Ankalaev returns, faces late-notice Guskov in UFC Abu Dhabi main event

Magomed Ankalaev faced Bogdan Guskov in a five-round light heavyweight main event at Etihad Arena on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, a short-notice matchup that kept the UFC’s next title decision tied to one fight. Ankalaev returned to action for the first time since losing his belt to Alex Pereira last October, while Guskov stepped in on less than two weeks’ notice after an injury forced Khalil Rountree Jr. out of the original main event.

The UFC Fight Night card ran on Saturday, July 25, 2026, with the main card streaming at noon ET on Paramount+ and the prelims starting at 9 a.m. ET. The event page also listed ticket sales through Ticketmaster.ae, and the promotion said all 26 fighters on the card made weight at Friday’s official weigh-in at the host hotel on Yas Island.

For Ankalaev, the assignment carried obvious championship consequences. A strong showing in Abu Dhabi would keep him in the conversation for another run at the light heavyweight crown after his loss to Pereira, while anything less than sharp would leave the division with another unresolved checkpoint before the UFC’s next title booking. The card was built around that question because the original main event was already reshuffled once Rountree was injured out, and the late switch to Guskov changed the tenor of the night from a clean contender test to a riskier, less predictable fight.

Guskov arrived with momentum of his own. He had knocked out Nikita Krylov in Abu Dhabi in July 2025 with first-round ground-and-pound, a finish that gave him his fourth UFC victory and helped turn him from a useful addition to a genuine late-surging threat. That record made the short-notice main event more than a stopgap; it gave the UFC a dangerous variable in a division still sorting out who deserves the next shot after Pereira and Ankalaev. The result in Abu Dhabi did not just settle one main event. It also clarified whether Ankalaev had strengthened his hold on the title picture, or whether Guskov had forced the division into another round of waiting.