Four Fighters Who Built Their Names at UAE Warriors Won on the Same Night at UFC Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi, 26 July 2026 — Four fighters who came through UAE Warriors stepped into the Octagon at Etihad Arena on Saturday night. All four had their hands raised.
Magomed Tuchalov, Abdul Hussein, Magomed Zaynukov and Muhammad Saidov each won at UFC Fight Night: Ankalaev vs Guskov, two days after UAE Warriors 72 drew a full house on the other side of Abu Dhabi. Three of the four were making their UFC debuts.
It is the clearest single-night evidence yet of what the promotion has spent seven years building: a competitive proving ground in Abu Dhabi where a record has to be earned against real opposition.
Tuchalov keeps the zero
Magomed Tuchalov went to the Octagon as the UAE Warriors light heavyweight champion and left it still undefeated, taking a unanimous decision over Brendson Ribeiro on identical 29-28 scorecards.
It was harder than the odds suggested. Ribeiro took the opening round, backing Tuchalov up and landing a right hand late that raised swelling under his left eye. The Russian adjusted. Over the second and third he found his range and turned the fight, doing enough on all three cards to move to 7-0.
Tuchalov built that record at UAE Warriors, where he went 4-0 and took the light heavyweight title. He was also an IMMAF Junior World Champion in 2019.
Hussein finishes his debut
Abdul Hussein fought five times at UAE Warriors between 2024 and 2025. He won all five.
Against Cody Gibson, a finalist on The Ultimate Fighter 31, he needed three rounds and survived a difficult opening five minutes in which Gibson threatened repeatedly with chokes on the canvas. Hussein stayed patient, hurt Gibson early in the second and spent the rest of the round on top. In the third he took control again, put Gibson down along the fence and finished with an arm-triangle choke at 3:07.
The win extended his run of consecutive victories and finishes to nine. Hussein was born in a Palestinian refugee camp and became the first refugee to win an IMMAF world title.
Zaynukov and Saidov complete the night
Magomed Zaynukov fought twice at UAE Warriors and won both, taking decisions over Wilian Poles at UAEW51 in July 2024 and Shakhmar Sadygov at UAEW58 in February 2025. On Saturday he handled Polish debutant Damian Rzepecki across three rounds for a 30-27 sweep, moving to 9-0.
Muhammad Saidov last fought at UAE Warriors 71 on 9 May, where he stopped the experienced Luis Henrique da Silva inside the first round. Taking the Abu Dhabi bout on short notice, he outstruck Dustin Jacoby from the opening bell, hurt him to the body in the second and finished with a high kick and follow-up strikes at 4:49. He is now 10-0.
The pattern behind the night
Four wins in one evening is the kind of number that gets noticed, though the more useful one sits underneath it.
Between them, those four fighters went 12-0 inside UAE Warriors before they were signed. None of them arrived as a finished product. Tuchalov won a title. Hussein went through five opponents. Zaynukov and Saidov were both matched against opponents with years of experience behind them.
That is the function the promotion serves. UAE Warriors matches fighters hard enough that a record built there means something, and Saturday’s card in the same city put that to the test.
The card also spanned four continents at UAEW72 two nights earlier, with fighters representing Azerbaijan, Australia, Brazil, Russia, China, Turkmenistan, Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi is where that talent converges.
For UAE Warriors, Saturday was a night to watch other people’s cards and recognise the names.
UAE Warriors returns to Abu Dhabi. Full results, fighter profiles and event information at uaewarriors.com.
