This week, Dana White’s organization makes its first-ever visit to Qatar, which is no stranger to hosting major sporting events. Three years ago, the FIFA World Cup was held in Qatar, which was ultimately won by Lionel Messi and Argentina on penalties, 4-2 in the final after regular and extra-time failed to produce a champion, ending at full-time level, 3-3.
After UFC Qatar wraps up this Saturday night, the promotion will take a weeklong break in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States before heading home for the holidays with two shows in Las Vegas in December. In the United States, this week’s card will be available at ESPN+.
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Live coverage kicks off Saturday morning at 10am ET/7am PT with the preliminaries before moving to the main card at 1pm ET/10am PT. All told, if no changes are made to the schedule between now and the weekend, the final version of UFC Qatar will feature a slate of 14 fights from the No. 1 MMA promotion in the world.
UFC Qatar Featured Preliminary: Bogdan Grad vs. Luke Riley
Topping the bill for the undercard, you’ll see a matchup in the featherweight ranks this Saturday when Bogdan Grad (15-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) collides with Cage Warriors alumnus Luke Riley (11-0 MMA, UFC promotional debut). All fights mentioned herein are an advertised maximum of three rounds of five minutes per round.
Grad makes his third walk into the legendary Octagon this weekend after compiling a 4-1 record in his last five fights. The 2024 Contender series The graduate suffered his first loss under the UFC promotional banner last June against Muhammad Naimov (13-3 MMA, 5-1 UFC) in Baku, Azerbaijan on ABC.
Prior to this match, Grad had won four of six fights. How will he recover on Saturday?
On the other hand, Luke Riley has yet to lose in his professional career. In March, he scored a second-round knockout victory over Tariel Abbasov (9-4 MMA) at Cage Warriors 185. Riley is a man who was targeted in a fight on Contender series in the 2024 season before the performance was scrapped due to visa issues.
He will get a chance to show off in the big leagues on Saturday night in UFC Qatar. Will he continue his undefeated run?
UFC Qatar Co-Featured Prelim: Nicolas Dalby vs. Saygid Izagakhmaev
Immediately before that, UFC Qatar’s co-featured prelim takes place at welterweight as Nicolas Dalby (23-6-1, 2 NC MMA, 7-5-1, 1 NC UFC) collides with former ONE Championship fighter Saygid Izagakhmaev (22-2 MMA, UFC promotional debut). Dalby enters the weekend with a 3-2 record in his last five fights.
Most recently, he was on the losing end of a second-round knockout by right hook of Randy Brown (20-7 MMA, 14-7 UFC in Kansas City, KS. Brown fought last weekend at Madison Square Garden, losing to Gabriel Bonfim via a clinch knee. The April 26 fight between Dalby and Brown was the second straight loss for the former.
Saturday’s preliminary round will be Dalby’s 15th walk to the Octagon and he has won half of his fights in the promotion so far heading into UFC Qatar. His opponent has shown that he is a tough opponent.
Meanwhile, Saygid Izagakhmaev is coming to UFC Qatar on a roll, having posted a record of 5-0 in his last five bouts under MMA rules and 6-0 in his last six fights in all competitions, including a wrestling match in May at Karate Combat.
As for MMA fighting, he hasn’t fought in three years, beating Shinya Aoki (49-12, 1 NC MMA) at ONE 163 in November 2022. Three years away from MMA competition is a long time. How will his UFC debut go?
UFC Qatar: No. 7 contender Alex Perez vs. No. 8 contender Asu Almabayev
The UFC Qatar undercard also features an all-ranked matchup at flyweight. No. No. 7 contender Alex Perez (25-9 MMA, 7-5 UFC) meets No. 8 contender Asu Almabayev (22-3 MMA, 5-1 UFC). Perez walks into the cage with a mark of 1-4 in his last five MMA fights dating back to 2020.
He has been out of competition since June last year. That spring night, he dropped a second-round TKO after being unable to continue due to a knee injury against Tatsuro Taira (17-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) in the evening’s main event of UFC Vegas 93.
Perez has had 17 months away from the cage, and a scheduled August 9 fight against Steve Erceg was scrapped due to injury. Will he return to the win column after the hiatus?
In the other corner, Asu Almabayev will make his seventh UFC appearance on Saturday night in UFC Qatar, posting a 4-1 clip in his past five bouts. So far in 2025, he is 1-1, including a unanimous decision win over Jose Ochoa (8-2, 1 NC MMA, 1-2 UFC) in July on the last UFC card that aired on ABC.
Almabayev has had an active period. Since the start of 2023, he has made the walk to the cage six times, an average of two fights per year. Only time will tell if he stays in victory lane this weekend.
Rest of the preliminaries:
The UFC Qatar undercard is completed by these fights:
- a light heavyweight bout pitting Abdul-Rahkman Yakhyaev (7-0 MMA, UFC promotional debut) against Raffael Cerqueira (11-3 MMA, 0-3 UFC,)
- a bantamweight fight between Bekzat Almakhan (12-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) and Aleksandre Topuria (6-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC,)
- a middleweight matchup between Ismail Naurdiev (24-8 MMA, 3-3 UFC) and Ryan Loder (7-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC)
- a lightweight attraction vs. Nurullo Aliev (10-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) and Shem Rock (12-1-1 MMA, UFC promotional debut)
- and a heavyweight bout between Marek Bujilo (6-0 MMA) and Denzel Freeman (6-1 MMA) in the UFC debuts for both men.
Which preliminaries are you looking forward to at UFC Qatar? Let us know in the comments.
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