On Thursday, UFC President Dana White announced several new bookings via the UFC’s social media platforms — including Sean Strickland (26-5) versus Abus Magomedov (25-4-1), which will serve as the main event of a Fight Night card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, July 1, 2023.
The match-up includes a rare unranked fighter in the main event, as Abus Magomedov is only 1-0 in the UFC and sits outside the top 15. He beat Dustin Stoltzfus by a nineteen-second knockout at UFC Paris in 2022, but has had five other scheduled bouts fall through with the promotion. The July 1 card will obviously be his first main event with the UFC, and he is clearly thought of well to get a five round fight after only one fight.
Sean Strickland last competed in the first UFC event of 2023 when he beat France’s Nassourdine Imavov by decision, only weeks after losing a decision in another main event to Jared Cannonier in the last UFC event of 2022. With so many main events now on his resume — four in his last five fights to be exact — Strickland has clearly become a valuable main event fighter for the promotion. The veteran is currently ranked seventh at 185lbs and accepting a fight against an unranked fighter while at that level is somewhat out of the ordinary.
The main card of the July 1, 2023 Fight Night will kick off at at 7pm EST/4pm PST on ESPN.
