Magomed Ankalaev's light heavyweight main event got a last-minute makeover this week when an injury pulled Khalil Rountree Jr. out and perfect finisher Bogdan Guskov agreed to jump in with less than two weeks to prepare for July 25 in Abu Dhabi.
Reviewed by BJJ Gyms · Updated 2026-07-27
Sources: UFC.com main event announcement, theScore, and The National reporting on the Abu Dhabi card change.
The Abu Dhabi card had been built for months around Ankalaev against Khalil Rountree Jr., a pairing UFC matchmakers clearly liked for its mix of styles. That plan fell apart this week when Rountree was forced out with an injury, leaving the promotion needing a replacement fast with the event barely more than a week away at the time of the announcement.
The fighter who answered the call, Bogdan Guskov, was not sitting idle waiting for a call-up. He had already been lined up for a rematch with former champion Jan Blachowicz at UFC Belgrade on August 1. Instead of waiting for that fight, Guskov agreed to move up a date, change opponents entirely, and step into a main event slot against a former champion, all inside a two-week window.
That kind of reshuffling ripples down the card in ways fans do not always notice. Blachowicz's August 1 date in Belgrade did not disappear either, it simply changed opponents, with an unbeaten prospect stepping into the gap Guskov left behind. One injury three weeks out from an event can end up touching two separate fight cards on two different continents.
Before Magomed Ankalaev was a UFC title challenger, he was a Greco-Roman wrestler and, later, a Master of Sports in combat sambo, the hybrid discipline that blends throws, ground control, and striking under one ruleset. He carried that grappling base into an amateur MMA career that produced multiple national and international titles before he ever signed a professional contract.
None of that shows up loudly in how Ankalaev fights today. His professional style leans toward patient, counter-based striking and disciplined distance management rather than forcing wrestling exchanges, which is part of what makes him tricky to prepare for on short notice. Opponents have to respect a takedown that may never come, and that hesitation alone changes how a five-round fight plays out on the feet.
For a jiu-jitsu-minded fan, Ankalaev is a good reminder that grappling credentials do not have to be the centerpiece of a fighter's game to matter. A wrestling base that only surfaces when needed, as an insurance policy against getting hurt or as a way to change a losing round, is its own kind of tactical grappling, even when the fight looks entirely stand-up from the outside.
Whatever gap exists in preparation time, Guskov is not walking in as a pure opportunity fight for Ankalaev. His 18-3-1 record includes finishes in all 18 of his wins, and 13 of those came before the end of round one, a level of consistency that very few fighters at any weight class can claim. He is currently unbeaten across a five-fight stretch that includes a majority draw with Blachowicz, the same opponent he was originally supposed to run it back with in Belgrade.
Guskov's path into the sport ran through boxing and kickboxing before he transitioned to MMA, and that background shows up in his fight-ending power rather than in a heavy submission or top-control resume. That profile sets up an interesting stylistic contrast: a wrestling-and-sambo-rooted former champion who prefers to counter-strike from range, against a come-forward finisher who has rarely needed a second round to get the job done.
Short-notice fights like this one tend to reward whichever fighter's fundamentals hold up best under compressed preparation, and Ankalaev's wrestling background gives him a fallback plan that a pure finisher stepping in on two weeks' notice may not have time to game-plan around.
Fights like this are a good real-world lesson in why live training under fatigue matters so much in grappling gyms. Guskov did not get a full camp to adjust his gas plan, his takedown defense reps, or his in-fight adjustments, and how he handles that compressed timeline says a lot about how well-rounded his training actually is beyond his finishing highlight reel.
You do not need a UFC contract to build the same kind of adaptability. Rolling with a fresh partner after a hard round, drilling scrambles when you are already gassed, and training takedown defense against people bigger than you are the same habits that let a fighter like Ankalaev fall back on his wrestling when a fight does not go according to plan. If watching a main event get rebuilt in two weeks has you thinking about your own conditioning and scrambling, use the gym finder at BJJGyms.org to find a BJJ or no-gi program near you, including 10th Planet affiliates that build classes around exactly this kind of live, fatigue-tested grappling.
Here is the quick primer on what changed, who is fighting, and why the new matchup is worth watching from a grappling angle.
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Rountree Jr. withdrew from the July 25 main event against Magomed Ankalaev due to an injury, and Guskov, ranked No. 10 at light heavyweight, agreed to step in with less than two weeks to prepare.
Guskov enters the fight at 18-3-1, with all 18 of his career wins coming by finish and 13 of those inside the first round.
Yes. Before turning professional, Ankalaev trained in Greco-Roman wrestling and earned a Master of Sports rank in combat sambo, though his UFC style leans more toward patient, distance-based striking than forcing takedowns.
The event takes place July 25, 2026, at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, streaming on Paramount+.