Damian Pinas gets the fight he spent weeks yelling about. The Aruban middleweight meets unbeaten Baisangur Susurkaev at UFC 335 on Dec. 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Russian outlet Vestnik MMA broke the booking Wednesday. MMA Junkie confirmed it through a person with knowledge of the matchup, who asked to stay anonymous because the UFC hasn’t formally announced it yet. Heavy.com said multiple sources confirmed it too. So it isn’t on a UFC graphic yet, but three outlets are standing behind it. Some early chatter had the date as Dec. 13. The reports all put it on the 12th.
Pinas (11-1, 3-0 UFC) is coming off a knockout of Andrey Pulyaev at UFC 332 in Salt Lake City on Oct. 3. An uppercut early in the fight did it. MMA Junkie counts six straight opponents he’s knocked out in Round 1. He’s 24, born in Suriname, represents Aruba and trains at Nova União in Brazil.
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He earned his contract by knocking out Vitor Costa in Round 1 on the Contender Series. Then he stopped Wes Schultz in Round 1 of his debut this year and beat César Almeida before getting to Pulyaev. The lone loss on his record came in Shooto Brasil in 2024 against Italo Gomes, after Pinas threw an illegal kick in Round 1. Dec. 12 will be his fourth fight of 2026, which is a busy calendar for anybody.
Susurkaev (12-0, 3-0 UFC) is 25. Bloody Elbow reported he’s been one of Khamzat Chimaev’s main training partners throughout the former middleweight champ’s climb. He went 6-0 in Russia, mostly for ACA Young Eagles, then moved to the U.S. in 2024 and beat Irakli Kuchukhidze at Fury FC.
That earned him a Contender Series spot against Murtaza Talha on very short notice. He won by TKO in Round 1 and immediately asked to fight again four days later at UFC 319. Dana White liked the idea, and Susurkaev choked out Eric Nolan with a rear-naked choke in Round 2. That’s my kind of guy.
The UFC run since then has been messier. He knocked out Eric McConico in Round 3 but struggled at times in that fight. In May at UFC 328, he had early trouble with Djorden Santos before finishing him with a rear-naked choke in Round 3. He was booked against Donte Johnson at UFC 334 on Nov. 14 and withdrew for undisclosed reasons.
According to MMA Junkie, each man has accused the other of ducking. Bloody Elbow reported that Pinas called Susurkaev an easy fight and vowed to take his undefeated record. At one point he also claimed the Russian wasn’t accepting the fight and said he was ready to move on.
The fight lands on a loaded year-end card. Charles Oliveira vs. Diego Lopes for the BMF title headlines, and the lineup also has Sergei Pavlovich vs. Alex Pereira and Brandon Moreno vs. Charles Johnson. Both Heavy and Bloody Elbow figure the winner gets a top-15 middleweight in 2027.
Credit the matchmakers. As Bloody Elbow pointed out, the UFC usually keeps its prospects apart, and here it’s throwing a guy with six straight first-round knockouts at a guy who’s never lost. The whole fight hangs on the clock. Pinas has never had to find his power after the first five minutes. Susurkaev has been dragged into Round 3 twice in the UFC and won both times. If Pinas doesn’t land the big one early, I like the Chimaev training partner to grind him into deep water. If he does land it, that zero stays in Las Vegas.
