Asu Almabayev showed why he’s one of the top flyweights on the UFC roster with an impression finish of one-time title challenger Alex Perez in a featured preliminary bout Saturday at a UFC Fight Night event in Qatar.
After a back-and-forth opening two rounds, Almabayev was able to lock in a standing guillotine choke at the start of third round to secure his first submission in more than two years.
The 31-year-old from Kazakhstan is 6-1 in the UFC and just beat the No. 7-ranked contender in the 125-pound division.
Perez, 33 from California, has now lost five of his past six appearances dating back to his 2020 title fight loss to then-champ Deiveson Figueiredo. Perez hadn’t fought since sustaining a knee injury against Tatsuro Taira in June of 2024.
Touted English featherweight prospect Luke Riley stayed undefeated and made a statement in his UFC debut with a second-round knockout of Bogdan Grad. Riley was controlled by Grad in the opening round but landed a flush left hook that dropped Grad early in the second before a handful of follow-up shots ended the bout.
The 26-year-old trains out of Next Generation MMA Liverpool alongside UFC lightweight contender Paddy Pimblett, who was in Riley’s corner at Ali Bin Hamad al-Attiyah Arena, and is now 12-0 in professional mixed martial arts with nine KO/TKO wins.
Riley’s teammate Shaqueme “Shem” Rock fell short in his UFC debut in earlier action, getting swept on the scorecards by Nurullo Aliev who improved to 3-0 in the UFC and 11-0 as a pro.
Ismail Naurdiev picked up a highlight-reel knockout of Ryan Loder. The middleweight from Morocco connected on a huge overhand right within the first two minutes of the opening round that put Loder to sleep. The 29-year-old is now 2-1 in the UFC and bounced back from a June decision loss to Jun Yong Park.
Loder won season 32 of The Ultimate Fighter to earn a shot in the UFC in 2024 but has lost two in a row by first-round knockout. The 34-year-old American was also finished by Azamat Bekoev in May.
Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev lived up to the hype in his UFC debut by requiring less than one minute to finish Rafael Cerqueira in light-heavyweight action. The touted 205-pounder from Turkey rocked his Brazilian opponent early with a head kick before locking up a rear-naked choke that resulted in a tap just 33 seconds into the fight.
Yakhyaev, 24, earned a UFC contract in late August thanks to a 30-second technical knockout win and is now 8-0 in professional mixed martial arts with all but one of his wins coming by first-round stoppage.
Cerqueira fell to 0-4 in the UFC after beginning his fighting career 11-0. Three of his four UFC losses have been via strikes in the first half of the opening round. Yakhyaev was the biggest betting favourite on the card.
Also on the prelims, Aleksandre Topuria improved to 2-0 in the UFC with a win over Bekzat Almakhan in a competitive bantamweight scrap. Topuria, the older brother of reigning lightweight titleholder Ilia Topuria, debuted with a decision win over Colby Thicknesse in February and will look to carry momentum into 2026 as a solid talent in the 135-pound division.
UFC newcomer Saygid Izagakhmaev faded in his debut and dropped a split decision to fellow welterweight Nicolas Dalby.
It was Izagakhmaev’s first MMA bout in three years following a successful run in the One Championship organization and fatigued as the contest progressed. Izagakhmaev, 31, had new UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev.
Dalby snapped a two-fight skid and rebounded from a big knockout loss to Randy Brown in April. The 41-year-old from Denmark is 7-3 with one no-contest since returning to the UFC in 2019.
Denzel Freeman won a lacklustre unanimous decision over Marek Bujlo in a meeting of debuting heavyweights that opened the prelims.
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