On Tuesday, the 30-year-old Russian fighter signed a four-fight contract with the Las Vegas based promotion. He is expected to compete in the Octagon at 205 pounds, although Shtyrkov did fight at heavyweight earlier in his professional tenure. A date for his UFC debut is currently unknown.
It is worth noting that Sayat Abdrakhmanov, who also manages rising bantamweight start Petr Yan and welterweight prospect Alexey Kunchenko, will be responsible for guiding Shtyrkov’s career in the UFC.
Shytyrkov is coming off a first-round submission of former UFC light heavyweight Thiago Silva at Russian Cagefighting Championship 5 in December 2018. Shytrkov is 15-0-1 as a professional overall and owns other notable wins against the likes of Fabio Maldonado, Christian M’Pumbu, Satoshi Ishii, Philip De Fries, Antonio Silva and Ricco Rodriguez.