A lightweight fight between Magomed Mustafaev and Don Madge has been added to the UFC 242 card in Abu Dhabi. The South African will be looking to make it two wins in a row for the promotion after a dramatic knockout victory in his debut.
Madge (8-3-1) has spent a lot of time training and fighting in Asia. He burst onto the scene as a Muay Thai star and fought multiple times in Thailand before deciding to switch focus to MMA.
The former EFC lightweight champion showcased that Muay Thai to devastating effect when he knocked out Te Edwards at UFC Fight Night 138, earning a performance bonus. Interestingly all three of his losses have come against the same opponent, South African veteran Leon Mynhardt.
Meanwhile Mustafaev (14-3) also picked up a $50,000 USD cheque for his last win. The Russian has won three out of his four UFC fights with all of those victories coming inside the distance.
As previously announced UFC 242 will be headlined by a lightweight unification bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Dustin Poirier. The former holds the regular title but is just returning from a suspension while the latter owns the interim version.
There is a strong Russian presence on the September 7th card with Shamil Abdurakhimov, Muslim Salikhov, Islam Makhachev and Mairbek Taisumov all fighting as well as Nurmagomedov and Mustafaev. This will be the first UFC card to be held in Abu Dhabi since 2014.
The first card took place at a purpose-built stadium on Yas Island and featured the likes of Anderson Silva and B.J. Penn while the second card was at Du Arena and didn’t have such a stellar line up.
UFC 242, Abu Dhabi, September 7th
Khabib Nurmagomedov (c) vs. Dustin Poirier (For Lightweight Title)
Belal Muhammad vs. Takashi Sato (Welterweight)
Khalid Taha vs. Bruno Gustavo Aparecido Da Silva (Bantamweight)
Curtis Blaydes vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov (Heavyweight)
Teemu Packalén vs. Ottman Azaitar (Lightweight)
Nordine Taleb vs. Muslim Salikhov (Welterweight)
Islam Makhachev vs. Davi Ramos (Lightweight)
Mairbek Taisumov vs. Carlos Diego Ferreira (Lightweight)
Liana Jojua vs. Sarah Moras (Bantamweight)
Magomed Mustafaev vs. Don Madge (Lightweight)
