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This past weekend, the UFC announced its return to the Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi on July 26, and the headliner of the night will be a middleweight clash between former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and former ONE two-time champion Reinier de Ridder. In addition, the rest of the show is starting to fill up.
According to MMA Fighting, popular middleweight fighter Shara “Bullet” Magomedov is back in action and will fight Marc-Andre Barriault.
Magomedov (15-1) is coming off his first loss in his professional career, which was inflicted on him by well-known puncher Michael “Venom” Page in February. Then, after three rounds, Page defeated the Dagestani with a convincing unanimous decision. The fight before that, in October, Magomedov won with a very attractive knockout (double spinning backfist) against Armen Petrosyan.
On the other hand, Barriault (17-9) is coming off an impressive first-round knockout of Bruno Silva last weekend at UFC 315, snapping the Canadian's three-fight losing streak. This 35-year-old has made 15 appearances under the auspices of the UFC so far, of which he recorded six wins and eight losses and one fight was canceled.
Fans reacted
The fans are excited for this match, having various predictions when it comes to these two great fighters who have shown their superiority many times so far. Magomedov could have a difficult task, given that he is probably in a slight mental slump after the defeat. On the other hand, his opponent has momentum, he wants to continue in the same rhythm.
Additionally, the UFC has announced three more bouts for the UFC Abu Dhabi event. There will be a fight in the light heavyweight category between ranked fighters Nikita Krylov (30-10) and Bogdan Guskov (17-3), then a fight in the flyweight category between Asu Almabayev (21-3) and Ramazan Temirov (19-3) and another fight in the light heavyweight category between Ibo Aslan (14-2) and Billy Elekana (7-2).
All in all, the UFC Abu Dhabi event is starting to look very good.
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