Israel Adesanya says he has signed for his next UFC fight, reportedly vs. Shara Magomedov

Israel Adesanya says he has signed the contract for his next UFC fight. "We just signed the contract yesterday," he said on his Precision Podcast with Demetrious Johnson. MMAmania first wrote it up on Tuesday, October 27. He did not name an opponent or a date.

He is reported to have signed to face Sharabutdin "Shara Bullet" Magomedov at middleweight. It would headline a card in Riyadh on Saturday, December 5. Ariel Helwani reported the matchup on his show in mid-October, per MiddleEasy.

SI reported that Adesanya shared a photo of himself next to a promotional graphic for the fight, on a platform SI didn't name. As of Wednesday, the UFC has not announced the bout.

On the podcast he also made a prediction, according to Sherdog:

"There will be blood in the sand, and it's not going to be me."

Four losses in a row

Adesanya, 37, is 24-6 in MMA and 13-6 in the UFC, per Wikipedia. He defended the middleweight title five times before losing it to Alex Pereira. He won it back with a second-round knockout of Pereira at UFC 287 in April 2023. Five months later, Sean Strickland beat him on the scorecards at UFC 293, starting his longest skid.

Dricus du Plessis submitted him with a face crank in the fourth round in August 2024. Nassourdine Imavov stopped him in Riyadh in February 2025, and Joe Pyfer stopped him in Seattle on March 28 this year.

"The last three years have just not been fun. I've been lost, so I'm found again," he said.

He closed as the favourite in all four losses, according to our closing odds. He was -650 against Strickland, -116 against du Plessis, -161 against Imavov and -141 against Pyfer. Across his 11 UFC fights with closing odds since mid-2020, he is 5-6, always as the favourite. Betting one unit on him every time would have lost 3.82 units.

This would also be his first fight without City Kickboxing, the Auckland gym where he had trained since 2009. In July he announced on Instagram that he had left the gym and coach Eugene Bareman. He called it "something a long time coming behind the scenes," Verdict MMA reported. His new corner hasn't been confirmed.

The opponent

Magomedov, 32, from Makhachkala, Dagestan, is 17-1 with 12 knockout wins and 6-1 in the UFC, per Wikipedia. His only loss was a decision to Michael Page on the same Riyadh card where Imavov stopped Adesanya. He has since outpointed Marc-André Barriault and Michel Pereira.

Pereira dropped him in the first round in Baku in June before Magomedov won 29-28 on all three cards, Cageside Press reported. He closed at -420 that night and is 3-1 as a favourite in his four UFC fights with closing odds, per our page. There are no odds on this fight yet.

Because of a severe eye injury, most U.S. commissions haven't cleared him, according to Athlon Sports. None of his seven UFC fights has been in the U.S.

We think this is a hard fight for Adesanya, even though Magomedov is ranked six places lower: No. 15 to Adesanya's No. 9, per MiddleEasy. Magomedov has lost once in 18 pro fights, and Adesanya has been stopped in each of his last three. It is not a title fight: Strickland holds the belt after beating Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 328 in May.

Is Riyadh still on?

Athlon, citing DW News, reported on October 19 that Houthi forces in Yemen have repeatedly struck Riyadh's airport. That includes an October 10 attack that reportedly killed 12. Athlon also cites the Russian outlet Vestnik MMA, which says the Riyadh card is "highly likely" to be scrapped. Vestnik says the fight could move to UFC Qatar on November 21.

That card already has a main event: Jiří Procházka against Navajo Stirling, Adesanya's former City Kickboxing teammate, per Athlon. As of Wednesday, nothing has been moved or cancelled.

At the UFC Edmonton press conference, Dana White was asked whether the Riyadh card would move. He said: "I go to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, I have like six events in the next 30 days, in Saudi, Qatar and Abu Dhabi."