The UFC Fight Night promises to be a night of epic showdowns and knockouts as veteran fighter Robert Whittaker steps into the octagon to face upcoming star Reiner de Ridder.
Robert Whittaker (27-8) heads into the main event riding high expectations after defeating Paulo Costa by decision in February 2024. The fighter soon recovered and blasted Ikram Aliskerov with a first‑round knockout in June but he suffered a brutal neck‑crank loss and fractured jaw to Khamzat Chimaev in October.
His opponent Reinier de Ridder (20‑2) storms into UFC Abu Dhabi unbeaten in the Octagon, chaining together three impressive finishes, an arm‑triangle choke over Gerald Meerschaert in November, a rear‑naked choke on Kevin Holland in January, and a second‑round body‑knee TKO of Bo Nickal in May, earning a Performance of the Night bonus. Veteran Whittaker step into the octagon with sportybet odds of 2.76 TKO win and 4.04 DEC win, while Ridder has odds of 6.80 TKO win and 7.37 DEC win. Nairabet and Bet9ja only offer odds on who wins with 1.61 for Whittaker and 2.25 for Ridder, while bet9ja gives 1.76 for Whittaker, 1.95 for Ridder.
On the co-main, former bantamweight champion Petr Yan (18‑5) returns after dropping the title to Aljamain Sterling in 2021, recapturing interim gold by beating Cory Sandhagen before losing the belt again in a rematch with Sterling. Yan will be going up against surging newcomer Marcus McGhee (10‑1) who in his most recent appearance at UFC 309 won a hard-fought unanimous decision against Jonathan Martinez.
Prior to this, the newcomer earned POFN with a technical knockout of Gastón Bolaños via spinning wheel kick followed by punches at UFC Fight Night in Ankalev vs Walker 2. Petr Yan sportybet winning odds stands at 5.17 FOR TKO win and 1.64 for DEC win, while McGhee stands at TKO 10.50 DEC 6.63. For bet9ja; Yan-1.25, McGhee-3.55 and Nairabet: Yan-1.22 and McGhee 4.20
Also on the main card, Bryce Mitchell (16‑3) moves down to bantamweight to fight Said Nurmagomedov (15‑4). Before his bantamweight weight move, Mitchell wrapped up his featherweight tenure after suffering a brutal defeat from Jean Silva at UFC 31 via second-round ninja choke submission. At UFC 310, Mitchell earned a third‑round KO/TKO via ground elbows on Kron Gracie (0:39), a rebound after his first knockout loss to Josh. Emmett at UFC 296. Said on the other hand recently suffered a unanimous decision loss to Vinicius Oliveira after bouncing back from a guillotine choke submission win over Muin Gafurov. For Nairabet; Mitchell-1.73, Said-2.10, Bet9ja; Mitchell-1.63, Said-2.15.
Shara Magomedov (11‑2) will square off with Marc‑André Barriault (17‑7) in the middleweight section and it promises to be an exciting fight as Shara has had some interesting fights in the past. At the recent UFC Fight Night Riyadh, Shara faced a unanimous decision loss at the hands of Michael Page. Prior to this, he took on Armen Petrosyan at UFC 308.
Magomedov landed the UFC’s first-ever double spinning backfist knockout earning Performance of the Night bonus. At UFC Abu Dhabi, Shara met Michał Oleksiejczuk on a short notice bout but he outworked him and left the octagon with a unanimous decision win. His opponent on the other hand suffered two straight losses to Joe Pyfer(first round KO) and Dustin Stoltzfus( first TKO) before his most recent win KO win over Bruno Silva.Magomedov is a heavy favorite (–750) with Sportybet odds of 1.59 to win by TKO while Barriault checks in at +475 with odds of 11.20 to win by TKO and 25.61to win by DEC, for Bet9ja the odds are Magomedov-1.55, Barriault-2.30, Nairabet; Magomedov-1.12, Barriault-6.00.
Jose Ochoa(8-1) set to battle Asu Almabayev(21-3) in a flyweight clash.Earlier this year, he faced Cody Durden after a dramatic, early stoppageOchoa landed a swift left hook that dropped Durden, then followed up with ground strikes in round two. Prior to this, he faced Lone’er Kavanagh at UFC Fight Night: Yan vs. Figueiredo lost by unanimous decision after three rounds. He also faced Juscelino Pantoja at LFA 171 and showed excellent grappling, securing a quick submission finish in round one.
Almabayev on the other hand has been gradually climbing the UFC flyweight ranks with a string of decision wins, until recently suffering his first TKO loss to Manel Kape at UFC Fight Night. Before that he scored a unanimous decision win over Matheus Nicolau and decision victory over Jose Johnson. For Nairabet; Asu-1.85, Ochoa-1.91, and for Bet9ja; Asu-1.50, Ochoa-2.43.
At the light‑heavyweight, Nikita Krylov (27‑12) will battle it out against Bogdan Guskov (13‑2). Krylov suffered his first defeat at UFC 314 when he faced Dominick Reyes and suffered a round one TKO. His two matches prior were against Ryan Spann—who he defeated with a triangle choke—and Volkan Oezdemir—he won via unanimous decision. Guskov extended his winning streak by submitting promotional newcomer Billy Elekana via guillotine choke in the second round.
Facing tough opposition in his prior bout, Guskov dominated Spann with relentless ground-and-pound in the second round, earning a TKO and Performance of the Night honors. Earlier, he made a statement with a first-round knockout of Zac Pauga, landing crisp power shots and steamrolling his opponent and collecting another performance bonus.Krylov Sportybets odd stands at TKO 3.68 and DEC 6.36 while Guskov’s at TKO 4.07 DEC 10.05, for Bet9ja;Krylov-2.22, Bogdan-1.58 and Nairabet;Krylov-1.50, Bogdan-2.50.
From grizzled veterans to surging contenders, UFC Abu Dhabi is shaping up to be an explosive collision of eras, styles, and stakes.
