UFC Baku: Start Times and Complete Fight Card Revealed!

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the first time ever TODAY (Sat., June 21, 2025), hosting UFC Baku from inside Baku Crystal Hall, featuring a Light Heavyweight showdown between

Jamahal Hill

vs.

Khalil Rountree


Jr.

In the co-main event,

Rafael Fiziev

will face

Ignacio Bahamondes

in a Lightweight bout
, streaming live on
ESPN+
and

ABC

in the United States.

What’s Hot:

Both Rountree and Hill have knockout losses at the hands of

Alex Pereira

, and both would love nothing more than to
earn a chance at revenge
. That said, “Poatan” is no longer the Light Heavyweight kingpin after losing to

Magomed Ankalaev

, though Pereira may (
or may not
) have a chance to reclaim the throne soon enough. For now, Hill and Rountree are just looking to return to the win column and inch closer to the crown, regardless of who reigns supreme.

Hill was perhaps the most unlikely UFC champion in 2023, which he earned by defeating

Glover Teixeira

. But, his reign was short-lived — he
vacated because of an injury
and then Pereira made easy work of him at
UFC 300
upon his return (
video here
). “Sweet Dreams” was knocked out by

Jiri Prochazka

at UFC 311 (
see that here
) in his return fight. Now, he will attempt to avoid the first three-fight skid of his career, which would undoubtedly take him out of the championship picture indefinitely.

Meanwhile, Rountree Jr.’s
fan-base grew immensely
after his loss to Pereira since “War Horse” hung in with the former champion for a total of four rounds before he eventually fell victim to the world-class (
and powerful
) striking attack of “Poatan.” The loss snapped Rountree’s five-fight win streak, which took him two years to build. Now, the Octagon veteran wants to get back on track and hopefully not to fall further down the 205-pound pecking order. And a win over Hill would be great for his confidence and career aspirations. Both men do prefer to stand and bang, so this could be an all-out striking attack. I give the edge to Hill in that department (
though not by much
), but Rountree will not back down one bit, which could make for a great showing from both men.

What’s Not:

Hamdy Abdelwahab

vs.

Mohammed Usman

will kick off the action in a 265-pound fight between two men going in different directions. Abdelwahab is undefeated (6-0, 1-0 UFC), while Usman is currently on a two-fight losing streak. Usman isn’t established enough inside the Octagon to warrant an undefeated fighter taking the fight. It doesn’t make sense to me when someone on a nice run faces a fighters on a downfall. But, it is what it is.

Original Card Vs. Actual Card:

Kyoji Horiguchi

was set to face

Tagir Ulanbekov

at this event before he bowed out for undisclosed reasons. Ulanbekov will now face

Azat Maksum

, who came up short in his UFC debut against

Charles Johnson

more than one year ago, the first loss of his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) career.

Injuries:

No injuries were reported for this event.

New Blood:

A fight between

Curtis Blaydes

vs.

Rizvan Kuniev

has been booked multiple times before and
canceled/postponed for one reason or another
. What I don’t get is the reason(s) matchmakers are so adamant in having Blaydes —
who is ranked No. 5
— face Kuniev, who will be making his promotional debut. Like, move on already. Nevertheless, Kuniev (12-2-1) has a chance to make a splash right away if he can pull off a victory against “Razor,” who was last seen losing to

Tom Aspinall

via technical knockout (
re-live that here
).

Seokhyeon Ko

will also make his UFC debut, taking on

Oban Elliott

. Ko is on a four-fight win streak and earned his way onto the big stage with a win on

Contender Series

. As for Elliott, he is on an eight-fight win streak and is perfect (3-0) inside the Octagon.

Last but not least,

Tofiq Musayev

will make his Octagon debut after spending time under the Bellator MMA and RIZIN banners, and he gets to do it in front of his hometown crowd against

Myktybek Orolbai

. Musayev has big wins over

Patricio Pitbull

and

Sidney Outlaw

, but he will be in for a tough challenge against Orolbai, who is hungry for a win after

Mateusz Rebecki

snapped his eight-fight win streak back in Oct. 2024.

