Stand and Deliver: UFC Baku

Every fight matters, but some matter just a little more.

A win is a win, and a loss is a loss, but some feel bigger than others for various reasons. In some cases, the elevated stakes are easy to define—the fighter on a losing streak who knows he or she is likely fighting for their job, or conversely, any title fight in a top regional organization, where the combatants know the big leagues are scouting them. At other times, a fight feels especially important for reasons that are harder to quantify but no less real. Whether it’s the unspoken weight of being a pioneer in MMA from one’s native country or the simple added spice of two fighters who genuinely hate each other’s guts, that fight just means more.

This Saturday, UFC Baku marks a historical first for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, as the promotion will visit Azerbaijan for the first time in its nearly 32-year history. Nestled on the shores of the Caspian Sea between Dagestan, Georgia, Armenia and Iran, the former Soviet republic is a growing hotbed of MMA, both as an exporter of talent—more on that in a moment—and a producer and consumer of the finished product. UFC on ABC 8 is a big deal for obvious reasons, but it’s an even bigger deal for some of the competitors scheduled to make the walk on Saturday. Here are three fighters under just a little extra pressure to stand and deliver at UFC Baku:

Charge of the Lightweight Brigade

When I conceived this article series four years ago, the introductory line about being a pioneer in MMA from one’s native country was just that: a line; a way of illustrating that for certain athletes in certain places and situations, a fight can mean much more than just an incremental change in the W or L column. This week, we see that dynamic distilled to its very essence, as three 155-pounders will attempt to represent their fatherland in the UFC’s first foray there. While the emotional and symbolic stakes are obvious, each fighter’s situation is unique and brings its own kind of pressure.

Rafael Fiziev
Fiziev is probably the most accomplished of the three and absolutely the most familiar to the average UFC fan, as a longtime lightweight action hero and former Top 10 contender. As such, he is saddled with the honor—and responsibility—of fighting in the co-main event. Factor in that Fiziev is on a three-fight losing streak punctuated by an 18-month injury layoff, and it would be fair to say that if Fiziev does not stand and deliver against Ignacio Bahamondes on Saturday, he may never enjoy a bout of this prominence again. The UFC is doing him no favors, either, by matching him up with a much younger and larger contender on an impressive win streak.

Nazim Sadykhov
Sadykhov is the youngest of the three in age as well as competitive mileage, and as such has the greatest upside and the most to fight for. He will also be the first of the three to fight, and the only one who is likely to clock in as a massive betting favorite. Long odds, as we have covered in previous editions of this column, carry their own special kind of pressure. When a fighter is a -300 or -400 favorite, as “Black Wolf” probably will be against Nikolas Motta, there is a perception, fair or not, that simply getting his hand raised is not enough. And while Sadykhov appears to be more skilled than Motta everywhere, the “Iron” Brazilian brings a level of one-shot power that makes him a live dog in any fight. Sadykhov would undoubtedly love to blow the roof off the Baku Crystal Hall, but he would be well served to keep his chin tucked and get out of there with the W.

Tofiq Musayev
Musayev’s situation may be the most intriguing of the three. As a pioneer in Azerbaijani MMA, he is already a made man for life; he may literally be the reason there is a UFC card happening in Baku this weekend in the first place. It was when Musayev won the Rizin Fighting Federation lightweight grand prix in 2021 that Rizin president Nobuyuki Sakakibara announced that the promotion would take its show to Azerbaijan. The company was as good as its word and Musayev fought there under its banner as recently as last December. If not for Rizin going to Azerbaijan, selling out good-sized venues and showing it to be a practical and profitable destination for top-level MMA, there is a good possibility that the UFC would be in Kazakhstan or Georgia this weekend instead. It’s all thanks to Musayev.

While he is no stranger to welcoming his promoter to his home country, Musayev must also deal with the pressure of being a high-level fighter from another promotion making his UFC debut. Ask Patrick “Patchy” Mix how that can work out. Add to that the fact that at 35, Musayev is the oldest of the three and by far the most experienced, and UFC Baku is close to a now-or-never moment for any aspirations of becoming a lightweight contender in the Octagon.

Curtis Blaydes: Oh, The Disrespect

In previewing Blaydes’ upcoming tilt with Rizvan Kuniev, which had been scheduled for UFC 313 in March but was pushed back to this week when Blaydes fell ill, I am reminded of Brock Lesnar’s Octagon debut at UFC 81 all the way back in 2008, in which the World Wrestling Entertainment star and 1-0 MMA neophyte was matched up with former heavyweight champ Frank Mir. During the build-up to that fight, Mir said something that has stuck with me for nearly two decades. Amid the expected back-and-forth hyperbolic trash talk from a pro wrestling heel and a voluble contender, Mir made a matter of fact and apparently sincere statement to the effect of, “It shouldn’t be this easy for someone to get a fight with me.” Mir went on to back up that sentiment in the cage—with a little help from a golden horseshoe, perhaps.

Let us fast-forward to June 2025 and consider the case of Blaydes. The massive Illinoisan is on the short list of the greatest heavyweight wrestlers in MMA history as well as the most accomplished UFC fighters not to have held an undisputed belt. He is 13-5 with one no contest in the UFC, with all five losses coming against Top 5 (or better) opponents in fights with immediate title implications. In every other case, Blaydes has won, generally in dominant fashion. While the blueprint for beating Blaydes has been an open secret for years—fight off the takedown or get back up, then hit him in the head, preferably hard enough to put him down with a single strike—if it were easy, everyone would be doing it. Tellingly, the four men to accomplish the deed—Tom Aspinall, Sergei Pavlovich, Derrick Lewis and Francis Ngannou (twice)—are among the hardest hitters the sport has ever seen.

That brings us to Saturday and the Kuniev bout. While the longtime teammate of UFC light heavyweight champ Magomed Ankalaev is a veteran of both Dana White's Contender Series and the Professional Fighters League and a moderately promising heavyweight who should stick around the UFC for a while, there is absolutely nothing in his fight reel to indicate that he can pull off the same kind of sprawl-and-killshot as Ngannou or Lewis. Furthermore, unlike Lesnar, whose established stardom demanded a marquee matchup in his promotional debut, Kuniev is a relatively anonymous up-and-comer.

I wouldn’t blame Blaydes for feeling disrespected by his promoter, but as the adage goes: Respect is earned, not given. If he feels this is a ridiculous booking, appropriate response is to make sure that on Sunday morning, everyone else thinks it was ridiculous as well. That is best accomplished by steamrolling Kuniev and reminding him, and the UFC’s matchmakers, that there are indeed levels to this game.