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Fight By Fight Preview | UFC Qatar
Laying Out The Lineup For Our Saturday Debut In Doha, Qatar For UFC Fight Night: Tsarukyan vs Hooker
By E. Spencer Kyte, On X: @SpencerKyte
Coming off an electric night at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, the action goes abroad once again as the UFC makes its initial journey to Doha, Qatar, with an outstanding fight card capped by a pair of pivotal matchups in a division that is front and center right now.
Headlined by a lightweight clash between Arman Tsarukyan and Dan Hooker, with a captivating welterweight pairing between former champ Belal Muhammad and Irish standout Ian Machado Garry in the co-main event position, this weekend’s lineup is stacked from start to finish and promises to continue the outstanding run of events of late.
Let’s dive into what’s on tap as the UFC touches down at ABHA Arena for the first time.
Main Event: Arman Tsarukyan vs Dan Hooker
Standout lightweights meet in the main event as Arman Tsarukyan returns to square off with dangerous New Zealander Dan Hooker.
Competing for the first time since UFC 300, Tsarukyan is primed to ascend to being the No. 1 contender in the 155-pound weight class now that former champ Islam Makhachev has claimed the welterweight throne. The 29-year-old contender has won four straight since a fight of the night loss to Mateusz Gamrot, and nine of ten following his debut loss to Makhachev, including a knockout win over Beneil Dariush and a split decision victory over Charles Oliveira last time out.
Injuries have been the only thing that have slowed Hooker over the last several years, as the 35-year-old “Hangman” enters on a three-fight winning streak. He’s fallen on the fortunate side of back-to-back split decision verdicts in bouts with Gamrot and Jalin Turner and looks to take a major step forward in the title conversation by toppling Tsarukyan here.
There have been no indications that this is a title eliminator or signals as to what champ Ilia Topuria is doing next, but even without any narrative framework or stakes attached to this one, it’s an absolute gem of a fight. Hooker is the kind of game, vicious opponent that could force something more out of the technical and tactical Tsarukyan, who remains an elite talent with eyes on championship gold after missing out on his opportunity to challenge Makhachev for the belt in January.
Either Tsarukyan cements his standing as the top contender in the division or Hooker shakes things up on Saturday, and regardless of which happens, it’s going to be fun watching how it all shakes out.
Additional Main Card Matchups
Belal Muhammad vs Ian Machado Garry
Belal Muhammad competes for the first time since losing the UFC welterweight title in May, stepping in against once-beaten rising star Ian Machado Garry.
After putting together a six-fight winning streak and 11-fight unbeaten streak to rise to the top of the 170-pound weight class, Muhammad came up short in his first title defense at UFC 315 in Montreal, landing on the wrong side of the scorecards in a competitive bout with Jack Della Maddalena. He’s never lost consecutive contests in his career and will aim to keep that fact in place as he ventures to Qatar for a wildly important matchup this weekend.
Machado Garry was forced from the ranks of the unbeaten last December when he dropped a short-notice matchup against Shavkat Rakhmonov, where he tagged in for Muhammad, who was sidelined with a bone infection in his foot. He’s since gotten things moving in the right direction again with a win over Carlos Prates in a bout where he looked outstanding for four rounds and then had to hang on down the stretch as the Fighting Nerds representative tried to chase down a finish.
The optics of this matchup shifted last weekend, increasing the intrigue that surrounds Saturday’s penultimate contest. With Della Maddalena getting dominated by Makhachev and Prates chalking Leon Edwards, Muhammad’s stock took a bit of a hit while Machado Garry’s rose following Prates’ performance. The competition for the first crack at the new champion is fierce, and a big effort from either man would go a long way to bolstering their respective arguments for a title opportunity in 2026.
Volkan Oezdemir vs Alonzo Menifield
Light heavyweight fixtures with a penchant for finishing fights early clash in the middle of this weekend’s main card as Volkan Oezdemir and Alonzo Menifield share the Octagon in Doha.