How The ‘Prelims’ Look

We have already discussed some of the undercard in previous sections, so let’s take a look at the rest of the “Prelims.” In women’s Bantamweight action,

Irina Alekseeva

will face

Klaudia Syguła

. Alekseeva — known as “The Russian Ronda” — is coming off a loss to

Melissa Mullins

. Speaking of Mullins, she knocked out Sygula in her UFC debut, so both women have something in common.

Oh, and one more thing on Mullins: she will compete on this card, too, battling it out against

Darya Zheleznyakova

on the undercard. Mullins is 7-1 as a professional, and 2-1 so far inside the Octagon. As for Zheleznyakova, she is coming off a submission defeat at the hands of

Ailin Perez

.

Ismail Naurdiev

will attempt to secure this third straight victory when he goes up against

Jun Yong Park

. Naurdiev won his UFC debut by defeating

Bruno Silva

back in Oct. 2024, while Park is coming off a split decision win over

Brad Tavares

.

Who Needs A Win Badly:

Fiziev is currently riding a three-fight losing streak (two of those to

Justin Gaethje

), and now is in danger of losing four straight when he goes up against the dangerous (
and deadly?
) Bahamondes. Fiziev is still as dangerous a striker as there is competing inside the Octagon, but Bahamodnes won’t back down from a challenge. I don’t like the fact the Bahamondes is on a three-fight win streak, while Fiziev is on a slump. That said, he has a chance to put a nice notch on his belt here, while Fiziev can bounce back nicely if he can end “La Jaula’s” streak.

Interest Level: 5.5/10

Kicking off the main card is a Featherweight fight between

Muhammad Naimov

vs.

Bogdan Grad

. Naimov is coming off a unanimous decision win over

Kaan Ofli

, bringing his record to a very quiet 4-1 under UFC’s banner. He is looking to lock down a much louder win against Grad, who is on a four-fight win streak and made a successful UFC debut by defeating

Lucas Alexander

via technical knockout earlier this year.

Nazim Sadykhov

is currently on a 10-fight win streak and is coming off a win over

Ismael Bonfim

. “Black Wolf” has been nothing sort of impressive so far, and he wants to improve on his momentum when he battles

Nikolas Motta

, who is coming off back-to-back wins over

Tom Nolan

and

Maheshate


Hayisaer

.

Enjoy the fights!

Full UFC Baku Fight Card:

UFC Baku


Main Event on



ABC



/


ESPN+


:

205 lbs.: Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree Jr.

UFC Baku Main Card on



ABC



/


ESPN+


(3 p.m. ET):

155 lbs.: Rafael Fiziev vs. Ignacio Bahamondes

265 lbs.: Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev

155 lbs.: Myktybek Orolbai vs. Tofiq Musayev

155 lbs.: Nazim Sadykhov vs. Nikolas Motta

145 lbs.: Muhammad Naimov vs. Bogdan Grad

UFC Baku ‘Prelims’ Under Card


on



ESPN2



/


ESPN+


(12 p.m. ET):

170 lbs.: Seokhyeon Ko vs. Oban Elliott

185 lbs.: Ismail Naurdiev vs. Jun Yong Park

135 lbs.: Darya Zhelezniakova vs. Melissa Mullins

135 lbs.: Irina Alekseeva vs. Klaudia Syguła

125 lbs.: Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Azat Maksum

265 lbs.: Hamdy Abdelwahab vs. Mohammed Usman

*Fight card, bout order and number of fights subject to change.*

Remember that

MMAmania.com

will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire

UFC Baku fight card

right

here

, starting with the

ESPN2

/

ESPN+

“

Prelims

” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at

12 p.m. ET

, before the

ABC

main card start time at

3 p.m. ET

(also on

ESPN+

).

To check out the latest and greatest


UFC Baku


: “Hill vs. Rountree” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right


here


.