Muhammad Ali’s grandson Biaggio Ali Walsh is on his way to MMA superstardom - and UFC champion Sean Strickland is making sure of it.
Ali Walsh, 25, makes his fourth PFL appearance on Friday night when he fights Joel Galarza Lopez at the promotion’s World Championships in Washington, DC. The grandson-of-a-legend trains at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, a legendary gym that hosts former and current UFC champions such as Strickland.
It’s unsurprising that Ali Walsh does his best work with his fists and his brother Nico, a professional boxer, is also serving the family name well in the ring. Ali Walsh spends most of his time at the gym working on grappling and Strickland recently gave him some pointers about his skills on the mat in a training session.
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“Some advice he’s given me, being very specific, is mat returns,” Ali Walsh told Mirror Fighting. “We were sparring and he was telling me that in MMA we get guys down and let them get up, but you want to try and mat return them. Get them back down to the ground and be heavy, kind of like Khabib [Nurmagomedov] was when he was wrestling. These are kind of in-sport specific tips that he gave me and they help a lot. He is a great guy, teammate and teacher, once he is done fighting he will be an amazing coach."
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Strickland produced one of the biggest upsets in UFC world title history by winning the middleweight belt against Israel Adesanya in September. Ali Walsh said of the fight: “I watched his fight against Israel and I was super nervous for him. Israel is one of the greatest strikers in MMA history but watching Sean do what he did was amazing. I don’t even think he stuck to the gameplan because his gameplan was to wrestle. He brought the belt back and I am just super happy for him, it was very inspiring.”
Ali Walsh is yet to turn professional in the cage but is eager to put his amateur career behind him if things go to plan against Alvarez. The 25-year-old has finished all but one of his fights for the PFL in the first round and Ali Walsh is hoping that an impressive win on Friday night will make his coaches have the conversation with him about taking the next step in his career.
“I want to get a spectacular victory in this fight and then turn professional next year. After the fight I will sit down with my coaches, tell them what I think and hear what they think so we are on the same page. I don’t want to go against what my coaches say, because they are so much more knowledgeable than I am,” he added.
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