The fight card for the upcoming UFC event in Abu Dhabi is starting to take shape. Following the recent announcement that former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker will face former ONE two-division champion Reinier de Ridder in the main event at Etihad Arena, additional matchups are now being confirmed.
Popular middleweight contender Shara “Bullet” Magomedov is scheduled to make his return to the octagon against Marc-Andre Barriault in Abu Dhabi. Magomedov will be looking to bounce back after suffering the first loss of his UFC career against the highly-regarded striker Michael “Venom” Page. His opponent, Barriault, is coming off a spectacular knockout victory over Bruno Silva at UFC 315.
In addition to the Magomedov vs. Barriault clash, the UFC also revealed three other fights for the July event: a light heavyweight contest between ranked fighters Nikita Krylov (30-10) and Bogdan Guskov (17-3), a ranked flyweight bout pitting Asu Almabayev (21-3) against Ramazan Temirov (19-3), and another light heavyweight matchup featuring Ibo Aslan (14-2) taking on Billy Elekana (7-2).
Nikita Krylov, currently ranked No. 10 in the light heavyweight division, is seeking to rebound from a first-round knockout loss to Dominick Reyes at UFC 314 in April. Bogdan Guskov, ranked No. 14, enters the fight on a three-bout winning streak since his UFC debut loss to Volkan Oezdemir, with his most recent victory being a submission win over Billy Elekana at UFC 311 in January.
Asu Almabayev (No. 8) and Ramazan Temirov (No. 13) both last competed in March. Almabayev saw his four-fight UFC winning streak ended by Manel Kape in the main event of UFC Vegas 103. Conversely, Temirov secured a unanimous decision win over Charles Johnson earlier on that same card.
Ibo Aslan, a Contender Series signee from 2023, impressed in his first two UFC appearances with knockout wins over Anton Turkalj and Raffael Cerqueira. However, his momentum was halted by a submission loss to Ion Cutelaba in February. Former PFL fighter Billy Elekana is aiming for his first UFC win after losing his debut to Bogdan Guskov at UFC 311.
UFC Abu Dhabi is set to take place on July 26th at Etihad Arena.
