Israel Adesanya is headlining again. The UFC announced during Saturday’s UFC Vegas 124 broadcast that the former two-time middleweight champion will face Shara Magomedov in the five-round main event of UFC Saudi Arabia on Dec. 5 at ANB Arena in Riyadh. Welterweights Ian Machado Garry and Yaroslav Amosov fill the co-main slot, also scheduled for five rounds. The card streams on Paramount+, and Turki Alalshikh posted the main event on X shortly after the promotion did. The UFC’s own announcement carried a four-word tagline: “The best is demanded.”
Adesanya (24-6, 13-6 UFC) comes in on a four-fight losing streak. His last win was the April 2023 rematch knockout of Alex Pereira at UFC 287 that won him the belt back. Since then he dropped the title to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 in September 2023, then got stopped by Dricus du Plessis, Nassourdine Imavov and Joe Pyfer, the last of those in March in Seattle. Three straight fights without reaching the scorecards is a rough stat for a guy whose whole game was built on not getting hit.
He’s also changing addresses. Adesanya recently left City Kickboxing in New Zealand, his home for years, and moved his camp to Freestyle MMA in Sydney, where UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski trains. Riyadh will be the first look at whatever that switch produces.
Magomedov (17-1, 6-1 UFC) has never shared the Octagon with a former UFC champion. His lone loss came in February 2025 at an earlier UFC Saudi Arabia card, a lopsided decision to Michael Page. He bounced back with wins over Marc-Andre Barriault at UFC on ABC 9 and Michel Pereira at UFC Fight Night 280 in June.
The co-main
Garry (17-2, 10-2 UFC) returns about four months after losing a unanimous decision to Islam Makhachev at UFC 330 in Philadelphia in August. That was his first title shot, and it ended a run that included wins over Carlos Prates and Belal Muhammad. The loss came with extra baggage. Dana White appeared skeptical of how friendly Garry was before and during the fight, with the hugging, high-fives and glove touches raising questions about his killer instinct.
Amosov (30-1, 2-0 UFC) is the former Bellator welterweight champion and a Ukrainian military veteran who fought for his country after the Russian invasion. He’s 2-0 in the UFC with wins over Neil Magny and Joel Alvarez, part of a three-fight streak that also includes Curtis Millender. His only career loss was a November 2023 upset against Jason Jackson.
The rest of the main card has Serghei Spivac vs. Mario Pinto at heavyweight, Levan Chokheli vs. Islam Dulatov at welterweight, Mairon Santos vs. Akbar Abdullaev at lightweight and Ion Cutelaba vs. Magomed Tuchalov at light heavyweight. White said last month that despite the conflict in the Middle East and travel warnings, the promotion’s stance remains “we go.”
Sal’s take
Everybody wants to write the Adesanya obituary, and the numbers give them plenty of ink. I’m looking at the other column. Magomedov’s only step up in class against a high-level striker went badly, a decision loss he never really got into, and Adesanya at his worst is still the cleanest technical striker Shara has seen. The real problem is the chin math: three consecutive stoppage losses don’t get fixed by a new zip code. If the books open Adesanya as an underdog, that’s the line I’ll stare at for a week, and then probably talk myself out of it like the coward I am. As for the co-main, a 30-1 guy getting his first real UFC test over five rounds is the fight I’d actually pay for.
