Overview

• Both fighters hit 155.0 pounds at official weigh-ins, confirming Friday’s main event at Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena with the main card on ESPN pay-per-view starting at 11:30 a.m. ET.
• Usman Nurmagomedov enters undefeated after a narrow majority-decision win over Paul Hughes in January, while Hughes earned the return bout with a 42-second KO of Bruno Miranda in May.
• Negotiations stretched through the summer as Hughes accused the champion’s camp of delaying, and PFL briefly signaled Archie Colgan vs. Mansour Barnaoui as a potential No. 1 contender fight.
• Khabib Nurmagomedov said Hughes “deserves this rematch,” a stance Usman publicly disputed before agreeing to defend the belt in the sequel.
• The card also includes Corey Anderson vs. Dovlet Yagshimuradov for the light heavyweight title, plus Magomed Magomedov vs. Sergio Pettis and Archie Colgan vs. Jay-Jay Wilson.