UFC Fight Night: Tsarukyan vs. Hooker
Mixed martial arts event in 2025
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UFC Fight Night: Tsarukyan vs. Hooker (also known as UFC Fight Night 265) was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on November 22, 2025, at the Ali Bin Hamad al-Attiyah Arena in Al Rayyan, Qatar.[2]
| UFC Fight Night: Tsarukyan vs. Hooker | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
The poster for UFC Fight Night: Tsarukyan vs. Hooker | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | November 22, 2025 | |||
| Venue | Ali Bin Hamad al-Attiyah Arena | |||
| City | Al Rayyan, Qatar | |||
| Attendance | Not announced[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
This event marked the promotion's debut in Qatar, which became the third country in the Middle East to host it, after the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.[2] There were initially rumors that the first event in the country would take place on May 17 at UFC Fight Night: Burns vs. Morales, but that card was moved to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas for unknown reasons.[3]
The event headliner featured a lightweight bout between Arman Tsarukyan and Dan Hooker.[4]
A heavyweight bout between Serghei Spivac and Shamil Gaziev was scheduled for this event.[5] The pairing was originally scheduled for UFC Fight Night: Burns vs. Morales,[6] then shifted to UFC 316. However, Gaziev withdrew from that event due to a broken finger sustained during training.[7][8] In turn, Spivac withdrew from the bout for unknown reasons and was replaced by former LFA Heavyweight Champion Waldo Cortes-Acosta.[9]
A middleweight bout between former UFC Middleweight Championship challenger Paulo Costa and Sharabutdin Magomedov was expected to take place at this event.[10] However, Magomedov withdrew due to undergoing nose surgery, and the bout was removed from the card.[11][12]
A heavyweight bout between promotional newcomers Marek Bujło and José Luiz was initially scheduled for the event.[13] However, Luiz was later replaced for undisclosed reasons by current LFA Heavyweight Champion Denzel Freeman, who also made his promotional debut.[14]
A flyweight bout between former UFC Flyweight Championship challenger Kyoji Horiguchi (who is also a former one-time RIZIN flyweight and two-time bantamweight champion, as well as a former Bellator bantamweight world champion) and Tagir Ulanbekov took place at this event.[15] The pairing was initially expected to meet at UFC on ABC: Hill vs. Rountree Jr. in June, but Horiguchi withdrew for undisclosed reasons.[16][17]
A light heavyweight bout between former KSW and UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jan Błachowicz and Bogdan Guskov was scheduled for this event.[18] However, the pairing was moved to UFC 323 for unknown reasons.[19]
A featherweight bout between Muhammad Naimov and The Ultimate Fighter: Team Grasso vs. Team Shevchenko featherweight winner Mairon Santos was originally scheduled for this event.[20] However, for undisclosed reasons, the matchup was rescheduled to take place two weeks later at UFC 323.[21]
A bantamweight bout between Felipe Lima and Daniel Marcos was scheduled for this event.[22] However, Lima withdrew for undisclosed reasons, and Marcos was instead rescheduled to face a new opponent two weeks earlier at UFC Fight Night: Bonfim vs. Brown.[23]
Results
| Main card (ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Lightweight | Arman Tsarukyan | def. | Dan Hooker | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | 2 | 3:34 | |
| Welterweight | Ian Machado Garry | def. | Belal Muhammad | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Volkan Oezdemir | def. | Alonzo Menifield | KO (knee and punches) | 1 | 1:27 | |
| Welterweight | Myktybek Orolbai | def. | Jack Hermansson | KO (punch) | 1 | 2:46 | |
| Heavyweight | Waldo Cortes-Acosta | def. | Shamil Gaziev | KO (punch) | 1 | 1:22 | |
| Flyweight | Kyoji Horiguchi | def. | Tagir Ulanbekov | Technical Submission (rear-naked choke) | 3 | 2:18 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN+) | |||||||
| Featherweight | Luke Riley | def. | Bogdan Grad | KO (punches) | 2 | 0:30 | |
| Welterweight | Nicolas Dalby | def. | Saygid Izagakhmaev | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Flyweight | Asu Almabayev | def. | Alex Perez | Submission (guillotine choke) | 3 | 0:22 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev | def. | Rafael Cerqueira | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 0:33 | |
| Bantamweight | Aleksandre Topuria | def. | Bekzat Almakhan | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Ismail Naurdiev | def. | Ryan Loder | KO (punch) | 1 | 1:26 | |
| Lightweight | Nurullo Aliev | def. | Shaqueme Rock | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Heavyweight | Denzel Freeman | def. | Marek Bujło | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
Bonus awards
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[25]
- Fight of the Night: No bonus awarded.
- Performance of the Night: Arman Tsarukyan, Waldo Cortes-Acosta, Kyoji Horiguchi, and Luke Riley
