Umar Nurmagomedov proved too much for Deiveson Figueiredo in the featured preliminary bout at UFC 324.
Nurmagomedov outlanded his opponent and accumulated cage control time against the former two-time flyweight champion en route to a unanimous decision victory.
The win keeps Nurmagomedov firmly in the title picture at 135 pounds. However, there were no jaw-dropping moments, and the fight was never close to being finished, so it leaves the door open for another contender to potentially make a case for a title shot. For example, UFC 324’s co-main event features former champion Sean O'Malley taking on rising contender Song Yadong, and a highlight finish from either fighter would likely be deemed more impressive than Nurmagomedov’s latest win.
The 30-year-old from Dagestan, Russia, is 20-1 in mixed martial arts, with his lone loss being a five-round decision to Merab Dvalishvili in their UFC 311 title fight one year ago.
The men’s bantamweight title recently changed hands at UFC 323 in December when Petr Yan upset Dvalishvili to win the belt and avenge a previous loss. It’s unclear whether the UFC will look put together another Yan vs. Dvalishvili matchup next, or if Yan will get a different challenge.
Although it had implications near the top of the bantamweight ranks, this was technically a catchweight bout after Figueiredo missed weight by 2.5 pounds on Friday and was fined 25 per cent of his purse.
In other preliminary action, One-time flyweight title challenger Alex Perez snapped a two-fight skid and got back into the win column in emphatic fashion, wasting no time taking it to Charles Johnson.
Perez, who, like Figueiredo, missed weight by 2.5 pounds and got a 25 per cent fine, repeatedly clipped Johnson with punches and dropped him multiple times before the fight was stopped after about three minutes.
Nikita Krylov also snapped a two-fight skid with a late TKO of Modestas Bukauskas in the 205-pound division. Krylov returned from a two-year layoff in 2025 but went 0-2 last year, suffering first-round knockout losses to Dominick Reyes and Bogdan Guskov.
The 33-year-old from Ukraine has been in the UFC since 2013 and improved to 12-9 under the banner. Krylov said after his win that he’d love an opportunity to rematch Jan Blachowicz. That pair met in 2018, with Blachowicz getting the submission win via second-round arm-triangle choke.
Andrey Pulyaev became the first fighter in the UFC to make it out of the opening round against Ateba Gautier. It was a moral victory, but not enough to get his hand raised. Pulyaev was out-struck for three rounds and lost a unanimous decision.
Gautier, 23, is one of the biggest punchers and touted youngsters in the middleweight division and has won nine consecutive fights. This was his first time going the distance on his current streak. Pulyaev fell to 1-2 in the UFC, with his other loss being a decision to Christian Leroy Duncan 10 months ago.
Saturday’s card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas began with consecutive fights that ended with exactly one second remaining in the opening round.
Ty Miller stopped fellow welterweight Adam Fugitt with strikes in the first UFC bout of 2026.
Then rising heavyweight prospect Josh Hokit overwhelmed Denzel Freeman until the referee waved off the action. Hokit, a former collegiate wrestling and football standout who even had a cup of coffee in the NFL, is part of the Jackson Wink MMA Academy team and has trained with Jon Jones in the past. Hokit won his UFC debut in November with a 56-second TKO.
Miller, 25, and Hokit, 28, both earned UFC contracts one week apart this past August on Dana White’s Contender Series, and both are unbeaten in the sport.
Several hours before the event began, the organization announced that a scheduled lightweight bout between Michael Johnson and Alexander Hernandez had been cancelled and removed from the preliminary card for undisclosed reasons.
UFC 324 marked the first of 43 planned UFC events in 2026. It also saw the introduction of a new bonus for stoppage wins. Starting with this event, fighters who earn knockout or submission wins will get a $25,000 bonus to supplement their fight purse. The organization is also doubling its Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night awards from $50,000 to $100,000 going forward.
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