Betting odds: Ruziboev (-225); Pulyaev (+180)
The towering 185-pound fighters will square off in this intriguing preliminary bout as the 6-foot-5 Ruziboev seeks his third straight win over the 6-foot-4 Pulyaev, who needs a win to get back to .500 in the UFC.
Incredibly for the highest middleweight in the UFC, Ruziboev tried his hand at welterweight two years ago, losing, no pun intended, against fellow teenager Joaquin Buckley. He bounced back with two straight wins at middleweight before losing a fight to Brian Battle last summer when Battle was severely underweight.
Ruziboev is a power hitter with good kicking on both feet and a very powerful right hand, which he can sometimes rely on too much, to the point of becoming predictable in pocket exchanges. He can sometimes be drawn into kicking contests with fighters he might otherwise outmatch, simply because his own kicks are very effective and he prefers to seek counter kicks rather than test his opponent’s punches.
He hasn’t used it as much since he joined the UFC, but Ruziboev’s wrestling is unorthodox but effective, as you’d expect from a titanic, lanky man who sometimes wants to fight on the ground. He’s one of the few fighters of his size who doesn’t mind changing levels and shooting, but his best work is in the clinch, where he can slip under the radar and execute body lock attempts into a flurry of punches at close range. On the ground, he takes full advantage of his huge body, locking out back control and body triangles, as well as threatening chokes from multiple angles.
Pulyaev is in almost every respect the opposite of what one would expect from a protégé of Alexander Shlemenko. Where “Storm” was a short, stocky (even burly, depending on what weight class he competed in) but explosive, whirling dervish with spinning punches, Pulyaev is a tall, leggy, middling athlete who uses a very traditional kickboxing game. The 28-year-old Russian is a slender left-hander who can look quite disciplined and technical at times, but can start swinging the ball sloppily if he’s hurt, tired or frustrated.
Defensive wrestling and grappling have always been a liability for Pulyaev, and this is true in the UFC as well. His defensive stats look decent on paper, but the numbers belie the fact that Nic Klein, who looks like a fringe UFC talent at best, had significant success beating him despite his game plan being crystal clear.
This matchup seems lopsided, which the betting line may not even reflect. Ruziboev is a more versatile, stronger striker and by far the better ground fighter. At 32 years old, with 50 fights on his resume and after more than a year out, there is an outside possibility that Ruziboev suddenly looks old in the cage, but assuming he’s roughly the same fighter who won two fights in the first half of 2025, he should win easily. Choice – Ruziboev via submission in the second round.
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