Nurullo Aliev Makes Weight for UFC 333, Ready to Blanket Grant Dawson

Nurullo Aliev officially hit the scale at exactly 155 pounds on Friday, locking in his lightweight clash against Grant Dawson for UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi.

Making weight is usually the most boring part of fight week, but you always have to pay attention when Aliev is involved. This is the same guy who won his UFC debut against Rafael Alves despite getting a point deducted for literally biting his opponent.

"MMA Fighting reported the official weigh-in result of 155 pounds for Nurullo Aliev."

Now sitting at a perfect 11-0 as a professional and 4-0 inside the Octagon, Aliev is staring down the biggest test of his career. Dawson is currently sitting at No. 14 in the lightweight rankings and represents a massive step up in competition for a prospect who has been feasting on unranked talent.

If you have watched Aliev fight, you already know exactly what his game plan is going to be. He is essentially a human blanket who uses overwhelming physical strength to drag opponents to the mat and keep them there until the final horn sounds.

Just look at his recent unanimous decision win over Mike Davis. Aliev landed a grand total of 13 significant strikes but racked up more than 12 minutes of control time. That is the mixed martial arts equivalent of winning a basketball game by only shooting free throws.

Bettors trying to read the tea leaves for this matchup have to figure out if that brute-force wrestling translates against top-tier talent. Dawson is not going to just accept being held down for three rounds without making it a miserable experience, and the odds reflect how tight this stylistic clash really is.

We will find out this weekend if Aliev is a legitimate threat to the lightweight hierarchy or just a really strong guy who knows how to run out the clock. If he gets his hand raised again, the division has a serious problem on its hands.