A packed Saturday of MMA action kicks off in the morning (US time) in the United Arab Emirates for PFL Dubai, the opening card of the 2026 PFL event schedule. The Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai will serve as the backdrop for the event this weekend.
Live coverage of PFL Dubai starts at 9am ET/6am PT with the early card. Late card action follows at 12pm ET/9am PT. In the United States of America the show will be seen from gavel to gavel ESPNs direct-to-consumer streaming service. All told, if no adjustments are made to the weekend’s itinerary, there are 13 fights scheduled for Saturday.
PFL Dubai Main Event: PFL Lightweight Championship: [C] Usman Nurmagomedov vs. #2 contender Alfie Davis
Saturday’s highlight in Dubai will see the PFL Lightweight Championship on the line in the evening main event. Current champion and No. 1 pound-for-pound contender Usman Nurmagomedov (20-0, 1 NC MMA, 2-0 PFL,), the cousin of Khabib Nurmagomedov, will meet challenger and No. 2 contender Alfie Davis (20-5-1 MMA, 3-1 PFL).
This is the first of two championship fights at PFL Dubai this Saturday. Both fights have a maximum of five rounds of five minutes per round.
Usman Nurmagomedov will make the walk to the SmartCage in Dubai on Saturday night, but has yet to lose in his professional MMA career. Last time out, he retained his championship with a unanimous decision victory over Paul Hughes (14-3 MMA, 2-2 PFL) in a rematch last October.
He has been flawless in his MMA life thus far, save for a 2023 fight in San Diego against Brent Primus being retroactively overturned to a no-contest amid a positive drug test. Will he defend the honor of the Nurmagomedov family again?
Meanwhile, Alfie Davis comes to PFL Dubai this weekend with a 4-1 record in his last five trips to the SmartCage. He powered his way through the 2025 PFL Lightweight World Tournament en route to a unanimous decision victory over Gadzhi Rabadanov (26-5-2 MMA, 7-1 PFL).
A major storyline that could come into play here on Saturday is the age difference between champion and challenger. Nurmagomedov is 27 years old and won’t turn 28 for another two months, while Davis is 33 years old, almost seven years older than the champion. He will celebrate his 34th birthday later this month. Will the teacher beat the student this weekend?
PFL Dubai Co-Main Event: PFL Vacant Welterweight Championship: No. 1 Contender Shamil Musaev vs. No. 2 contender Ramazan Kuramagomedov
Immediately before that, the evening’s co-main event at PFL Dubai will see action in the welterweight ranks. A new defending champion will be determined when No. 1 contender Shamil Musaev (20-0-1 MMA, 4-0 PFL) faces No. 2 contender Ramazan Kuramagomedov (13-0 MMA, PFL promotional debut) in the first fight for both undefeated contenders since 2024.
Musaev heads into this vacant welterweight championship bout on Saturday night after a hiatus of more than 14 months. On November 29, 2024, against the backdrop of Black Friday, he scored a third-round knockout against Magomed Umalatov (18-1 MMA, 9-1 PFL) to capture the 2024 PFL Welterweight Championship.
He is undefeated so far, but the gap of over a year here could be his downfall. How will he fare this weekend?
On the other hand, Ramazan Kuramagomedov is coming out of a hiatus of more than 19 months. On June 22, 2024, he defeated Jason Jackson (19-6 MMA, 2-1 PFL) by unanimous decision after 15 minutes of action at Bellator Champions Series 3 in Dublin, Ireland.
He has not been in action for over a year and a half. Will he achieve a championship victory?
PFL Dubai: No. 5 contender Abdoul Abdouraguimov vs. Kendly St. Louis
More welterweight action precedes the title fight on the PFL Dubai Late Card this Saturday, when No. 5 contender Abdoul Abdouraguimov (19-1, 1 NC MMA, 3-0 PFL) fights Kendly St-Louis (11-5 MMA, 3-1 PFL), an alumnus of Cage Fury Fighting Championships. Abdouraguimov has a record of 5-0 in his last five fights and is currently on a nine-fight winning streak dating back to August 2020.
Cancellations have prevented him from fighting lately. The last two scheduled fights for Abdouraguimov were postponed without a single blow being thrown, including his originally scheduled fight for this weekend against Magomed Umalatov. To find the last time he fought, you have to go back to December 2024.
That night he scored a unanimous victory against Laureano Staropoli (18-1 MMA, 9-1 PFL). A scheduled September 26 fight between Abdouraguimov and Kevin Jousset was also canceled.
Abdouraguimov enters this fight at No. 5 in the featherweight rankings. A win here could mean he is just one fight away from challenging for a championship in the future.
In the other corner, Kendly St-Louis enters Saturday’s card with a 4-1 record in his last five fights and looks to get back into the win column this weekend after losing by first-round knockout to ground and pound shots from Chris Mixan (7-1 MMA, 3-0 PFL) on August 15 in Charlotte, NC.
A fighter is vulnerable when he has to deal with a loss. How will he react to the setback? Only time will tell.
Rest of the map
The PFL Dubai late card is completed by a featherweight bout between No. 3 contender Jesus Pinedo (25-7-1 MMA, 5-2 PFL) and Salamat Isbulaev (9-0, PFL promotional debut) and a heavyweight bout pairing No. 8 contender Pouya Rahmani (5-0 MMA, 1-0 PFL) with No. 10 contender Karl Williams (10-4 MMA, 1-2 PFL).
What fight or fights are you looking forward to at PFL Dubai? Let us know in the comments.
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