The Octagon invades Riyadh today for UFC Saudi Arabia, featuring an 11-bout card headlined by Robert Whittaker vs. Ikram Aliskerov.
Whittaker (26-7 MMA) will be returning to action for the first time since winning a unanimous decision over Paulo Costa at UFC 298 in February of this year. Of course, that win comes after a TKO loss to current middleweight champion Dorricus du Plessis at UFC 290.
Meanwhile, Ikram Aliskerov (15-1 MMA) is 2-0 since joining the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The Russian star earned stoppage wins over Phil Hawes and Warley Alves in his first two appearances in the Octagon.
UFC Saudi Arabia will feature a heavyweight co-main event between Sergey Pavlovich (18-2 MMA) and Alexander Volkov (37-10 MMA).
Pavlovic is looking to get back on a winning streak since suffering a knockout loss to Tom Aspinall (14-4 MMA) in a bout for the promotion's interim heavyweight title last November at UFC 295. The setback ended a six-fight winning streak for the 32-year-old Pavlovic, all of which came by way of KO/TKO.
Meanwhile, Alexander Volkov enters the Octagon riding a three-fight winning streak, most recently a submission win over Tai Tuivasa at UFC 293 last September (see here). Prior to that, “Drago” had won by TKO over Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Alexander Romanov, respectively.
The UFC Saudi Arabia main card will also feature a middleweight bout between Kelvin Gastelum and Daniel Rodriguez, which was originally scheduled to take place at welterweight but was moved to 185 pounds after KG made weight by mistake.
Gastelum (17-9 MMA) comes into the bout looking to bounce back after his most recent submission loss to Shawn Brady at UFC Austin, and prior to that setback he won by unanimous decision over Chris Curtis at UFC 287.
Meanwhile, Daniel Rodriguez (17-4 MMA) comes into the bout hoping to end a two-fight losing streak. “D-Rod” has suffered consecutive stoppage losses to Neil Magny and Ian Machado Garry, respectively.
Check out today's live results and highlights below (refresh for updates):
UFC Saudi Arabia main card (ABC, ESPN+, 3 p.m. ET)
Robert Whittaker (186) vs. Ikram Aliskerov (184) –
Sergey Pavlovich (260) vs. Alexander Volkov (258) –
Kelvin Gastelum (184.5) vs. Daniel Rodriguez (184) –
Shara Magomedov (185.5) vs. Antonio Troccoli (185.5) –
Johnny Walker (206) vs. Volkan Oezdemir (206) –
UFC Saudi Arabia prelims card (ESPN, ESPN+, 12 p.m. ET)
Nasrat Haqparast (156) vs. Jared Gordon (156) –
Muhammad Naimov (145.5) vs. Felipe Lima (145.5) –
Rinat Fakhretdinov (170.5) vs. Nicolas Dalby (171) –
Kang Kyung-ho (136) vs. Muin Gafurov (136) –
Magomed Gaziaslov (205) vs. Brendon Ribeiro (205) –
Xiao Lung (136) vs. Chan Ho Lee (136) –
Who do you think will win tonight's middleweight main event between Robert Whittaker and Ikram Aliskerov?
