Ankalaev Grinds Past Guskov in Abu Dhabi, But the Title Case Isn't There

Magomed Ankalaev got his hand raised in the UFC Abu Dhabi main event, but nobody's going to remember much about how. The former light heavyweight champ ground down short-notice replacement Bogdan Guskov before a fifth-round TKO at the 2:41 mark, in a fight the Etihad Arena crowd booed more than once. Ankalaev is now 21-2-1 and unbeaten in 15 of his last 16.

This mattered for him. His last outing was an 80-second knockout loss to Alex Pereira in their October 2025 rematch — his first defeat since 2018. So the priority Saturday was simple: get back in the win column against a dangerous but unproven opponent. He did that. He just didn't do it in a way that screams 'give me another title shot.'

How It Played Out

Guskov, who stepped in on 12 days' notice after Khalil Rountree Jr. pulled out injured, never looked like the wrecking ball his 15-KO résumé suggests. He agreed to trade at range with Ankalaev and got picked apart for it. Through two rounds the scorecards were lopsided, though as much because Guskov offered almost nothing back as because Ankalaev was doing anything special.

By the end of the third, Ankalaev was banking clear 10-9s without ever hunting for the finish, and the crowd let him hear about it. The Uzbek needed something dramatic in the fourth and instead got taken down and nearly submitted — a choke that came uncomfortably close to ending things.

The fifth followed the same script. Ankalaev put Guskov on the mat again, worked from top, and referee Marc Goddard waved it off at 2:41. The timing looked odd from cage-side, but merciful is the right word for it. Guskov wasn't offering a path back.

Afterward, Ankalaev pointed the finger at his opponent for the flat contest, saying Guskov simply wouldn't engage on the feet and kept slipping away whenever he tried to close distance. It's a fair enough read. It's also not the kind of night that reshapes a division.

Where This Leaves the Division

The awkward math: Ankalaev already lost the belt to Pereira (13-3, 11 KO), who's sitting at #3 and eyeing a title eliminator with an opponent still TBA. A grinding win over a #9-ranked fill-in doesn't build a compelling case for a trilogy. Ankalaev needs a bigger name and a cleaner performance before that conversation gets serious again.

For Guskov (18-4-1), this snaps a five-fight unbeaten run — the momentum that had lifted him to the top 10. It's hard to be too harsh given the circumstances: 12 days' notice, a step up in class, and a former champion across the cage. He'd originally been booked to rematch Jan Blachowicz at UFC Belgrade next Saturday, a fight he now can't make.

Elsewhere on the Card

Valter Walker kept his weird, wonderful streak alive with a fifth consecutive leg-lock submission, then followed it with an equally weird call-out. Muhammad Saidov, meanwhile, banked his first UFC win by dominating veteran Dustin Jacoby (22-9-1), a light heavyweight who'd been riding a second-round KO of his own coming in.

Sam Patterson delivered the night's cleanest finish, bouncing back with a knockout of Santiago Ponzinibbio. Not everything went off, though — the scheduled Islam Dulatov vs. Wellington Turman bout was scrapped due to illness, denying Dulatov (12-1) a chance to build on his first-round TKO of Adam Fugitt.

The bottom line on the headliner: Ankalaev did his job and stopped the bleeding after the Pereira loss. But 'workmanlike' rarely earns a title shot, and the boos told the story better than the result did. He needs a marquee opponent next — and a fight worth watching.