Assu Almabayev - News & Rumors - UFC | FOX Sports

Scheduled against former champion Almabayev is scheduled to compete against Brandon Moreno in a flyweight fight at UFC Mexico on Feb. 28, MMA reporter Ariel Helwani reports.

Impact After going 2-1 in 2025, Almabayev will begin his 2026 with a difficult challenge. Moreno is a multi-time UFC Flyweight Champion and ranked No. 4 in the promotion's flyweight rankings, meaning a win over him can boost Almabayev into the division's top-five. Almabayev's 2025 concluded with him finishing a top-10 contender in Alex Perez.

DECEMBER 12, 2025 • ROTOWIRE

Gets finish against top-10 opponent Almabayev defeated Alex Perez via submission (guillotine choke) at 0:22 of Round 3 at UFC Qatar on Saturday.

Impact With the scorecards likely tied 1-1 entering the final frame, Almabayev opened with a spinning wheel kick that stunned Perez and paved the way to the finish. With Perez clearly compromised, Almabayev jumped for a standing guillotine, and it was so tight that Perez had to tap out standing up. It was an impressive effort from a slight betting favorite, who has now won back-to-back fights and six of seven UFC bouts overall. Almabayev is closing in on title-implicating fights against top-5 opponents.

NOVEMBER 23, 2025 • ROTOWIRE

Next fight scheduled Almabayev is scheduled to compete against Alex Perez in a flyweight fight at UFC Qatar on Nov. 22, per Marcel Dorff of Eurosport.nl.

Impact Almabayev is 1-1 in 2025, with his year starting off badly after Manel Kape knocked him out at UFC Vegas 103. The former bounced back by leaning on his wrestling to defeat Jose Ochoa. Almabayev will look to go 2-1 in 2025 by defeating Perez, a dangerous threat if healthy.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2025 • ROTOWIRE

Leans on wrestling in victory Almabayev defeated Jose Ochoa via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) at UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Abu Dhabi.

Impact Almabayev is a one-dimensional wrestler and it can look quite ugly when his takedown attempts aren't landing, but when they are, like they were this evening, he's a threat in there. Almabayev fired off a whopping 16 tries, connecting on seven of them. Those seven shots turned into 9:26 worth of control time, all but assuring Ochoa had zero chance of winning a fight which went to the scorecards. Almabayev improves to 5-1 in the UFC, with the lone setback coming against a guy in Manel Kape that is likely to be fighting for the UFC Flyweight Championship in short order.

JULY 26, 2025 • ROTOWIRE

New opponent scheduled Almabayev is scheduled to compete against Jose Ochoa in a flyweight fight at UFC Abu Dhabi on July 26, per Marcel Dorff of Eurosport.nl.

Impact Almabayev and Ramazan Temirov were scheduled to fight at UFC Abu Dhabi. Temirov, without a disclosed problem, has withdrawn from their fight, so Almabayev has Ochoa next instead. Ochoa is coming off a strong knockout win over Cody Durden.

JULY 8, 2025 • ROTOWIRE

Taking on Temirov in July Almabayev will face Ramazan Temirov at UFC Abu Dhabi on July 26, per Marcel Dorff of Eurosport.nl.

Impact Almabayev will head into the fight looking to bounce back after a TKO defeat at the hands of Manel Kape in his most recent bout. The 5-foot-4 fighter from Kazakhstan will look to use a slight reach advantage to take down the younger Temirov. With an impressive 18-2 combined professional record in submission and decision finishes, Albamayev will likely be looking to take his time and use the ground game to his advantage, particularly when his opponent's perfect 11-0 record in KO/TKO finishes is taken into account.

MAY 8, 2025 • ROTOWIRE