One of the most popular heavyweights among UFC diehards is back.
Chris Barnett will return Oct. 25 at UFC 321 vs. Hamdy Abdelwahab, the promotion recently announced. The event takes place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
It’ll be one day shy of exactly one year between fights for Barnett (23-9 MMA, 2-3 UFC) when he steps in the cage. He returns to the venue where he suffered a knee injury and TKO loss during his most recent bout vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu. The loss was his second in three fights, though Barnett has alternated losses and wins since his promotional debut in May 2021.
Abdelwahab (4-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) returned in February from a suspension triggered by a failed drug test due to a tainted supplement. He defeated Jamal Pogues by split decision before a June loss to Mohammed Usman by unanimous decision.
Other new additions to the card include rising middleweights Ikram Aliskerov (16-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) and Jun Yong Park (19-6 MMA, 9-3 UFC), as well as a flyweight battle between Azat Maksum (15-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) and Mitch Raposo (9-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC), which was first reported by Eurosport NL.
With the addition, the UFC 321 lineup includes:
- Champion Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane – for heavyweight title
- Alexander Volkov vs. Jailton Almeida
- Aleksandar Rakic vs. Azamat Murzakanov
- Ikram Aliskerov vs. Jun Yong Park
- Azat Maksum vs. Mitch Raposo
- Hamdy Abdelwahab vs. Chris Barnett
