After establishing itself as a yearly October Pay-Per-View destination, Abu Dhabi has now brought a Fight Night card to their fans for two consecutive summers. Last year, it was Umar Nurmagomedov defeating Cory Sandhagen in a technical thriller. This time around, Reinier de Ridder kept his perfect UFC record as he outlasted middleweight top five mainstay Robert Whittaker in the UFC Abu Dhabi main event.
The rest of the card was strong, as it featured fan favourites Petr Yan, Shara “Bullet” Magomedov and more intriguing matchups between ranked fighters. As usual, it’s now time for some matchmaking.
Reinier de Ridder
Despite nearly getting knocked out in round 3, RDR managed to come out of this slugfest with a razor thin split decision victory. They don’t ask you how, they ask you how many, and the Dutch fighter has now successfully pushed his UFC record to 4-0 and will enter the middleweight top five. In other divisions, this run would get de Ridder a title shot, but I think there’s a much better chance that the winner of Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho will fight for the title next.
Reinier has been vocal about wanting to stay active and has kept his word thus far with four fights in his first nine months in the promotion. Assuming he’ll want to keep his activity levels up, he won’t wait several months for his own title shot. Israel Adesanya might be an option, but I prefer the idea of RDR against the loser of the upcoming middleweight title fight. Whether it’s Dricus Du Plessis or Khamzat Chimaev, either of them clashing with de Ridder sounds like a blast.
de Ridder’s next fight: Du Plessis/Chimaev loser
Petr Yan
Seemingly unable to find a dance partner in the top 10 for the UFC Abu Dhabi card, the promotion called upon 12th-ranked Marcus McGhee to face “No Mercy”. And while McGhee had a very respectable showing, Yan showed why he’s still seen as one of the most skilled fighters on the planet. After going on one of the most puzzling and unexpected three-fight losing streak in recent memory, the former champion has now clawed his way back to a three-fight win streak with a potential title shot on the horizon.
Yes, Merab Dvalishvili’s win over Yan was dominant when they met, but that shouldn’t disqualify the Russian from being granted the title shot he has now rightfully earned. Additionally, who has a better case than Yan, right now? Let’s not overthink this. Give this man the opportunity to earn back the belt he once held.
Yan’s next fight: Dvalishvili/Sandhagen winner
Shara Magomedov
It wasn’t easy, but the pirate got his hand raised again after suffering his first career loss to Michael “Venom” Page back in February. Despite his popularity, I think the UFC is aware of Magomedov’s limitations as a fighter and are under no impression that he has “future champion” written all over him. So why not use his popularity to boost someone else? I would have quite enjoyed the idea of booking against the young bazooka that is Ateba Gautier, but Gautier is already booked against for October 4th. So this got me thinking, wouldn’t Shara Bullet be the perfect opponent for Bo Nickal to get back in the win column? Shara has a high profile and is vulnerable in ways that Nickal can realistically exploit. Sounds like a perfect Pay-Per-View main card opener for UFC 321, to me…
Magomedov’s next fight: Bo Nickal
Asu Almabayev
After getting overwhelmed by Manel Kape’s speed (and eye pokes) in March, Almabayev was looking to bounce back against the youngster José Ochoa, who was filling in on short notice for Ramazan Temirov, at UFC Abu Dhabi. The Kazakh fighter defended his ranking by earning a clean unanimous decision victory. Historically, flyweight has always been a pretty wide-open division, meaning contenders can get booked in unpredictable ways. For that reason, there are about nine names I could realistically see Almabayev fight next. My first choice would be Tagir Ulanbekov. For as important as this win may have been for Almabayev, it wasn’t exactly something that will skyrocket him into the top5, and Ulanbekov deserves a top10 opponent.
Almabayev’s next fight: Tagir Ulanbekov
Bogdan Guskov
After dropping his promotional debut against Volkan Oezdemir on short notice, as of UFC Abu Dhabi, Guskov has now won four fights in a row and might be in the division’s top 10 when the updated rankings come out. Carlos Ulberg, Jan Blachowicz, Jamahal Hill, Dominick Reyes are all names that Guskov could call out without sounding outlandish. However, I much prefer the idea of Ulberg fighting Reyes and Blachowicz fighting Hill, which would leave Guskov as the odd man out in this equation. I know Dustin Jacoby voiced his interest in fighting Guskov on social media, but there’s a fight going down in Shanghai in less than a month between Johnny Walker and Zhang Mingyang. I think Guskov against the winner of that matchup would make a lot of sense considering he has already been booked against Walker before and where Zhang would be if he comes out on top.
Guskov’s next fight: Walker/Zhang winner
