“Hitman” is headed to the desert.
The main event for next weekend’s UFC Abu Dhabi has undergone a major shakeup.
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight title challenger Khalil Rountree is out of his scheduled clash with former 205-pound champion Magomed Ankalaev. Stepping in on just 12 days’ notice is Uzbekistan knockout artist Bogdan Guskov.
The promotion announced the change today.
Guskov (18-3-1) was originally scheduled to rematch Jan Blachowicz at UFC Belgrade next month before
getting plucked for the biggest opportunity of his career: his first UFC main event.
The 33-year-old is coming off a draw against Blachowicz at UFC 323. Before that, Guskov had won four straight fights inside the Octagon, stopping all of his opponents during that run, including Nikita Krylov (watch highlights), Billy Elekana and Ryan Spann (watch highlights).
“Hitman” also holds a perfect 100 percent finish rate, with 15 knockouts and three submissions across his 18 professional wins.
As for Ankalaev (21-2-1), he will be returning for the first time since losing the Light Heavyweight title to Alex Pereira via 80-second knockout (watch it). Prior to his UFC 320 loss, Ankalaev had won 12 straight fights, with a draw and “No Contest” mixed into his UFC resume.
Now, instead of facing Rountree, Ankalaev gets a dangerous finisher with nothing to lose and everything to gain, but the former champion doesn’t care.
Here is what UFC Abu Dhabi looks like:
Magomed Ankalaev vs. Bogdan Guskov
Steve Erceg vs. Ramazan Temirov
Islam Dulatov vs. Wellington Turman
Damian Rzepecki vs. Magomed Zaynukov
Rizvan Kuniev vs. Tyrell Fortune
Saygid Izagakhmaev vs. Abubakar Vagaev
Sam Patterson vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
Thomas Petersen vs. Valter Walker
Ismael Bonfim vs. Axel Sola
Brendson Ribeiro vs. Magomed Tuchalov
Cody Gibson vs. Abdul Hussein
To checkout UFC’s upcoming schedule of events click here.
