Abubakar VagaevW vs. Saygid Izagakhmaev
UFC Fight Night · July 25, 2026 · Etihad Arena · Main Card 12:00 PM ET
The brief
- The result
- Abubakar Vagaev by Decision (unanimous), R3
- What kind of fight
- Grappling chess match
- Finish likelihood
- Low
- The line
- No line posted yet
- The stakes
- Welterweight · Main Card
The result
Abubakar Vagaev def. Saygid Izagakhmaev — Decision (unanimous), R3 5:00
The grappling chess match played out about as advertised, and it was Vagaev's brand of chess.
He got to his takedowns early and often, used his wrestling to control the pace, and banked rounds the way he did through two ACA title runs. Izagakhmaev never found the scramble that could have flipped it, and all three judges scored it 29-28 for Vagaev.
Twenty of his twenty-five wins have now come by decision — a successful, if familiar, UFC debut.
The breakdown below was written before the fight.
The read
Neither man gives away position, and Vagaev in particular has made a career of winning ugly.
Expect long stretches of clinch work against the fence and hard-fought takedown battles with modest striking output. Izagakhmaev's submission chains are the single biggest threat in the fight, but Vagaev's durability and pace have carried him through five-round wars against elite regional competition.
Three grinding, competitive rounds and a scorecard verdict is the most likely outcome.
The matchup
A pure Russian grappling standoff between two men who rarely look for a shootout.
Vagaev built his ACA title runs on takedown pressure and top control across championship rounds, and 19 of his 24 wins are decisions. Izagakhmaev is the far more dangerous finisher — 13 submission wins with the back-take chains you'd expect from Khabib's camp — but he has fought just once in nearly four years.
The wrestling exchanges decide everything: if Vagaev can put Izagakhmaev on his back without offering up his neck, his motor should bank rounds. If Izagakhmaev's timing is back, one scramble could flip the whole fight.
Tale of the tape
| 24-4 | Record | 22-3 |
| 33 | Age | 31 |
| 5'11" | Height | 6'0" |
| 73" | Reach | 74" |
| Orthodox | Stance | Orthodox |
| Russia | Country | Russia |
| — | Team | Eagles MMA |
The numbers
Career UFC averages. Red bar = statistical edge.
The fighters
Abubakar Vagaev 24-4
Vagaev is a two-time ACA welterweight champion from Chechnya and one of the most decorated fighters ever to arrive in the UFC from the Russian circuit. He capped his ACA run in February 2025 by beating former UFC standout Albert Tumenov — who hadn't lost since 2016 — to win the promotion's welterweight Grand Prix. His style is pure attrition: 19 of his 24 wins have gone to the scorecards, built on constant takedown pressure and a pace most opponents can't match. At 33, he makes his UFC debut riding a four-fight win streak.
- WAlbert Tumenov · Decision (unanimous)ACA 183 · February 8, 2025
- WEdil Esengulov · Decision (unanimous)ACA 172 · March 9, 2024
- WMichel Prazeres · Decision (unanimous)ACA 162 · September 2, 2023
Saygid Izagakhmaev 22-3
Izagakhmaev is a Dagestani submission specialist who came up through the late Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov's school and remains one of Khabib Nurmagomedov's closest proteges. He went 3-0 in ONE Championship, submitting former title challenger James Nakashima and stopping grappling legend Shinya Aoki. Thirteen of his 22 wins have come by submission, most of them chokes set up by relentless chain wrestling. After three years away from competition he dropped a razor-thin split decision to Nicolas Dalby in his November 2025 UFC debut, and he's still hunting his first Octagon win.
- LNicolas Dalby · Decision (split)UFC Fight Night: Tsarukyan vs. Hooker · November 22, 2025
- WShinya Aoki · TKOONE Championship 163 · November 19, 2022
- WZhang Lipeng · Decision (unanimous)ONE Championship 161 · September 29, 2022