One of the few fighters to have stood across from both Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya will get one more crack at making it to the UFC.
[autotag]Yousri Belgaroui[/autotag], a former kickboxer who twice lost to UFC light heavyweight and former middleweight champ Pereira and twice lost to former 185-pound champ Adesanya in GLORY kickboxing matches, will get another shot at Dana White’s Contender Series later this year.
Belgaroui (7-3) will take on [autotag]Anvarbek Daniyalbekov[/autotag] (8-0) in a middleweight bout at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Sept. 10. MMA Junkie confirmed the booking with people with knowledge of the matchup. They asked to remain anonymous because the UFC has not yet made a formal announcement of the booking.
Belgaroui had a shot on DWCS in 2023 against [autotag]Marco Tulio Silva[/autotag], a teammate of former UFC lightweight champ Charles Oliveira. But the 6-foot-5 Belgaroui, who has fought at both 185 pounds and light heavyweight, dropped a decision in a middleweight matchup.
Belgaroui fought as a pro kickboxer from 2015-2021, then transitioned to MMA. He fought for GLORY’s middleweight title three times. In 2022, Belgaroui joined forces with his old opponent Pereira, who was gearing up to face Adesanya at UFC 281. Belgaroui made Teixeira MMA & Fitness in Danbury, Conn., his new training home and has been there ever since.
Since his loss on DWCS, he has a pair of wins in his home country of the Netherlands, including his fifth knockout in seven pro wins.
Daniyalbekov turned pro in 2018 with a pair of fights, then nothing again until 2021. Starting in late 2022, though, he’s been busy with five fights in 17 months. The 29-year-old from Dagestan has all eight of his pro wins by knockout.