UFC Saudi Arabia: ‘Whittaker vs. Aliskerov’ live results and highlights

The Octagon invades Riyadh for today’s UFC Saudi Arabia event, an eleven-fight fight card headlined by Robert Whittaker vs. Ikram Aliskerov.

Whittaker (26-7 MMA) returns to action for the first time since his unanimous decision victory over Paulo Costa at UFC 298 last February. The win was, of course, preceded by a TKO loss to reigning middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis at UFC290.

Meanwhile, Ikram Aliskerov (15-1 MMA) has gone 2-0 since joining the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The Russian standout is coming off wins over Phil Hawes and Warley Alvez in his first two Octagon appearances.

UFC Saudi Arabia is headlined by a heavyweight bout pitting Sergei Pavlovich (18-2 MMA) against Alexander Volkov (37-10 MMA).

Pavlovich will look to get back in the win column after a knockout loss to Tom Aspinall (14-4 MMA) last November at UFC 295 in a bout for the promotion’s interim heavyweight title. That setback snapped a six-fight winning streak for the 32-year-old, with all of those victories coming via KO/TKO.

Meanwhile, Alexander Volkov will enter the Octagon on a three-fight winning streak, with his most recent being a submission win over Tai Tuivasa last September at UFC 293 (see that here). Before that, ‘Drago’ had scored TKO victories over Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Alexander Romanov respectively.

Also on the main card of UFC Saudi Arabia is a middleweight bout between Kelvin Gastelum and Daniel Rodriguez. The fight was originally scheduled to take place at welterweight, but was later moved to 185 pounds due to a botched weight cut by ‘KG’.

Gastelum (17-9 MMA) will enter the bout looking to bounce back after suffering a submission loss to Sean Brady in his most recent effort at UFC Austin. That setback was preceded by a unanimous decision victory over Chris Curtis at UFC 287.

Meanwhile, Daniel Rodriguez (17-4 MMA) will enter the fight hoping to snap a two-fight losing skid. ‘D-Rod’ is coming off back-to-back injury losses to Neil Magny and Ian Machado Garry respectively.

Check out all of today’s live results and highlights below (refresh for updates):

UFC Saudi Arabia main card (ABC, ESPN+, 3 p.m. ET)

Robert Whittaker (186) vs. Ikram Aliskerov (184) –

Sergei Pavlovich (260) vs. Alexander Volkov (258) –

Kelvin Gastelum (184.5) vs. Daniel Rodriguez (184) –

Shara Magomedov (185.5) vs. Antonio Trocoli (185.5) –

Johnny Walker (206) vs. Volkan Oezdemir (206) –

Preliminary UFC Saudi Arabia card (ESPN, ESPN+, 12 p.m. ET)

Nasrat Haqparast (156) vs. Jared Gordon (156) –

Muhammad Naimov (145.5) vs. Felipe Lima (145.5) –

Rinat Fakhretdinov (170.5) vs Nicolas Dalby (171) –

Kyung Ho Kang (136) vs. Muin Gafurov (136) –

Magomed Gadzhiyasulov (205) vs. Brendson Ribeiro (205) –

Xiao Long (136) vs. Chang Ho Lee (136) –

Who are your picks to win tonight’s middleweight main event between Robert Whittaker and Ikram Aliskerov?