Oezdemir has been a Top 15 staple from the outset of his UFC career, when he won three fights in six months to earn a title shot against Daniel Cormier less than a year into his time on the roster. He’s struggled to find consistent results since then, but has remained a tough out with a full complement of tools in the middle of the division ranks the whole way through.
A return to Fortis MMA has helped produce consecutive victories for the early Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) graduate Menifield. In February, he edged out Julius Walker in Seattle before handing Oumar Sy his first career setback in June, and now the explosive Texas-based talent looks to put together the first three-fight winning streak of his UFC career by turning aside Oezdemir on Saturday.
Can Oezdemir continue to serve as a too-tough gatekeeper to the Top 10 or will Menifield force his way past him and into the next tier in the 205-pound weight class?
Jack Hermansson vs Myktybek Orolbai
Thirty-three fights into his professional career, Jack Hermansson is changing things up, dropping down to the welterweight division for the first time. Waiting to greet him this weekend is Mytkybek Orolbai.
A staple in the middleweight Top 15 for much of his time in the UFC, “The Joker” finally pulled the trigger on changing weight classes in hopes of finding a better divisional fit as he heads into the latter stages of his career. The 37-year-old is well-rounded and has some impressive wins on his resume, but found he was out-sized and out-muscle too often recently to not give a move to welterweight a shot.
Saturday’s contest is a return to the welterweight ranks for Orolbai, who made his UFC debut with a second-round submission win over Uros Medic in the weight class before moving to lightweight, beating Elves Brener and then splitting a pair of catchweight contests with Mateusz Rebecki and Tofiq Musayev.
With all the welterweight action on the schedule of late, this one has been flying under the radar. While the victory will still be far removed from contention, a dominant effort on either side will attach a little intrigue to the winner heading into what promises to be a busy 2026 in the division.
Serghei Spivac vs Shamil Gaziev
Serghei Spivac and Shamil Gaziev square off in this matchup between heavyweights entering from opposite directions.
Spivac, who sits at No. 7 in the divisional rankings, enters on a two-fight skid, having suffered consecutive losses to Jailton Almeida and Waldo Cortes Acosta this year. “The Polar Bear” is still just 30 years old and has won seven of nine prior to his recent stumbles, and a return to the win column would help steady him in the shifting and fluid heavyweight ranks heading into next year.
Fighting in the Middle East for the third straight appearance, Gaziev, who resides in the Kingdom of Bahrain, touches down in Doha on a two-fight winning streak after suffering the first loss of his career last March in Las Vegas. In his most recent outing, the 35-year-old Russian-born mauler stopped Thomas Peterson, advancing his record to 14-1 overall.
Will Spivac right the ship and maintain his place in the hierarchy or can Gaziev add another win to his current run of success and advance himself into the Top 10?
Alex Perez vs Asu Almabayev
Flyweight standouts clash in the main card opener as Alex Perez returns to share the Octagon with Asu Almabayev.
Fighting for the first time since suffering a knee injury in his main event loss to Tatsuro Taira, Perez is looking to steady himself in the 125-pound weight class, where he once challenged for the title. He’s dropped four of his last five, but all to elite competition, and his lone win in that stretch over Matheus Nicolau stands as a clear reminder of what the Team Oyama man is capable of at any time.
Almabayev has gone 1-1 this year while settling into residency in the Top 10 in the flyweight rankings. He lost an impromptu main event matchup against Manel Kape in March, where the finishing sequence began after he was scratched across the eye in a sequence the referee did not see, but got things moving in the right direction again in July with a win over Jose Ochoa in Abu Dhabi.
Champion Alexandre Pantoja defends his title again next month and is always looking for fresh challengers. While the victorious fighter will still have work to do before earning a championship opportunity, a quality effort could set the winner up with a marquee assignment that puts them in the mix in the early part of 2026.
Preliminary Card Pairings
Bogdan Grad vs Luke Riley
The prelims wrap in the 145-pound weight class as DWCS alum Bogdan Grad welcomes unbeaten Liverpool man Luke Riley to the UFC.
