UFC’s first-ever trip to Azerbaijan is official.
The promotion announced Friday that they’ll head to the country’s capital city, Baku, for a June 21st “Fight Night” card, with a series of notable matchups taking place near the top of the lineup.
While a long-awaited UFC return and an appearance from a recent heavyweight title challenger are set for lower in the lineup, the main event will go to a re-booked light heavyweight clash between Jamahal Hill and Khalil Rountree Jr.
UFC originally intended to book a meeting between these two high-ranked 205-pound fighters for later this month in Kansas City, although those plans fell apart as of late. It now looks like the fight has been given another chance, a few months later and many miles away from its previously-intended location.
Rountree Jr. will be returning for the first time since he showcased incredible toughness in a losing performance against then-UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira last October. He had a streak of five wins in the division before suffering a fourth-round stoppage defeat against the Brazilian kickboxer last fall.
Hill, a former champ, will be trying to rebound after losing via stoppage to Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira over the past year.
Lower on the card, former RIZIN Flyweight and Bantamweight Champion Kyoji Horiguchi will make his UFC return against Tagir Ulanbekov.
It’s been nearly a decade since Horiguchi graced a UFC cage, as his initial stint within the brand came to an end in late 2016. He has since taken his skills to Japan’s top promotion RIZIN and now-defunct brand Bellator, where he put together a combined 15 wins over his past 18 appearances.
While still a high-level fighter, the second UFC run will test the durability of Horiguchi’s career. The American Top Team talent is still only 34 years old, but is heading back into the highly competitive 125-pound UFC pool with the mileage of nearly 40 pro fights under his belt.
10th-ranked Ulanbekov has earned three consecutive wins since 2022, most recently snapping the undefeated record of Clayton Carpenter with a decision result.
The third notable addition to the card recently was a re-booking of Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev.
The wonky pairing—seeing a promotional newcomer in Kuniev make his debut against a recent interim heavyweight title challenger in Blaydes—has been attempted by the UFC since February. The upcoming card is a third show that the bout was been reported for. Maybe this time it’ll stick.
It had been reported in recent weeks that UFC was looking to potentially host a show in Azerbaijan. The only major MMA event to have previously been hosted in the country came in late 2023, when RIZIN presented a card headlined by the country’s own Vugar Karamov and rising featherweight star Chihiro Suzuki.
The upcoming show is in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as the Baku City Circuit, which promotes an annual Formula 1 race inside the country. The terms of the partnership, more specifically, if the country is paying to host the card, weren’t disclosed.
The event could be classified as another example of the top MMA promotion possibly receiving a paycheck for “sportswashing,” providing a more flattering image of a country that has long been under the close watch of organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International for human rights violations.
Here’s how the mid-June card looks thus far:
Bout 7: Jamahal Hill (12-3) vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. (13-6) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 6: Ismail Naurdiev (24-7) vs. Park Jun-yong (18-6) (Middleweight)
Bout 5: Curtis Blaydes (18-5) vs. Rizvan Kuniev (13-2-1) (Heavyweight)
Bout 4: Tagir Ulanbekov (16-2) vs. Kyoji Horiguchi (34-5) (Flyweight)
Bout 3: Mohammed Usman (10-4) vs. Hamdy Abdelwahab (4-0) (Heavyweight)
Bout 2: Irina Alekseeva (5-2) vs. Klaudia Sygula (6-2) (Bantamweight)
Bout 1: Darya Zheleznyakova (9-2) vs. Melissa Mullins (7-1) (Bantamweight)
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