Khamzat Chimaev signed Vagaev to the UFC and Khabib Nurmagomedov signed Gasanov, both going directly through UFC leadership rather than the matchmaking team. UFC matchmakers reportedly retaliated by first booking Gasanov and Vagaev against each other, then pulling Gasanov from the bout citing a failed USADA timeline, and subsequently offering Vagaev a welterweight fight against Saygid Izagakhmaev as the only available option. Vagaev accepted the bout.
Sources familiar with the situation report that UFC matchmakers found themselves at odds with both Khamzat Chimaev and Khabib Nurmagomedov over fighter signings that bypassed the matchmaking department entirely — a dispute that has allegedly shaped booking decisions in the weeks since.
According to those sources, Chimaev secured a UFC deal for fighter Vagaev while Nurmagomedov did the same for Gasanov, with both going directly through UFC leadership rather than the standard matchmaking process. The matchmakers, reportedly angered by being sidestepped, initially scheduled Gasanov and Vagaev against each other. Gasanov was then pulled from that contest — the promotion citing a failed USADA timeline — and Vagaev was subsequently offered a welterweight matchup against Saygid Izagakhmaev as the only available alternative. Vagaev accepted.
Chimaev, the number-one ranked middleweight and number-ten pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC at 32 years old, trains out of Allstars Training Center and represents the United Arab Emirates. The Borz carries a 15-1 record and is one of the sport's most statistically dominant wrestlers-turned-strikers, averaging 5.29 takedowns per fifteen minutes and landing significant strikes at a 60 percent accuracy rate.
Izagakhmaev, 31, fights out of the Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov School in Russia and brings a polished 22-3 record into the bout. Standing six feet tall with a 74-inch reach, he averages four takedowns per fifteen minutes and posts a striking accuracy of 58 percent.
Why it matters
- The reported friction between matchmakers and high-profile manager figures raises questions about power dynamics inside the UFC front office.
- Pulling Gasanov from a scheduled bout over a USADA timeline issue adds an anti-doping dimension to an already contentious situation.
- Vagaev versus Izagakhmaev figures to be a grappling-heavy welterweight contest, given Izagakhmaev's takedown volume and Vagaev's connections to one of the division's elite wrestlers.
- This report remains unconfirmed, and none of the parties named have publicly addressed the claims.
