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Don'Tale Mayes (9-4, 2-2 UFC) vs. Hamdy Abdelwahab (5-0, 0-0 UFC)Advertisement
Mayes has turned the corner to the point that he's now riding two straight wins, but it's hard to say "Lord Kong" has particularly impressed during his years on the UFC radar. A massive man at 6-foot-6 and surprisingly nimble for his size, Mayes hasn't really put his stamp on his fights; it took him three tries to earn a contract via the Contender Series route, and he hasn't done much to keep his opponents at bay. After earning his first UFC win over the much slower Roque Martinez in late 2020, Mayes did at least pivot towards a wrestling-heavy approach that paid some dividends against Josh Parisian in December; it was a clear win, but still made for a strange and ugly fight that wasn't all that inspiring. But Mayes is still 30, which in heavyweight years means he probably has another decade to figure things out, which he'll attempt to do here against a UFC newcomer. Abdelwahab represented his native Egypt as a Greco-Roman wrestler in the 2016 Olympics, but "The Hammer" hasn't had to rely much on those skills thus far, winning most of his fights via early knockout. That's unlikely to happen here - Mayes is both durable and a skill level above anything Abdelwahab has faced at a regional level thus far - but in his one fight of any length, Abdelwahab did at least show a willingness to pivot and outlast his opponent in a wrestling-heavy and grimy win. That could pay some dividends here, but the bet is that Abdelwahab tires down the stretch in an ugly fight as he faces the first real resistance of his mixed martial arts career; the pick is Mayes via third-round stoppage.
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