The fight card for the upcoming UFC Abu Dhabi event in July is rapidly taking shape.
The promotion previously announced its return to the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on July 26, confirming a middleweight main event between former champion Robert Whittaker and former ONE two-division champion Reinier de Ridder. Now, additional matchups are being added to complete the lineup.
Among the newly revealed bouts, popular middleweight Shara “Bullet” Magomedov is slated to make his return to the octagon to face Marc-Andre Barriault.
Magomedov will be aiming to get back on track after suffering the first loss of his UFC career against highly-rated striker Michael “Venom” Page. Barriault, on the other hand, is coming off a significant knockout victory over Bruno Silva at UFC 315 this past weekend.
In addition to Magomedov vs. Barriault, the UFC also confirmed three other fights for the Abu Dhabi card: a light heavyweight clash between ranked contenders Nikita Krylov (30-10) and Bogdan Guskov (17-3), a ranked flyweight encounter featuring Asu Almabayev (21-3) vs. Ramazan Temirov (19-3), and another light heavyweight tilt pitting Ibo Aslan (14-2) against Billy Elekana (7-2).
Ranked No. 10 in the light heavyweight division, Krylov`s last outing was a first-round knockout loss to Dominick Reyes at UFC 314 in April. His opponent, Guskov, holds the No. 14 ranking and is currently on a three-fight winning streak since his UFC debut loss. Most recently, Guskov secured a submission win over Billy Elekena at UFC 311 in January.
Both Almabayev and Temirov last competed at UFC Vegas 103 in March, experiencing contrasting outcomes. The No. 8-ranked Almabayev was stopped by Manel Kape in the main event, which ended his four-fight winning streak in the UFC. Meanwhile, Temirov, ranked No. 13, secured a unanimous decision victory over Charles Johnson earlier on the same card.
Aslan, who earned his UFC contract through the Contender Series in 2023, made an impressive start with two knockout finishes against Anton Turkalj and Raffael Cerqueira. However, his recent fight saw him submitted by Ion Cutelaba at UFC Seattle in February. Elekana, a former PFL competitor, lost his UFC debut to Bogdan Guskov at UFC 311.
UFC Abu Dhabi is scheduled to take place on July 26 at the Etihad Arena.
