The UFC returns to its home base in Las Vegas at the APEX this weekend. While Saturday’s main card lacks a head-turning main event matchup, the event features five undefeated fighters and other top prospects aspiring to become contenders within their respective divisions.
Shamil Gaziev is one of the unbeaten competitors featured. The 12-0 heavyweight is set to face knockout artist Jairzinho Rozenstruik in a scheduled five-round main event not expected to require the judges.
Gaziev, 34, only has one UFC appearance under his belt, a second-round technical knockout of Martin Buday in December. However, the fact he's been pitted against a fighter that has finished former UFC champions and competed against the best the division has to offer speaks to how the UFC views his potential. Gaziev has a high strike rate and should hold a clear grappling advantage.
Rozenstruik is coming off a submission loss to Jailton Almeida and has not strung together consecutive wins since beginning his UFC career with four consecutive knockouts. The Surinamese finisher holds the clear edge in punching power with three KO wins inside 30 seconds during his UFC career.
Umar Nurmagomedov likely carries the most name recognition of any fighter on the card as a cousin of the former lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, in addition to being 16-0 and the No. 13-ranked bantamweight contender. He is set to welcome newcomer Bekzat Almakhan to the UFC on Saturday. Nurmagomedov is 4-0 in the UFC but there are questions surrounding the level of competition he has faced. The 28-year-old has suggested fighters within his division are ducking him. However, he has withdrawn from scheduled bouts with Cory Sandhagen and Jack Shore within the past two years and those two fighters would’ve been, on paper at least, the toughest challenges Nurmagomedov has faced to date.
Could Muhammad Mokaev possibly work his way into a title fight against Alexandre Pantoja with an impressive showing against Alex Perez? Pantoja told an MMA Fighting podcast this week he isn’t interested in another fight with Brandon Royval, who beat Brandon Moreno by decision earlier this month, but wants to fight at UFC 301 in May and proposed Mokaev as a possible opponent if he gets by Perez.
Mokaev is 5-0 in the UFC and can tie Joseph Benavidez for the second-longest winning streak in men’s flyweight history with a sixth consecutive win at 125 pounds – Demetrious Johnson holds the division’s record at 13. Mokaev is coming off a submission over Tim Elliott in October and is set to go up against another one-time title challenger. Perez has fought only a handful of times in the past four years, getting submitted by Deiveson Figueiredo in 2020 and by Pantoja in 2022 both in less than two minutes in his two most recent outings.
Vitor Petrino goes up against Tyson Pedro in the co-main event with Petrino aiming to stay hot following his crushing knockout of Modestas Bukauskas in November. Pedro has won three of four since returning the UFC in 2022 following a three-year hiatus; his lone loss during this recent stretch was a decision to Bukauskas, so the pre-fight MMA math favours Petrino who can improve to 11-0 in MMA with a win.
Javid Basharat, the older brother of fellow undefeated UFC bantamweight Farid Basharat, faces Canadian Aiemann Zahabi in a preliminary bout. Basharat is 14-0 with one no-contest, which occurred in his most recent outing at UFC 294 in October. Zahabi has won three fights in a row over the past three years and is coming off a 64-second knockout win over Aori Qileng last June.
Steve Erceg is unbeaten in the UFC with only one loss in MMA. The Australian will attempt to take American Matt Schnell’s spot in the top 10 at flyweight. Schnell’s fights don’t often go the distance, while Erceg is 2-0 in the UFC with back-to-back decisions.
A bantamweight bout between teen phenom Raul Rosas Jr. and TUF 29 winner Ricky Turcios was pulled from the Mexico City card one week ago, and although it was initially believed the bout was being moved to Saturday’s card, the matchup was ultimately not included.
Saturday’s fight card has seen several changes over the past week. Below is a look at the projected bout order as of Thursday.
MAIN CARD
– Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Shamil Gaziev
– Vitor Petrino vs. Tyson Pedro
– Alex Perez vs. Muhammad Mokaev
– Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Bekzat Almakhan
– Matt Schnell vs. Steve Erceg
PRELIMINARY CARD
– Eryk Anders vs. Jamie Pickett
– Vinicius Oliveira vs. Bernardo Sopaj
– Aiemann Zahabi vs. Javid Basharat
– Christian Leroy Duncan vs. Claudio Ribeiro
– AJ Cunningham vs. L’udovit Klein
– Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady vs. Loik Radzhabov
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