The UFC lands at Etihad Arena on Yas Island this Saturday, July 25, and if the early start times don’t get you — prelims go at 9 AM ET, main card at noon — the card itself should. Thirteen fights, a legitimate former light heavyweight champion trying to claw his way back to relevance, two undefeated lightweights nobody knows what to do with yet, and a short-notice replacement getting the biggest fight of his career on about nine days’ preparation. Abu Dhabi cards don’t always have the sizzle of a domestic PPV, but the right fights travel well. This one has some of those.
Main Card
Magomed Ankalaev vs. Bogdan Guskov — Light Heavyweight — Main Event
Ankalaev (20-2-1) was the UFC light heavyweight champion for seven months. He won the vacant belt in March 2025 at UFC 313, grinding out a five-round unanimous decision over Alex Pereira that most people at the time thought was close but fair. Then the rematch happened in October, and Pereira finished him at 1:20 of round one — punches and elbows — and that was that. Ankalaev had been the patient, calculated counter-striker who outpointed almost everyone the division put in front of him, and in sixty seconds his title run was over. He’s 34, he’s still ranked number one at 185 pounds… sorry, 205 pounds, and he needs to put a fight like this away convincingly. The division doesn’t owe him a title shot based on who he was eighteen months ago.
Guskov (18-3-1) is not the guy who was originally supposed to be here. Khalil Rountree Jr. pulled out injured, and the UFC called Guskov, who is 9 days out from this fight and has never headlined a five-rounder in the UFC. What he brings is a genuinely unusual resume: eighteen wins, eighteen finishes. Fifteen by knockout, three by submission. The guy does not go to a decision when he wins. His three losses are all decisions, which tells you something about how the math works when Guskov can’t finish you early — he’s a first-round specialist, thirteen of his wins came in round one alone, and he hasn’t competed beyond the opening round in the UFC more than once. Ankalaev is not a knockout loss waiting to happen. He’s durable, disciplined, and has been in five-round fights before. The version of Guskov who shows up in round four of a main event, on short notice, against a former champion, is an unknown quantity. That’s either the most interesting thing about this fight or the answer to it.
The market has Ankalaev at a significant favorite for a reason. He’s the more complete fighter, the more experienced fighter at this level, and he’s fighting in a format where Guskov’s biggest weapon — first-round viciousness — gets diluted over time. But Guskov’s a legitimate finisher, not a tomato can on short notice, and Ankalaev has been stopped before. If the Uzbek lands something clean early, this card gets memorable fast.
Steve Erceg vs. Ramazonbek Temirov — Flyweight
Erceg (14-4) is exactly the kind of fighter who should be ranked higher than he is but keeps running into the wrong people at the wrong time. The Australian’s UFC career has been defined by a near-miss at the title — he challenged Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 301 in May 2024 and lost a unanimous decision in a fight that was tighter than the scorecards suggested — followed by a loss to Brandon Moreno and a TKO against Kai Kara-France. He’s been bouncing between flyweight and bantamweight, won his last fight over Ode’ Osbourne at 135, and now returns to flyweight against the Uzbek Temirov (19-3), who carries some regional credibility with a 19-3 record and is ranked outside the top fifteen. Erceg’s submission game is legitimate — six of his wins are by tap — and his scrambles are where he makes fights uncomfortable. Temirov at +110 on some books is interesting given his experience level, but Erceg’s technical edge inside should show.
Islam Dulatov vs. Wellington Turman — Welterweight
Dulatov (12-1) is a Dagestani welterweight who came into the UFC with serious hype and has done nothing yet to disappoint it. His one professional loss is the kind of thing you look up to understand better — the lineage there is fine. Turman (18-8) has been around long enough to be a stylistic test for prospects, but Dulatov at -700 is where the market lands when one fighter is expected to dominate from the opening bell. If Turman’s grappling finds Dulatov in uncomfortable positions early, this gets more interesting than the odds suggest. That’s a genuine if, though.
Damian Rzepecki vs. Magomed Zaynukov — Lightweight
This is the matchup where both fighters walk in with clean professional records and one of them has to lose. Rzepecki (10-0) is a Polish lightweight making his UFC debut. Zaynukov (8-0) is a Dagestani making his. The UFC loves throwing these pairings out and letting them figure each other out — the problem is neither man has faced anyone at this level yet, which makes projection difficult. Rzepecki’s wins have come against solid regional competition. Zaynukov’s wrestling background is what you’d expect given where he trains. This fight could go anywhere, and that’s the appeal.
Rizvan Kuniev vs. Tyrell Fortune — Heavyweight
Kuniev (13-3-1) is ranked eighth in the heavyweight division and has been in and out of the rankings for a few years without ever really threatening the top five. Fortune (18-3) sits just below him at ninth. This is a ranked heavyweight matchup that doesn’t carry title implications but tells you something about who belongs in the upper tier and who’s stuck in the middle. Fortune is a big guy who can make fights ugly in the clinch. Kuniev’s wrestling base gives him a path to the ground if the standup gets difficult. Neither man is a name you’d build a card around, but the heavyweight division has always been one punch away from anything.
Saygid Izagakhmaev vs. Abubakar Vagaev — Welterweight
Two welterweights with substantial regional track records getting an opportunity in front of a UFC crowd. Izagakhmaev (22-3) has been doing this long enough to have the kind of resume that demands attention even without the UFC marketing machine behind him. Vagaev (24-4) is experienced in his own right. The fight that closes out the main card often gets lost in the shuffle — this one probably will too — but the winner comes out with a UFC main card win on their record, which is exactly what both fighters need right now.
Prelims
Valter Walker vs. Thomas Petersen — Heavyweight
Walker (15-1) is ranked thirteenth in the heavyweight division and is a heavy favorite here against the unranked Petersen (11-4). Walker’s been impressive in his UFC run and a convincing performance at the top of the prelims would reinforce whatever argument he wants to make for a more meaningful fight next time out.
