikes landed

Youssef Zalal

Zalallanded / min

Takedown attempts

Youssef Zalal

Zalalattempts / min

Control time

Youssef Zalal

Zalal% of round

Round	Output / min	Sig landed / min	Sig absorbed / min	TD att / min	Control	Bouts
R1	4.8	2.8	1.5	0.36	22%	13
R2	4.7	2.1	1.7	0.36	38%	11
R3	6.7	3.7	2.1	0.53	35%	9
R4	0.7	0.6	3.2	0.00	4%	1
R5	2.0	2.0	1.0	0.00	0%	1

Output / minis the headline work rate — significant strikes landed, plus 3 per takedown attempt, plus one per 15 seconds of control — so a takedown-and-grind round isn’t scored as idle the way bare striking volume would. The remaining columns are its components. Per-round rates use UFCStats per-round data (available for ~95% of bouts since 2008). Each round’s rates are averaged only over bouts that reached that round, so the bout count shrinks as rounds deepen. The final round of a finished fight is pro-rated by its actual length.

Schedule Score

Opponent quality, ranked across the UFC. Recent fights weighted heavier.

UFC only

Youssef Zalal

Youssef Zalal

13 resolved UFC bouts · 3 ranked at the time

Schedule Score

49/ 100

0255075100

Schedule strength

A

75th

46%

75th

Win quality

A+

87th

55%

87th

Opponent quality distribution

Every UFC bout, grouped by who the opponent was at the time.

1

3

1

3

1

4

ChampionHeld the title in this weight class at the time
Top-5Ranked #1–#5 at the time
Cross-div rankedRanked #1–#15 in another division at the time
Established5+ UFC wins entering the bout, ≥.500
Building3+ UFC fights, ≥.40 win rate
UnprovenFewer than 3 fights, or sub-.40 win rate

Tier	Bouts	Record	Win rate
Champion	1	0-1	0%
Top-5	3	2-1	67%
Cross-div ranked	1	1-0	100%
Established	3	1-1-1	50%
Building	1	1-0	100%
Unproven	4	3-1	75%

Highest-quality opponents

Toughest opponents on the scheduleScore, scored at the time of the fight.

All bouts — opponent quality bout-by-bout

Res	Opponent	Tier	Score	Date
L	Aljamain Sterling#5	Top-5	83	Apr 25, 2026
W	Josh Emmett#8	Top-5	78	Oct 4, 2025
W	Calvin Kattar#10	Top-5	77	Feb 15, 2025
W	Jack Shore	Cross-div ranked	45	Nov 2, 2024
W	Jarno Errens	Unproven	8	Aug 10, 2024
W	Billy Quarantillo	Established	30	Mar 23, 2024
D	Da'Mon Blackshear	Established	22	Aug 13, 2022
L	Sean Woodson	Established	22	Jun 5, 2021
L	SeungWoo Choi	Unproven	8	Feb 6, 2021
L	Ilia Topuria	Champion	68	Oct 10, 2020
W	Peter Barrett	Unproven	8	Aug 8, 2020
W	Jordan Griffin	Unproven	8	Jun 27, 2020
W	Austin Lingo	Building	15	Feb 8, 2020

Per-bout quality scoring: champion = 100; same-division ranks 1–5 = 90 → 78 linear; ranks 6–15 = 75 → 60 linear; cross-division champion = 78; cross-division ranked = 45; title-fight challenger (no rank signal) = 50, bumped to 65 when opp had an elite career UFC record at the time. Unranked opponents are scored on UFC record-at-time (long-tenured vet 60, contender-level 45, established 30, building 18, unproven 8). P4P top-10 at time adds +5; top-3 adds +8 (capped at 100). The Schedule Score combines schedule strength (65%) and quality wins (35%), then is held toward a rookie baseline for fighters with limited UFC experience so a thin résumé reads honestly low.

In the news

Youssef Zalal wants to give Kevin Vallejos 'a reality check'sherdog · Jun 17, 2026