Chopurov Retains Bantamweight Title with First-Round Knockout in Abu Dhabi
UAE Warriors 72 gave Abu Dhabi a main event that was over almost as soon as it began. On Thursday, 23 July 2026, bantamweight champion Asaf Chopurov defended his title against Reece McLaren with a single right hand, dropping the Australian at 1:03 of the opening round for a knockout that closed the contest before it could settle into a rhythm.
The finish moved Chopurov to 11-0 with ten finishes, five by knockout and five by submission, and it marked his second successful defense of the UAE Warriors bantamweight championship. He is 24 years old, and ten of his eleven professional wins have now come inside the distance. McLaren, a 34-year-old former ONE Championship title challenger, entered at 19-9 with a long career of championship experience behind him, and the result kept the belt out of his reach once more.
Finishes shaped the rest of the evening as much as the main event did. Pavel Andrusca kept his unbeaten record intact when an overhand right ended his bantamweight meeting with Ge Xipengchu at 2:09 of the first round.
Gian Siqueira worked in a similar window, stopping Imamshafi Aliev on strikes at 2:10 of the opening round in a 90-kilogram catchweight bout. Ramazan Ragimov carried his finish deeper into the fight, halting Yazid Chouchane on strikes at 3:57 of the second round in the lightweight division.
Elene Loladze opened the night’s submissions. The Georgian strawweight, who fights as “The Blood Fairy,” wrapped up a first-round guillotine on France’s Océane Samson and forced the tap at 3:06.
The scorecards carried their own storylines. Ali Taleb returned to the promotion where he won the title at UAE Warriors 30 in July 2022, four years earlier, and the Iraqi former champion left with a split-decision loss to Thailand’s Peter Danesoe.
Ata Atdayev kept his perfect record with a unanimous decision over Paulo Victor, the reigning Shooto Brasil champion who was making his UAE Warriors debut at flyweight. Evgeny Morozov of Serbia earned a unanimous decision over former LFA welterweight champion Shamidkhan Magomedov in their 79-kilogram catchweight.
The remaining verdicts filled out a busy night. Victor Nunes edged Tumelo Manyamala by majority decision, Maysara Mohamed outpointed Kun Zhou across three flyweight rounds, Murad Ramazanov took a unanimous decision over Ruslan Nazhmudinov, and Salih Muradov closed out Sahil Shakirov on the same three-round math.
One scheduled bout did not take place. The middleweight meeting between Mohammed Saleh and Roman Gusev was cancelled, leaving twelve of the thirteen bouts to be contested. Saleh had come in over the middleweight limit at Wednesday’s weigh-in, at 88.45 kilograms against the 84.37-kilogram cap. An official reason for the cancellation was not stated.
Chopurov leaves Abu Dhabi with his title intact and a professional record that now reads ten finishes in eleven fights. UAE Warriors 72 leaned on its finishers and its champion, and the bantamweight division heads into its next chapter with the belt still in the hands of a fighter who has never lost.
