Albert “Machette” Duraev is a 34-year-old Chechen fighter who’s 16-4 overall with most of his losses happening in the early days of his professional career as an MMA fighter. He did suffer a loss to Joaquin Buckley in 2022, but it happened by TKO (doctor stoppage).
This explains why he was given a chance to showcase his talents in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 224 against Jun Yong Park a.k.a. “The Iron Turtle” who’s got a very similar MMA journey. The Korean fighter is 16-5 overall, and same as Duraev, he too suffered most of his losses in the early days of his career – three of his five losses happened within the first three years of his career.
Albert Duraev vs. Jun Yong Park Odds
Moneyline Odds
Albert Duraev +130
Jun Yong Park -160
*Odds taken from Sports Odds Direct Thursday, July 13, 2023.
When, Where, and How to Watch?
Place: UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada
Date: Saturday, July 15, 2023
Time: 10:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)
How to Watch: ESPN/ESPN+
Albert Duraev has a background in combat sambo, which explains why nine of his 16 career wins happened by submission. He’s also a decent boxer, although he’s been using those skills almost exclusively for defending. The evidence of this is that he’s been landing 2.94 significant strikes per minute since joining the UFC while absorbing 2.53.
Duraev’s strongest weapon is takedowns. He seems capable of taking down almost any opponent, while he’s also pretty decent when it comes to defending against takedowns. In every single one of his four UFC/Dana White’s Contender Series fights, we saw him land at least one takedown. This is really impressive as all of his opponents were fighters with decent TD defending skills – Chidi Njokuani, Joaquin Buckley, Roman Kopylov, and even Caio Bittencourt.
Jun Yong Park Hoping to Break into Top 15 in the Middleweight Division
“The Iron Turtle” is 16-5 overall, with a 6-2 record since joining the UFC in 2019. He won his two previous fights by submission, and if he continues to finish his opponents, we might see him get ranked. But can he beat Duraev is the big question.
He’s got a similar set of skills to his UFC Fight Night 224 opponent. He’s great wrestling-wise, with decent boxing skills. The Korean lands a lot of strikes, but he also gets hit a lot of times. Same as Duraev, he too excels when it comes to takedowns. Park lands 2.33 TDs per fight on average, while his takedown defense is 70%.
These two are very similar, not only when it comes to their skillset, but also when it comes to their record, fighting style, experience, and even built.
