UFC Signs 2018 PFL Middleweight Finalist Abusupiyan Magomedov

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Although Abusupiyan Magomedov did not earn a million dollars when competing for Professional Fighters League, he did work his way up to a Ultimate Fighting Championship contract.

The Dagestan-born German Magomedov (24-4-1) announced on his Instagram on Friday that he has signed with the UFC. In the last five years, Magomedov has amassed a record of 11-1-1, and the lone defeat came in a PFL title fight. His opponent has not yet been announced, nor has his debut date, but he is expected to compete at middleweight.

“I am happy to announce that I have signed with the UFC,” Magomedov wrote. “A big thanks to my management for giving me this opportunity. I am looking forward to fighting with the best athletes in the world and I am excited to announce my first UFC Octagon appearance soon.”

“Abus” worked his way up the ranks with a 79 percent stoppage rate, and has been signed off of a pair of submission victories over Slavis Simeunovic in 2019 and Cezary Kesik in 2020 – the latter under the KSW banner. Throughout his career, Magomedov has only suffered defeats to opponents that have competed in major organizations: Andreas Stahl went on to fight in the UFC, Rafal Moks served as a longtime KSW staple, Mikkel Parlo stepped in the Bellator MMA cage many times and Louis Taylor won his season of the PFL tournament.

The UFD Gym fighter joined the 2018 PFL tournament at 185 pounds, where he dispatched Danillo Villefort and Anderson Goncalves to advance to the playoffs. A tiebreaking draw against Gasan Umalatov allowed him to move on, and he beat Sadibou Sy on the same night to get a spot in the finals. He ultimately fell short to a hellacious left hand in 33 seconds from Taylor. As the promotion eliminated middleweight as a weight class for contention, Magomedov was not invited back to a subsequent season.