Umar Nurmagomedov no longer will headline ADXC 7 next week in Abu Dhabi.
The UFC bantamweight standout was set to grapple former Bellator champion Eduardo Dantas in a no-gi featherweight match Oct. 25 at Mubadala Arena. The event takes place one day before UFC 308 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, which is headlined by a featherweight title fight between champion Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway.
But Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) has been pulled from the event, a person with knowledge of the move told MMA Junkie on Friday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because ADXC has not yet made the change official.
No official reason was given for Nurmagomedov’s removal from the event, but in recent weeks rumors about his next UFC fight have ramped up. Although he is gunning for a shot at new champion Merab Dvalishvili, who won the belt from Sean O’Malley at UFC 306, Nurmagomedov also has been linked to a main event in Tampa, Fla., in December against Song Yadong.
Nurmagomedov is fresh off a main event win over Cory Sandhagen at UFC on ABC 7 in August in Abu Dhabi. The undefeated 28-year-old emerged as a title contender and was expected to be Dvalishvili’s first attempted title defense, though the champ reportedly is not yet ready to fight.
Dantas, a two-time Bellator champion, is a second degree jiu-jitsu black belt with seven wins by submission. The 35-year-old Brazilian’s most recent appearance in MMA came in May 2023 – a decision loss to Denis Lavrentyev at RCC 15.
Appropriately timed, reports of a new grappling matchup for the event surfaced Friday with former UFC flyweight standout Muhammad Mokaev against UFC young rising star Raul Rosas Jr., which certainly will take some of the sting off losing Nurmagomedov from the event for fans.
