Israel Adesanya is reportedly aiming to fight again in December, and the name attached to his comeback is Shara Magomedov.
On the latest episode of The Ariel Helwani Show, Helwani discussed a long-rumored matchup between the former two-time middleweight champion and Magomedov as the headliner for UFC Saudi Arabia on Dec. 5, 2026. ClutchPoints, via Yahoo Sports, ran with the report. The fight is unconfirmed. No bout agreement has been announced, and for now this lives in the speculation file until the UFC says otherwise.
The last few years have been rough for Adesanya. His most recent win came in April 2023, when he knocked out Alex Pereira and took the belt back from the man who had been his personal nightmare since their kickboxing days. Since then he’s lost four straight: Sean Strickland, Dricus du Plessis, Nassourdine Imavov, and then Joe Pyfer, who knocked him out in March 2026. He hasn’t competed since.
The Pyfer loss kicked off the retirement chatter, which made sense on paper. Four losses in a row, a 37th birthday already behind him, and a UFC Hall of Fame plaque already on the résumé. Adesanya shot those rumors down. Now it looks like he’s picking his spot.
Why Magomedov
Magomedov has wanted this one for a while. After he beat Michel Pereira at UFC Baku in June 2025, he called Adesanya out by name. The only loss of his pro career came against Michael “Venom” Page, and the setting adds a little irony: that fight was on the undercard of Adesanya’s UFC Saudi Arabia main event in February 2025. So Magomedov lost on Adesanya’s card, then went and asked for Adesanya himself. You have to respect the nerve.
The experience gap is wide. Adesanya has been fighting under the UFC banner since 2018 and has two middleweight title reigns. Magomedov joined the roster in 2023 and is still building his name. For him, a win over a Hall of Famer in a main event would be a career-making night. For Adesanya, a loss to a guy the casual audience is still learning about would be a fifth straight, and that conversation about walking away would come back louder.
If it happens, a return to Saudi Arabia lands Adesanya back on the same circuit where he headlined less than two years ago. Dana White and the matchmakers would also be handing a rising, callout-happy middleweight exactly what he asked for, which is how you keep guys calling people out.
Quick take
I like this fight more than I probably should. Adesanya doesn’t need another top-five contender trying to wrestle him into the fence for 25 minutes, and he doesn’t need a gimme either, because nobody buys a gimme. Magomedov is a striker who wants to stand and trade, and that’s the version of the sport where Adesanya still makes sense at 37. It also tells you everything about where his career sits: he’s out of the title picture and into the gatekeeper-who-still-sells-tickets phase. Nothing wrong with that. Lose to Magomedov, though, and I think we’re writing a very different story about him. Dec. 5 is the date to circle if the UFC makes it official.