Grad split two appearances on the annual talent search series, punching his ticket to the big stage the second time around, and has alternated results over his first two trips into the Octagon, winning his debut and landing on the wrong side of the cards last time out. Undefeated in 11 pro starts, Riley, who trains alongside Paddy Pimblett at Next Generation MMA, is a 26-year-old prospect with eight finishes, including two straight and three in his last four outings.
Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev vs Rafael Cerquiera
Recent DWCS graduate Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev makes a quick turnaround to debut in Doha, stepping in against Brazil’s Rafael Cerqueira.
Perfect through his first seven appearances, the 24-year-old “Hunter,” who was born in Chechnya but represents Turkey, mauled Alik Lorenz in August to earn his contract and has only been out of the first round twice thus far. Cerqueira has struggled since getting the call to the big leagues, entering this weekend’s contest on a three-fight slide, desparate to rediscover the form that produced 11 consecutive victories to begin his career.
Tagir Ulanbekov vs Kyoji Horiguchi
Ranked flyweight Tagir Ulanbekov welcomes former title challenger Kyoji Horiguchi back to the Octagon for the first time in nine years in this compelling preliminary card fixture.
Stationed at No. 12 in the rankings, Ulanbekov enters having already entered a pair of victoreis this year to run his overall winning streak to four. Horiguchi returns to the Octagon on a six-fight unbeaten streak, having won each of his last three outings under the Rizin banner to advance to 34-5 with one no contest for his career.
Bekzat Almakhan vs Aleksandre Topuria
Bekzat Almakhan and Aleksandre Topuria clash in a fascinating bantamweight matchup on Saturday’s early slate.
Almakhan collected his first UFC victory last time out, kicking off UFC 315 in Montreal with a rapid knockout win over Brad Katona. Topuria debuted in February, collecting a unanimous decision victory over late replacement Colby Thicknesse to extend his winning streak to four and add him and his younger brother, current lightweight champ Ilia Topuria, to the list of siblings who have each earned victories in the UFC.
Ismail Naurdiev vs Ryan Loder
Ismail Naurdiev and Ryan Loder face off in this clash of middleweights aiming to end the year on a high note.
Naurdiev returned to the UFC with a win over Bruno Silva last year at UFC 308, but landed on the wrong side of the results in a foul-filled pairing with JunYong Park in June. Loder won the middleweight competition on Season 32 of The Ultimate Fighter by stopping Robert Valentin, but was on the wrong end of a similar outcome in May against Azamat Bekoev.
Nurullo Aliev vs Shem Rock
Nurullo Aliev looks to keep his undefeated record intact this weekend as he steps in with newcomer Shem Rock.
The 24-year-old Aliev makes his second start of the year, aiming to build off his January win over Joe Solecki and maintain his standing as an intriguing prospect in the lightweight ranks. Rock, a teammate of Riley’s at Next Gen MMA in Liverpool, has earned six straight wins heading into his promotional debut on Saturday, with nine of his 12 career victories coming by way of submission.
Nicolas Dalby vs Saygid Izagakhmaev
Danish veteran Nicolas Dalby serves as the welcome wagon for welterweight newcomer Saygid Izagakhmaev on Saturday in Qatar.
Dalby returns to action looking to halt a two-fight skid and rebound from being knocked out for the first time in his 30-fight career back in April. Out of action for the last three years, Izagakhmaev owns a 22-2 record with wins over Shinya Aoki, UFC vet Zhang Lipeng, and James Nakashima, so it will be interesting to see what he brings to the table in his promotional debut.
Marek Bujlo vs Denzel Freeman
Heavyweight newcomers kick things off in Qatar as Marek Bujlo and Denzel Freeman look to set the tone for the evening.
Bujlo is 6-0 as a professional and sports a 100-percent finishing rate, splitting his victories evenly between T/KOs and submissions. A former WWE hopeful and U.S. Marine, Freeman carries a 6-1 record into the Octagon on Saturday, having earned consecutive stoppage wins over DWCS alums Hugo Cunha and Steven Asplund.
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UFC 322 - Della Maddalena vs. Makhachev
