Asu Almabayev confirmed why he’s one of many prime flyweights on the UFC roster with an impression end of one-time title challenger Alex Perez in a featured preliminary bout Saturday at a UFC Struggle Night time occasion in Qatar.
After a back-and-forth opening two rounds, Almabayev was in a position to lock in a standing guillotine choke firstly of third spherical to safe his first submission in additional than two years.
The 31-year-old from Kazakhstan is 6-1 within the UFC and simply beat the No. 7-ranked contender within the 125-pound division.
Perez, 33 from California, has now misplaced 5 of his previous six appearances relationship again to his 2020 title struggle loss to then-champ Deiveson Figueiredo. Perez hadn’t fought since sustaining a knee damage in opposition to Tatsuro Taira in June of 2024.
Touted English featherweight prospect Luke Riley stayed undefeated and made an announcement in his UFC debut with a second-round knockout of Bogdan Grad. Riley was managed by Grad within the opening spherical however landed a flush left hook that dropped Grad early within the second earlier than a handful of follow-up photographs ended the bout.
The 26-year-old trains out of Subsequent Era MMA Liverpool alongside UFC light-weight contender Paddy Pimblett, who was in Riley’s nook at Ali Bin Hamad al-Attiyah Area, and is now 12-0 in skilled combined martial arts with 9 KO/TKO wins.
Riley’s teammate Shaqueme “Shem” Rock fell brief in his UFC debut in earlier motion, getting swept on the scorecards by Nurullo Aliev who improved to 3-0 within the UFC and 11-0 as a professional.
Ismail Naurdiev picked up a highlight-reel knockout of Ryan Loder. The middleweight from Morocco linked on an enormous overhand proper inside the first two minutes of the opening spherical that put Loder to sleep. The 29-year-old is now 2-1 within the UFC and bounced again from a June resolution loss to Jun Yong Park.
Loder received season 32 of The Final Fighter to earn a shot within the UFC in 2024 however has misplaced two in a row by first-round knockout. The 34-year-old American was additionally completed by Azamat Bekoev in Could.
Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev lived as much as the hype in his UFC debut by requiring lower than one minute to complete Rafael Cerqueira in light-heavyweight motion. The touted 205-pounder from Turkey rocked his Brazilian opponent early with a head kick earlier than locking up a rear-naked choke that resulted in a faucet simply 33 seconds into the struggle.
Yakhyaev, 24, earned a UFC contract in late August due to a 30-second technical knockout win and is now 8-0 in skilled combined martial arts with all however one in every of his wins coming by first-round stoppage.
Cerqueira fell to 0-4 within the UFC after starting his combating profession 11-0. Three of his 4 UFC losses have been through strikes within the first half of the opening spherical. Yakhyaev was the largest betting favorite on the cardboard.
Additionally on the prelims, Aleksandre Topuria improved to 2-0 within the UFC with a win over Bekzat Almakhan in a aggressive bantamweight scrap. Topuria, the older brother of reigning light-weight titleholder Ilia Topuria, debuted with a call win over Colby Thicknesse in February and can look to hold momentum into 2026 as a strong expertise within the 135-pound division.
UFC newcomer Saygid Izagakhmaev pale in his debut and dropped a break up resolution to fellow welterweight Nicolas Dalby.
It was Izagakhmaev’s first MMA bout in three years following a profitable run within the One Championship group and fatigued as the competition progressed. Izagakhmaev, 31, had new UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev.
Dalby snapped a two-fight skid and rebounded from an enormous knockout loss to Randy Brown in April. The 41-year-old from Denmark is 7-3 with one no-contest since returning to the UFC in 2019.
Denzel Freeman received a lacklustre unanimous resolution over Marek Bujlo in a gathering of debuting heavyweights that opened the prelims.
