Why not just take the status match, then you'll have both, and see how you like EK after a few flights compared to UA/*A, and then decide. If you did 250,000 miles last year, one flight more or less on *A isn't going to lose you 1K.
Personally, I think UA is pretty rubbish in international premium cabins, but within the US obviously invaluable. Also the *A benefits are useful. But if 90% of your travel is ex-DXB (and therefore on EK) you might find that service better (and they have a lot of fifth and sixth freedom rights).