Former middleweight title challenger among additions to UFC Baku lineup

Middleweight Mania

A middleweight title challenger in 2021, Vettori will look to snap a four-bout losing streak when he squares off against Naurdiev. “The Italian Dream” went 0-3 in 2025 alone, dropping unanimous decisions to the likes of Roman Dolidze, Brendan Allen and Brunno Ferreira.

Naurdiev, who is on his second UFC stint, has won two of his last three Octagon appearances. Most recently, the 29-year-old Austrian scored a first-round knockout of Ryan Loder at UFC Qatar this past November.

Magomedov saw a three-bout winning streak come to an end in his last outing, when he suffered a second-round submission defeat to Joe Pyfer at UFC 320 this past October. Prior to that, “Abus” had earned successive triumphs against Warlley Alves, Ferreira and Michel Pereira.

Oleksiejczuk, meanwhile, has won three consecutive UFC starts. Most recently, the Pole outpointed Marc-Andre Barriault at UFC Fight Night 266 on Feb. 7. His current run also includes first-round stoppages of Gerald Meerschaert and Sedriques Dumas.