UFC Baku Prelims: Full Preliminary Card & Predictions

Opening fight of the entire card and the official UFC debut of Azerbaijani prospect Farman Hasanov. He is undefeated at 4-0 with a clean amateur résumé and just-good-enough wrestling to keep this on the feet. Eric Nolan has been around the regional circuit long enough to know how to survive 15 minutes, which is why we are calling this a Hasanov decision rather than a stoppage. A safe pick to start the night.

Sleeper pick of the night. Nazim Sadykhov is the second Azerbaijani on the card and the only one operating in the lightweight division alongside Fiziev — he is also a textbook finisher who has stopped four of his last five opponents. Matheus Camilo walks straight at his opponents; that is the exact recipe Sadykhov needs. Expect a hot start, a heavy second round, and a referee waving it off before round three. The hometown crowd ratio at Baku Crystal Hall does not hurt.

Welterweight grinder fight. Donchenko has the better hands inside the pocket, Gustafsson has the reach and the underrated front kick to keep him at distance. We give a thin edge to Donchenko but cannot recommend the moneyline; the real bet is the over because both men have cardio for 15 minutes and neither finishes consistently. A fun, ugly, three-round chess match.

The most competitive prelim on paper. Bekzat Almakhan is a chain-wrestling bantamweight who hits hard in the pocket; Jean Matsumoto is the cleaner boxer and the better grappler off his back. We narrowly lean Matsumoto because he never panics — he is the rare bantamweight who picks his exchanges and lets Almakhan exhaust himself shooting. Coin-flip priced and worth a small play either way; the smarter ticket is the over on 2.5 rounds, since neither man has a one-shot finishing button at 135.

Nursulton Ruziboev brings a 36-win résumé and a submission game with attacks from every angle — Pulyaev has been finished by submission three times in the regional circuit and tends to scramble badly under back-take pressure. The narrative version is clean: Ruziboev opens up an arm-in guillotine inside two rounds and we move on. The harder question is whether Pulyaev’s straight punching keeps the fight standing long enough to land flush. We do not think it does. This is the prelim closest to a lock and a fine moneyline anchor for parlays.