Aleksandre Topuria’s sophomore appearance in the UFC will come against a dangerous knockout artist.
Topuria (6-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC)) takes on Bekzat Almakhan (12-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) in a bantamweight bout, which takes place at a UFC Fight Night event on Nov. 22 from ABHA Arena in Doha, Qatar. A person with knowledge confirmed the targeted matchup to MMA Junkie after an initial report from Marca. Topuria also confirmed the news on his social media.
Aleksandre, the older brother of UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria, made good in his octagon debut when he defeated Alexander Volkanovski’s teammate Colby Thicknesse by unanimous decision at UFC 312 in February. The 29-year-old is on a four-fight winning streak.
Kazakhstan’s Almakhan has split his first two octagon appearances. After falling short to former title challenger Umar Nurmagomedov on short notice at UFC Fight Night 238 last March, Almakhan rebounded with a first-round knockout of Brad Katona at UFC 315 in May. 10 of his 12 professional wins have come by knockout.
With the addition, the current UFC Qatar lineup includes:
- Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Tagir Ulanbekov
- Asu Almabayev vs. Alex Perez
- Rafael Cerqueira vs. Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev
- Bekzat Almakhan vs. Aleksandre Topuria
