Edmen Shahbazyan vows to become youngest UFC champion by beating Israel Adesanya

Hot UFC middleweight prospect Edmen Shahbazyan has set some sky-high goals for himself.

At just 22 years of age, Edmen Shahbazyan is already 4-0 in the UFC and 11-0 in his MMA career. Ahead of his main event clash again veteran fighter Derek Brunson this weekend in Las Vegas, Edmen Shahbazyan said that he's well and truly on course to achieve his lifelong dream of becoming the youngest UFC champion ever. Speaking to MMA Fighting, Edmen Shahbazyan revealed that he already has everything chalked out and said that he believes he will be champion before July 2021.

“I know being the youngest champion is at 23 years and 8 months by Jon Jones. I turn 23 in November and then I have eight months after that. That leaves me until July of next year. That’s a good amount of time for me to reach my goal of being champion. That’s one year from now, and I believe the way I’m going with a couple more wins, it will put me in that position to make that goal into reality.”

Edmen Shahbazyan once famously served as Ronda Rousey’s sparring partner during an open workout ahead of the latter's UFC debut against Liz Carmouche back in 2013. Now, seven years later, it's Edmen Shahbazyan's turn to shine as he looks to overcome Brunson en-route to the much-coveted UFC gold which presently adorns the waist of reigning champion Israel Adesanya.

“I think Adesanya is a good fighter. A very slick fighter and a good champion. He’s definitely a challenge that I would love to face in the near future. It would be amazing. That’s definitely the fight I see in the future.”

However, Edmen Shahbazyan isn't getting ahead of himself and is solely focused on winning his upcoming fight against Brunson for now.