Bogdan Guskov didn’t waste any time putting a rematch with Jan Blachowicz on the back burner to face Magomed Ankalaev at UFC Abu Dhabi.
Guskov heads to his first main event against the former champion at Saturday’s Fight Night card — which is a week earlier than he was slated to compete against Blachowicz at UFC Belgrade after fighting to a majority draw at UFC 323 this past December.
Not only did Guskov see it as an opportunity to advance even higher in the rankings, but he believes he’s getting a shot at a much bigger face in the UFC.
“Yes, because I [look at] this fight like [a big] chance,” Guskov told MMA Fighting. “This chance can change my career, change my life, and this Ankalaev, I think [he has bigger] name than Jan. I [didn’t] need to think a lot of time because UFC after when [asking about a] fight, everybody say, ‘Oh I say yes, I say no, I am safe for me to go to scale, I need to go to another country, [to] another planet.’
“For me, [didn’t] need time for me to say, ‘Hey, let’s go.’ I say let’s go like this, 50 seconds.”
Guskov is unbeaten in his past five fights after dropping his debut to Volkan Oezdemir in September 2023. “Hitman” has finished all four of his octagon victories, including wins over Ryan Spann and Nikita Krylov.
With Ankalaev returning for the first time since losing the light heavyweight title to Alex Pereira at UFC 320 this past October, which Guskov called simply “a bad day at the office” for Ankalaev, and with new champ Carlos Ulberg on the sidelines following his title win over Jiri Prochazka at April’s UFC 327 event, Guskov sees this fight as a massive opportunity.
“Carlos have an injury now,” Guskov said. “Maybe after this win, maybe give another opponent. For me, it doesn’t matter who, but just chance for a fight chance for a fight [for] interim title.”
As far as a prediction goes, Guskov is as loosey-goosey as can be.
“My fights, every time is like Walido. You know what Walido is? Aspirin,” Guskov said. “Be ready, take a pillow, and eat this one. My fights every time is like this. This is it.
“I love this one because [I fight] every time with emotion. I think on this, this fight is the same.”
