Bogdan Guskov was expecting to face Jan Blachowicz, first in March, later in May, then in Serbia at UFC Belgrade on August 1. Instead, he now finds himself in the main event of UFC Abu Dhabi this Saturday, where he takes on Magomed Ankalaev.
The journey to get to the fight had a few twists and turns, and interestingly enough, the UFC’s new AI-driven rankings system played a role.
“What happened was, because of these continuous changes, I ended up having to have such a long layoff period, which I wasn’t really happy about. I was willing to fight sooner than that,” Guskov (18-3-1) said during this week’s UFC Abu Dhabi media day. The Uzbek fighter had expected the rematch with Blachowicz after the pair fought to a draw last October.
“About 10 days ago, we heard that [Khalil] Rountree got injured and my manager called me and said that there’s an opportunity to fight in Abu Dhabi instead,” he continued.
Factoring into Guskov’s decision was the new UFC META rankings, an AI-driven rankings panel that is currently used in addition to media voted rankings. In the META rankings, Blachowicz is ranked behind Guskov. Fellow ex-champ Ankalaev is ranked ahead of them both. After discussing it with his manager, Guskov agreed to think on switching fights for 24 hours.
“I hung up the phone, thought about it for about 15 seconds and immediately accepted the fight. I called him back, said ‘there’s nothing to think about, we’re definitely doing it.'”
The way Guskov looks at it, little has changed, and it’s not really a short-notice fight. “I went through the full camp, I was ready, I was happy to fight in Serbia but here the only thing that changed was it’s a week earlier, and that the opponent’s stance switched from orthodox to left hand. Other than that, everything is the same for me. I’m ready to go.”
Later, Guskov would touch on the steady climb he has made up the light heavyweight division. One that has consistently seen him in the role of the underdog.
“If you look at my career in general, every single opponent that I got was exponentially stronger than the one before him. Every time it was guys from the top and every time it was basically a test for me,” stated Guskov. “I was an underdog in every single fight, every single time it was me against somebody that was supposedly stronger than me, and I kept on going through my opponents. So obviously with Ankalaev, he’s now the most dangerous guy that I can fight. There’s no way that I’m underestimating him in any way.”
Guskov knows that he’s going to be the underdog once again at UFC Abu Dhabi. “He’s going to be the one that everybody’s going to be looked at as a winner, and it’s going to be up to me to test myself and to prove myself against somebody that’s the strongest next challenge in my career.”
Bogdan Guskov faces Magomed Ankalaev in the main event of UFC Abu Dhabi this Saturday, July 25, 2026 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