Dustin Jacoby vs. Muhammad Said — Light Heavyweight
Jacoby (22-9-1) has been one of the more dependable prelim-level light heavyweights in the UFC for years — durable, experienced, keeps fights competitive. Said (9-0) comes in undefeated but steps up in class considerably here. Jacoby is the kind of opponent that tells you whether an undefeated record means anything yet.
Sam Patterson vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio — Welterweight
Ponzinibbio (30-9) is 39 years old and has gone 2-5 over his last seven fights. The Argentine Dagger was a legitimate problem at welterweight four or five years ago — the KO power is still real — but the results at this stage of his career have been brutal. Patterson (14-3-1) is coming off a loss to Michael Page and is a substantial favorite here. For Ponzinibbio, every UFC paycheck at this point might be the last one. He’s still exciting when things open up. That hasn’t been enough recently.
Ismael Bonfim vs. Axel Sola — Lightweight
Bonfim (20-6) has had a rough stretch by his own standards — the Bolivian has been in the UFC long enough that you know what you’re getting, and he’s lost more than he’s won lately. Sola (11-1-1) is the favorite at around -200 and brings a legitimate finishing threat. Bonfim’s toughness has never been the issue; finding his form has been.
Brendson Ribeiro vs. Magomed Tuchalov — Light Heavyweight
Tuchalov comes in at -600, which is the kind of number that shows up when one fighter is a serious prospect and the other is there to test whether the prospect is real. Ribeiro (17-10) has been around the UFC long enough to give anyone a fight, but the market is not wrong about where this one is likely to go.
Nurullo Aliev vs. Mike Davis — Lightweight
Aliev (11-0) is an undefeated Tajik lightweight in an evenly-contested matchup with the American Davis (12-3) — one of the more competitive fights on the prelims given what the odds say. Aliev is a slight favorite but this is genuinely competitive on paper. Davis has the tools to make things difficult if Aliev’s game doesn’t translate at this level.
Early Prelims
Cody Gibson vs. Abdul Hussein — Bantamweight
Hussein (15-2) is a heavy favorite over the veteran Gibson (21-12), who has been in the UFC for years and brings experience if not recent results. Gibson’s UFC career at this point is about giving prospects a real name on their record. Hussein should be the busier, more athletic fighter here, and the market reflects that clearly.
Betting Odds & Event Context
Ankalaev is sitting around -460 to open the week, with Guskov a significant underdog at +360. That spread makes sense when you look at the resumes, but it’s also worth understanding what it prices in: a former champion with championship-fight experience and elite counter-striking, against a short-notice replacement who has never gone past round one in a five-round fight. The money is not wrong. Whether Guskov’s early-round finishing ability upsets that math is the central question of the main event. For our full card selections, check BetMMA.tips/DelinquentMMA.
Elsewhere on the card, the Patterson-Ponzinibbio line (-425 Patterson) is one of the steeper ones on the prelims, which reflects how far Ponzinibbio has fallen from his peak. Dulatov at -700 over Turman is the biggest price on the board outside the main event, which is where the market lands when a Dagestani prospect is expected to impose his will on a fighter with an 18-8 record. The Erceg-Temirov matchup is the closest thing to a coin flip at the top of the main card — Erceg opened as a -130 favorite, with Temirov at +110 — which is accurate given how opaque Temirov’s competition level has been outside of the UFC. Tuchalov at -600 against Ribeiro and Hussein at -400 against Gibson round out the card’s biggest prices, both in fights where the favorite is the significantly less experienced but considerably more hyped fighter.
All odds are for informational context only. Bet responsibly and check your local laws and regulations before placing any wagers.
Fighter Spotlight: Bogdan Guskov
Before Bogdan Guskov was a UFC-ranked light heavyweight on short notice for a main event in Abu Dhabi, he was installing ventilation systems in Moscow and working the door at a nightclub. He grew up in Dukent, Uzbekistan, moved to Moscow at nineteen, and spent years doing whatever work was available. He got back into competitive combat sports at twenty-two — late, by professional fighter standards — and started stacking wins. By the time the UFC noticed him, he already had more than a dozen finishes on his record and a reputation in regional Russian and Uzbek promotions as the guy who didn’t let fights go to the judges.
The finishing rate is the thing that makes Guskov genuinely unusual. Eighteen wins, eighteen finishes. Fifteen knockouts, three submissions. He has never won a professional MMA fight by decision. Thirteen of those wins came in round one. That kind of statistic either means you’re a finisher of rare quality or that your competition has been soft enough to make the numbers look better than they are — and at this level, against Ankalaev, we’re going to find out which one it is. His UFC record is 4-1-1, which is solid, but he’s never headlined a card and he’s never been in a five-round fight at this level. The jump from his usual context to a UFC Fight Night main event against a former champion, on nine days’ notice, is enormous.
What makes Guskov worth watching Saturday is that he genuinely doesn’t seem to process the situation the way most fighters would. He took this fight on nine days’ notice. He is fighting the number one ranked light heavyweight in the world. He has never gone five rounds at this level. And he took it anyway, because that is the kind of fighter he is — someone who has been making decisions outside his comfort zone since he was a teenager working construction jobs in a city that wasn’t his. If he catches Ankalaev in round one, this becomes the best story Abu Dhabi has seen in years. If he doesn’t, and the fight gets deep into the championship rounds, the unknown version of Guskov shows up and we learn something new. Either way, you’re watching a fight that matters to someone who has earned the right to be in it the hard way.
Drop your predictions in the comments below. For premium picks and full card analysis, head to BetMMA.tips/DelinquentMMA.
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