Sadibou Sy wants to prove he can outgrapple Magomed Magomedkerimov at 2023 PFL Championships

LAS VEGAS – Sadibou Sy is one of the most dangerous strikers on the entire PFL roster, but has plans on showing off more areas of his game in an upcoming championship bout.

Looking to make it back-to-back welterweight title wins, Sy (16-6-2 MMA, 10-4-2 PFL) meets Magomed Magomedkerimov for the second time at the 2023 PFL Championships on Nov. 23. During the regular season, Sy added two impressive highlight clips to his reel during with a nasty knee to the body of Jarrah Al-Silawi and smooth walkoff wheel kick of Shane Mitchell. Magomedkerimov (33-6 MMA, 15-1 PFL) may look to avoid exchanges on the feet, which is something Sy welcomes.

“I hope he will,” Sy told reporters during a media scrum at Xtreme Couture when asked if he thinks Magomedkerimov will look to make the fight a grappling affair. “Because for me, I want to fight him (there) because I want to show myself that not only is he not going to be able to outgrapple or outwrestle me, I’m going to outwrestle him.”

Throughout his PFL journey, Sy has steadily shown improvements in all areas of his game. When he first arrived in the promotion, his takedown defense wasn’t where it needed to be to reach championship fights. Now, he’s one fight away from his second consecutive title thanks to focusing on his evolution as a fighter.

“To be able to work on something, and see improvements and see that it works, that’s why I started this,” Sy explained. “Like I said in the previous question with Magomed, if he’d going to wrestle, I want to be able to see like, OK, how’s my wrestling today compared to two years ago? Those things excite me.”

Magomedkerimov defeated Sy in their first meeting in 2021 by unanimous decision. This time around, Sy is a more complete fighter with elevated confidence who hasn’t lost in the seven fights since. When asked how he plans on getting his hand raised on Nov. 23, Sy laughed as he quipped a fantastic response.

“Oh, the ref is just going to lift it.”