A pair of five-round bouts are heading to the octagon in Saudi Arabia.
The promotion announced during Saturday’s UFC Vegas 124 event that former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is set to face Shara Magomedov in the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia, which is slated to take place Dec. 5 at the ANB Arena in Riyadh.
Adesanya, a past two-time champ, is looking to snap a four-fight losing streak. “The Last Stylebender” lost the middleweight title to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 in Septmeber 2023, and has not tasted victory since, nor has he seen the judges’ scorecards after getting stopped by Dricus du Plesssis, Nassourdine Imavov, and Joe Pyfer.
Magomedov is 6-1 inside the octagon, including two straight wins against Michel Pereira and Marc-Andre Barriault. The lone UFC loss for “Bullet” came against Michael Page, where he lost a lopsided decision at UFC Saudi Arabia in February 2025.
Additionally, the co-main event is also set for five rounds as recent welterweight title challenger Ian Machado Garry returns to the octagon for the first time since losing to Islam Makhachev at UFC 330 in August as he faces former Bellator champion Yaroslav Amosov.
The rest of the main card includes a heavyweight bout between Serghei Spivac and Mario Pinto, Levan Chokheli vs. Islam Dulatov in a welterweight contest, along with a lightweight bout between Mairon Santos and Akbar Abdullaev and a 205-pound matchup seeing Ion Cutelaba face Magomed Tuchalov.
