Mehemmedali Osmanli is getting his UFC opportunity after all. According to Sherdog, the promotion has reportedly locked in Osmanli's debut even though he came up short in the Ultimate Fighter season 34 final. Yahoo Sports adds detail on the matchup itself, reporting that Osmanli will face Pavel Andrusca at bantamweight, with the booking confirmed to Heavy.com by multiple sources following an initial report from MMA Junkie.

The bout slots into the December 5 card at ANB Arena in Al-Rayyan, Saudi Arabia. Osmanli's most recent outing came on September 26, 2026, a disqualification loss to Ilimbek Akylbek that ended in the first round at 2:19, almost certainly the TUF finale result referenced in the reporting. Andrusca, meanwhile, enters off a unanimous decision win over Nathaniel Wood on September 5, 2026, giving him momentum heading into a tougher UFC test.

The real draw of the December 5 show is the high profile matchup where Israel Adesanya meets Shara Magomedov. MMA Weekly and Sherdog both report that Adesanya feels better than he has in a long time after switching his training environment away from City Kickboxing. That fresh start comes after a rough stretch for the former champion, who sits at number nine in the middleweight rankings and carries a 1441 Elo rating built from six tracked bouts. His last fight ended badly, a second round knockout loss to Joe Pyfer on March 28, 2026, at the 4:18 mark.

Magomedov represents a serious step up in competition. Ranked fifteenth at middleweight with a 1570 Elo mark over seven bouts, he's coming off a unanimous decision win over Michel Pereira on June 27, 2026. For Adesanya, it's a chance to show the new camp is paying off against a surging contender, while Osmanli gets to prove his TUF finale loss wasn't the last word on his UFC career.