UFC Abu Dhabi guide: debutants, exciting fighters & full fight card

A debutant to watch at UFC Abu Dhabi

The very first fight of the night features new heavyweight signee Marcus Buchecha. For those unfamiliar, Buchecha is considered one of the greatest BJJ professionals of all time, with dozens of gold medals to his name, including two ADCC world championships.

Buchecha has a 100-percent finishing rate, with one loss to Oumar Kane in ONE FC. He makes a tough debut against immovable object Martin Buday.

Submission aces competing at UFC Abu Dhabi

Here's a fact, UFC Abu Dhabi features two of the three fighters to score twister submissions inside the Octagon. Bryce Mitchell notched the second-ever twister finish back in 2019, and Da'Mon Blackshear put his name on the list in 2023.

Prelim fighter 'Dangerous' Davey Grant isn't just dynamite on the feet, he also secured an insanely rare inverted triangle choke in 2023. Grant also owns wins over Marlon Vera and Jonathan Martinez, and could be ranked if not for a split decision loss to Daniel Marcos.

Spinning strikers coming to play at UFC Abu Dhabi

UFC Abu Dhabi fighters have some of the best spinning highlights in UFC history.

Muslim Salikhov knocked out Kenon Song with a spinning wheel kick in his last fight, marking his sixth finish by spinning kick.

Co-main event fighter Sharabutdin Magomedov is known for his point-fighting kickboxing style, and his last knockout came against Arman Petrosyan by way of double spinning backfist.

Let's not forget Petr Yan's spinning assault on Cory Sandhagen in 2021.

Most exciting fighters

Other than the aforementioned Yan, Magomedov, Blackshear, Salikhov, Grant, and Mitchell, we have heavy-handed sluggers like Carlos Leal, Bogdan Guskov, and Ibo Aslan, as well as a prolific finisher in Nikita Krylov, who has 28 finishes in 30 wins.

UFC Abu Dhabi full card

Set to begin at 12 PM ET, on Saturday, July 26.

• Robert Whittaker vs. Reinier de Ridder; 185
• Petr Yan vs. Marcus McGhee; 135
• Shara Magomedov vs. Marc-Andre Barriault; 185
• Asu Almabayev vs. Jose Ochoa; 125
• Nikita Krylov vs. Bogdan Guskov; 205
• Bryce Mitchell vs. Said Nurmagomedov; 135
• Muslim Salikhov vs. Carlos Leal; 170
• Da'Mon Blackshear vs. Davey Grant; 135
• Amanda Ribas vs. Tabatha Ricci; 115
• Ibo Aslan vs. Billy Elekena; 205
• Mohammad Yahya vs. Steven Nguyen; 145
• Martin Buday vs. Marcus Buchecha; 265

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