Undefeated prospect Isa Dalipaj not afraid of taking hard road to MMA's biggest stage
Isa Dalipaj never dreamed of being a professional fighter, but thanks to a little inspiration from former CFFC lightweight champ Zulkarnaiyn Kamchybekov, he's now a highly touted featherweight prospect – and one that's not interested in taking any shortcuts to the top.
"When I moved to the U.S. in 2014, I went and did a high school season for wrestling," Dalipaj said. "That's how I started. I used to play soccer in my country, but I never trained for any kind of combat sports down there, and the wrestling in high school here was for free. So my senior year, I joined it, and that's how I started.
"From there, my teammate nowadays Zulkarnaiyn Kamchybekov, he used to come there at the high school to train with us for wrestling. After I graduated, I didn't have any place to train because the only place was the high school for wrestling, and then I see a picture that Zulk posted of him training somewhere, which was EEFC, now known as Marquez MMA, and I just went down there to try it out."
An Albanian transplant, Dalipaj fell in love with MMA. He took his first amateur fight in 2018, eventually turning pro in late 2020, putting his pursuit of a career in dentistry on hold to chase after his new passion. Now 26, Dalipaj works as a plumber to help pay the bills as he looks to make his way to MMA's largest organizations.
"One of the reasons that I stopped school was because if I wasn't dedicating 100 percent into MMA, then I know that when I was going to hit my thirties or later in my life, I would've been thinking, 'What if I continued the training? Where I would have been?'" Dalipaj said. "So that's why I just stopped school, and I tried to give some more time to fighting.
"I mean, I would wish to dedicate 100 percent of my time to it, but at this moment, I'm just trying to keep up with my bills and everything else. That's why I'm still working and doing MMA. But down the line, I'm hoping that I'll make, like, 90 percent of my time getting into martial arts and then go to the highest levels."
As excited as Dalipaj is to make it to the UFC, he insists he's not trying to skip any steps along the way. After winning all of his first three pro fights by knockout, he knows his potential is high, but he also believes experience is key to lasting success.
"My goal is that when I get a big shot, like if I get my chance to go to the UFC or a bigger show than CFFC, then I want to be ready for it," Dalipaj said. "I don't want to go there and not perform the way I want to perform. You know, I'm still learning and I'm pretty fresh in the cage, experience-wise. But yeah, the plan is to have a couple more fights and feel more comfortable in the cage and get me ready to go to the bigger shows later on."
Dalipaj (3-0) will look to improve on that undefeated record when he takes on recent featherweight title challenger Jose Perez (4-1) at Saturday's CFFC 102, which streams live on UFC FIGHT PASS from Philadelphia's 2300 Arena as part of a dual-event weekend for Cage Fury Fighting Championships, which also hosts FURY Professional Grappling 2 on Friday.
Each athlete is competing for the fourth time as a pro under the CFFC banner, so Dalipaj is familiar with his foe, but he says he tries not to spend too much time focusing on an opponent's strengths.
"Everybody is good, but at the end of the day, it's a fight," Dalipaj said. "I don't get too caught up in looking at tape because in a fight, you don't really know. You might expect somebody to do a certain thing, and if they switch up their whole game, your whole plan is screwed, so I'm just going in there to fight. Whatever he brings, I'm trying to have an answer for it."
With just 14 months as a pro, Dalipaj is already drawing some attention and appears to have a skillset that can take him far in the sport. But the humble prospect insists added time will only allow him to improve more, and he plans on being completely prepared when he gets the call to MMA's biggest stage.
"I'm not looking to rush anything," Dalipaj said. "I want everything to come at the right time. I know after you go to the bigger shows, you're only matching up with guys that have a lot more experience than what I have, so that's one thing that I'm looking forward to: getting more experience and being ready for the more seasoned guys."
