LAS VEGAS – AJ Dobson has a very modern-era reason to be excited for his opponent at UFC on ESPN 53.
Dobson (7-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) takes on Edmen Shahbazyan (12-4 MMA, 5-4 UFC) in a middleweight bout Saturday at UFC on ESPN 53 (ESPN/ESPN+) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. And while it’s true Shahbazyan has about twice as much experience as the most experienced opponent Dobson’s fought heretofore, that’s not the key factor in why he’s stoked to share the cage with him.
“I was pretty excited. He’s a guy that’s headlined before. He’s in the video game,” Dobson said of first word of his opponent at Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 53 media day. The video game in reference is “EA Sports UFC 5,” which came out this past fall for PlayStation 5 and XBox. Shahbazyan is one of dozens of current and former UFC middleweight fighters available as fighters in the game.
