It took years for Magomed Ankalaev to climb to the top of the light heavyweight mountain, and less than 90 seconds for his reign to end. There's no telling how long it will take him to make it back, but he takes his first steps to another championship opportunity at UFC Abu Dhabi.
Saturday's main event features Ankalaev in his first fight since a brutal knockout loss to rival Alex Pereira at UFC 320 this past October. Ankalaev was originally set to face Khalil Rountree Jr., but with Rountree forced to withdraw, in steps up-and-coming contender Bogdan Guskov. This is a change of plans for Guskov as well as he was lined up to rematch Jan Blachowicz at UFC Belgrade next week, only for the matchmakers to call upon him to save the UFC Abu Dhabi headliner.
For one reason or another, Ankalaev has seemingly never been a favorite of the UFC's shot-callers as it took a seven-year unbeaten streak for him to earn his first ******* le shot; now, he needs to stifle Guskov just to keep his spot in line. On the other side, Guskov is undefeated in his past five fights and suddenly finds himself with an opportunity to jump into the top 5 of the rankings.
Will it be status quo or a new face in the ******* le picture by the end of the weekend?
What: UFC Abu Dhabi

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