Schedule of Kazakhstan fighters' performances in the UFC for 2025.

In the strongest league in the world of mixed martial arts — UFC — by the end of 2024, there are 6 athletes from Kazakhstan competing. Some of them already know the dates of their first fights in 2025, reports Caravan.kz

Currently, there is confirmed information regarding the date, location, and opponent for at least 3 out of the 6 athletes.

As soon as the country welcomed the New Year, it was officially announced that the opponent of our fighter Asu Almatbaev (21-2, 4-0 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 253 will be former title contender from Australia, Steve Erceg (12-3, 3-2 UFC). The fight in the flyweight division will take place on March 2 in Las Vegas.

It has also been confirmed that UFC debutant Diyar Nurgozhai (10-0, 0-0 UFC), competing in the light heavyweight division, will step into the octagon on March 16 at UFC Fight Night 254 in Las Vegas. His opponent will be Brendson Ribeiro from Brazil (16-7, 1-2 UFC).

Kazakh fans can also look forward to an exciting fight in the welterweight division very soon. Nikolai Veretennikov (12-4, 0-1 UFC) will fight Billy Goff from the USA (9-3, 1-1 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 251 in Las Vegas on February 16.

However, the most anticipated welterweight bout is, of course, between Shavkat Rahmonov and Belal Muhammad. The match between the current UFC champion, American of Palestinian descent Belal Muhammad (24-3, 13-3 UFC), and the undefeated Shavkat Rahmonov (19-0, 7-0 UFC) was supposed to take place back in December 2024, but Belal had to withdraw from the fight due to illness. Shavkat was given another opponent — Irishman Ian Garry, whom he defeated by unanimous decision. It has been announced that Rahmonov's next fight will definitely be against Muhammad, although the date is still unknown. Recently, it was revealed that Belal is preparing to return to the octagon and conduct his first title defense no earlier than May. This was shared by his manager Ali Abdel-Aziz. Meanwhile, Shavkat has not yet announced the timing of his return. We await further updates.

As for Bekzat Almakhan (flyweight, 11-2, 0-1 UFC) and Azat Maksum (strawweight, 17-1, 1-1 UFC), it is still unclear who they will face in their upcoming matches and at which tournaments.

Earlier, a list of contenders from Kazakhstan for entry into the UFC was announced by a Russian manager.