Athletes
Ikram Aliskerov | Eager To Take A Step Forward
Talented Russian Talks “Holding Pattern” Outside Top 15, Fight With Brunno Ferreira
Ikram Aliskerov has started each of the last three years of his professional career in the same position: hovering just outside the top 15 in the UFC middleweight division but struggling to earn an invite to compete against the best the weight class has to offer.
After earning a pair of first-round stoppage wins during his 2023 rookie campaign, he began the year as a dark horse in the division, and ultimately ended up fighting just once, shuffling from a bout with Andre Muniz to one against Antonio Trocoli when Muniz was forced out before replacing Khamzat Chimaev opposite Robert Whittaker in Saudi Arabia. He lost the fight in the first round, but didn’t lose any ground in the division, and when 2025 rolled around, he was right back where he started the previous year — once again paired off with Muniz.
Aliskerov dispatched his fellow Dana White’s Contender Series alum before being forced to withdraw from a UFC 318 matchup with Brunno Ferreira, and then ultimately returned to claim a win over South Korean stalwart JunYong Park in October to move to 4-1 in the UFC and hold fast in the hierarchy.
This weekend, the 33-year-old International Master of Sport in Combat Sambo finally makes his first appearance of the year on Saturday evening in Baku, Azerbaijan, where he’ll share the cage with the man he didn’t face last summer and finally look to break out of this holding pattern he’s been stuck in for the last few years.
“I don’t know what to tell you, honestly,” Aliskerov said of his status in the division. “I’m not sure why it’s happening; maybe injuries? Sometimes it’s the opponent who pulls out, sometimes it’s me that pulls out. I had great fights already booked — I had a fight against (Paulo) Costa, I had a fight against (Anthony) Hernandez, and I had to pull out because of an injury. Maybe the Almighty has different plans for me.”
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That’s what makes his current holding pattern feel more confusing, as there was a point in the early days of his UFC tenure where it felt like the promotion was ready to give Aliskerov an accelerated push in the middleweight division.
Following his debut win over Phil Hawes, he was briefly linked to a fight with Costa, who was still a top 10 fighter in the division and coming off his UFC 278 win over Luke Rockhold. Instead, Aliskerov got moved into a pairing with Nassourdine Imavov, who opened the year in a main event pairing with Sean Strickland and was steadily climbing the ranks, only for the current top contender to withdraw, leaving Aliskerov to blow through Warlley Alves to wrap his rookie year.
A fight with “Fluffy” Hernandez was set for early 2024, but this time it was Aliskerov who couldn’t answer the call, and since then, it has been a series of solid matchups that have stayed together through prior cancellations, with the intriguing Russian continuing to compete on the fringes of the top 15 while other prospects have been hustled by him.
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To his credit, Aliskerov isn’t bothered by the holding pattern or being rescheduled with Ferreira, praising his abilities and believing that in due time, he will get his opportunity to compete with the best in the division.
“I was supposed to fight against him last year, but I had a really hard sparring with Rinat Fakhretdinov and I really broke my toe pretty badly, so I couldn’t come out,” explained Aliskerov. “The one thing I’m frustrated about is that I had that fight last year, and I was supposed to come back in April, and then that didn’t work out, and now we’re all the way here at the end of June; it was a pretty long training camp.
“The fact that I had to work for him, train for him, and then come back and do it again, I’m not frustrated about. I respect him, I consider him a great fighter, and I don’t mind coming out and showing a really great fight against him.
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“I work with some of the most high-level strikers; I work with Olympic champions in wrestling,” he added. “Like I’ve said, I’m pretty sure that I can compete with every single one of these names, and like I said before, it’s Almighty that has different plans, but I think that I belong in the top 10 because I can compete against any of these guys.”
This weekend’s fight card feels like a bit of a “middleweight round robin” with eight competitors split off into four fights, and all of them currently residing in the 16-30 range in the division. Regardless of where each fight sits on the lineup, it reads like an opportunity for each of these hopefuls to step into the fray and state their case for a great opportunity next time out, and that’s precisely what Aliskerov intends to do.
“I really have to just be on my Ps and Qs, pay attention,” he said. “I have to not miss any of his explosive punches, but other than that, I think I’m better than him, whether it’s striking or grappling or on the canvas. I just have to make sure to stay focused and really pay attention right at the beginning.
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“I cannot wait until Saturday; I’m longing for Saturday,” he added with a laugh. “This has been a long training camp, and if I perform the way I usually perform, show an exciting fight, I am almost guaranteed that my next opponent is from the top 15.”
UFC Fight Night: Fiziev vs Torres took place live from National Gymnastics Arena in Baku, Azerbaijan on June 27, 2026. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!