{"id":38585,"date":"2026-06-01T16:05:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Exchamp-Magomed-Ankalaev-returns-atop-UFC-Abu-Dhabi-card-on-July-25-201393"},"modified":"2026-06-01T16:05:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:05:47","slug":"ex-champ-magomed-ankalaev-returns-atop-ufc-abu-dhabi-card-on-july-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/ex-champ-magomed-ankalaev-returns-atop-ufc-abu-dhabi-card-on-july-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-champ Magomed Ankalaev returns atop UFC Abu Dhabi card on July 25"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n
\n
<\/center>\n<\/div>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

\nMagomed Ankalaev captured light heavyweight gold with a win over
\nAlex Pereira in March 2025. | Getty\/UFC<\/b><\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Magomed
\nAnkalaev<\/a> is set to get back to work for the first time since
\nlosing the light heavyweight crown this past October.<\/p>\n

Ankalaev will face former title challenger Khalil
\nRountree<\/a> in the
\nUFC Abu Dhabi<\/a> main event, while Umar
\nNurmagomedov<\/a> will lock horns with David
\nMartinez<\/a> in the evening\u2019s bantamweight co-headliner. The Las
\nVegas-based promotion announced the bouts on Monday. UFC Abu Dhabi
\n\u2014 also known as UFC Fight Night 282 \u2014 takes place at Etihad Arena
\nin Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and airs in its entirety on
\nParamount+.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Ankalaev last appeared at UFC 320<\/a>,
\nwhere he suffered an 80-second technical knockout loss to Alex
\nPereira<\/a> in a light heavyweight championship rematch this past
\nOctober. Prior to that, \u201cBig Ank\u201d authored a 14-bout promotional
\nunbeaten streak that saw him claim 205-pound gold with a five-round
\nverdict over \u201cPoatan\u201d at UFC 313. The 33-year-old Dagestani also
\nowns victories over the likes of Aleksandar
\nRakic<\/a>, Johnny
\nWalker<\/a>, Anthony
\nSmith<\/a>, Thiago
\nSantos<\/a> and Volkan
\nOezdemir<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rountree, meanwhile, is coming off a 1-1 campaign in 2025. The
\n36-year-old
\nSyndicate MMA<\/a> product outdueled Jamahal
\nHill<\/a> in the UFC Baku main event last June before suffering a
\nthird-round knockout loss to Jiri
\nProchazka<\/a> at UFC 320. A five-bout winning streak from 2021 to
\n2023 propelled \u201cThe War Horse\u201d to a light heavyweight title shot at
\nUFC 307, where he suffered a fourth-round stoppage defeat against
\nPereira.<\/p>\n

Title Contender vs. Surging Prospect<\/h2>\n

Nurmagomedov won his first 18 professional outings \u2014 including six
\nin the Octagon \u2014 before dropping a unanimous decision to Merab
\nDvalishvili<\/a> in a bantamweight title tilt at UFC 311. The
\nEagles
\nMMA<\/a> standout has since rebounded to post back-to-back triumphs
\nover Mario
\nBautista<\/a> and Deiveson
\nFigueiredo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mexico City\u2019s Martinez has emerged as one of the bantamweight
\ndivision\u2019s rising stars during a 10-bout professional winning
\nstreak that began in May 2021. The
\nDana White’s Contender Series<\/a> alum is 3-0 in the
\nUFC<\/a>, posting successive triumphs over Samon Oliveira, Rob Font<\/a> and
\nMarlon
\nVera<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

HEADLINERS ARE SET \ud83d\udc4a@AnkalaevM<\/a> vs
\nKhalil Rountree Jr@UNmgdv<\/a> vs David
\nMartinez#UFCAbuDhabi<\/a>
\nLIVE JULY 25 on @ParamountPlus<\/a>!<\/p>\n[ @VisitAbuDhabi<\/a>
\n|
\n#InAbuDhabi<\/a> |
\n#VisitAbuDhabi<\/a> ] pic.twitter.com\/bwT2y3PqRv<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 UFC (@ufc) June
\n1, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Magomed Ankalaev captured light heavyweight gold with a win over Alex Pereira in March 2025. | Getty\/UFC Magomed Ankalaev is set to get back to work for the first time since losing the light heavyweight crown this past October. Ankalaev will face former title challenger Khalil Rountree in the UFC Abu Dhabi main event, while […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}