Despite UFC Fight Night Kattar vs Ige being done and dusted, fans continue to talk about the card. More, in particular, they discuss the opener which marked the debut of Mounir Lazzez in the UFC. The Tunisian mixed martial artist came into the company because of Dana White seeing a video of him and getting impressed. He addressed the incident once more ahead of Fight Night: Figueiredo vs Benavidez 2.

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In a chat with the media via UFC on BT Sport, the UFC President said, “The story is just mind-boggling, I’m sure you heard the story that night.” 

Here he plugs in his conversation with Mohammed Al Housani following the second Fight Island event. However, this time he added more information.

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Dana White recounts the time he heard of Mounir Lazzez

White said, “My son’s birthday party, and he took a bunch of his friends to dinner and this kid who’s sitting next to me, Adam, he’s just terrorizing me about this guy. They live out here, him and his family live out here. It’s like, ‘I’m telling you, this guy is awesome, you need him, they love him in the area, it’ll be big.’ So I said all right kid, I’m gonna do it.”

White said that he got to business quickly and had his team get the 32-year-old onto the books.

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“I literally called Sean Shelby and told him to make the fight. And then to be sitting there, the first couple of minutes.”

Initially, it appeared KO specialist Abdul Razak Alhassan would make quick work of his opponent on Fight Island. However, Lazzez braved the initial storm and controlled ‘Judo Thunder’ to earn the win after 15 minutes.  

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The UFC President said, “We tell the story of how a 17-year-old kid made this fight and for the first two seconds I was like holy s**t, but it worked out.”

At this point, the media quizzed White if he would turn to the boy for more recommendations. White obliged and even put the teenager over. He said, “I always, yea I might, that kid’s a rockstar right now, he’s loving it. You go on his Instagram right now, it’s all about the fight and him making the fight. It’s a cool story.”

What did you make of ‘The Sniper’s strong showing in his maiden UFC appearance?

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Reubyn Coutinho

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Reubyn Coutinho is the Head of Fact-Checking Initiatives and Content Quality Lead at EssentiallySports, where he oversees editorial quality across multiple sports verticals. A Communication graduate, he’s spent over five years shaping the site’s evolution from a niche sports blog into an all-in-one news platform, mentoring more than 110 journalists, introducing data-driven article improvements, and developing editorial guidelines for global audiences. Across his career at ES, Reubyn has worked as a writer, editor, and senior editor, covering everything from UFC, WWE, and boxing to F1, NFL, NBA, and tennis. His bylines include exclusive interviews with former UFC champions Demetrious Johnson and Miesha Tate, as well as combat sports stars Marcus Almeida and Sage Northcutt. Known for his meticulous eye, he regularly resolves headline debates, revisits trending pieces using live analytics, and sets the standard for high-quality sports reporting. Outside of sports media, Reubyn is an active film critic, contributing reviews and festival coverage to Netflix Junkie, where he’s covered events such as MAMI, Venice, and NYAFF. Whether he’s breaking down a championship fight or a Hitchcock classic, his work comes with deep research with a pure love for sport.

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