Ahead of the UFC’s return to Abu Dhabi, an experienced fighter earned a long overdue win.
In February of this year, Shara Magomedov was beaten by Michael ‘Venom’ Page in the first loss of the exciting striker’s career.
Magomedov has spoken about health factors that impacted his performance but on July 26, he’ll have the opportunity to put this behind him.
‘Bullet’ will face Marc-Andre Barriault at UFC Dhabi in a matchup where many expect the Russian to deliver another highlight reel moment.
During his preparations for his comeback, Magomedov’s former opponent who he defeated to earn a UFC contract produced a huge bounce back of his own.
Kushal Vyas breaks 14-fight losing streak that includes KO loss to Shara Magomedov
In December of 2022, Shara Magomedov stopped Kushal Vyas in just eight seconds in his final fight before signing to the UFC.
The Indian fighter was clearly outmatched in this matchup, putting his 7-6 record up against the 10-0 run of his opponent.
This defeat marked back-to-back losses for Vyas but his difficult run of results was only just getting started as he went on to be beaten in 14 consecutive fights.
13 of those losses all came in the very first round, with ‘The Maniac’ suffering a stunning 15 knockout defeats across his entire 27 fight career.
At a Mongolian Heroes MMA event on July 23 in Bayannur, China, Vyas returned against debuting Chinese fighter Xiaoyu Han.
His extensive experience finally paid off for the 29-year-old as he dominated from top position before securing an armbar victory in the opening round for his first win since January of 2021.
Shara Magomedov produced the highlight of his career the last time that he fought in Abu Dhabi
In all five of his UFC appearances, Shara Magomedov has only competed in Abu Dhabi or Saudi Arabia.
While all of his wins inside the Octagon have been impressive, there’s one that stands out from the rest, which happened the last time that he competed in Abu Dhabi.
‘Bullet’ produced a stunning and incredibly unique spinning backfist knockout over Armen Petrosyan to produce one of the highlights of UFC 308 last October.
This incredible display of what Magomedov is capable of on the feet left Joe Rogan devastated after he missed the knockout live during his fight companion podcast.