PFL Dubai takes place on Saturday, November 14, 2026, at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, where heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov defends his title against Sergey Bilostenniy. The main card starts at 10 p.m. Gulf time (1 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. UK), and the two men in the headliner are former training partners from Fedor Emelianenko's team.
PFL Dubai start time and how to watch
According to the PFL, the preliminary card starts at 6 p.m. GST (9 a.m. ET, 2 p.m. UK, 3 p.m. CET) and the main card at 10 p.m. GST (1 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. UK, 7 p.m. CET). The event streams on the ESPN App in the U.S. and on STARZPLAY in the Middle East and North Africa. The PFL has not named broadcasters for other regions.
PFL Dubai full fight card
| Fight | Weight class | Card |
|---|---|---|
| Vadim Nemkov vs. Sergey Bilostenniy | Heavyweight (title) | Main Card |
| Patrick Habirora vs. Omar El Dafrawy | Welterweight | Main Card |
| Oleg Popov vs. Pouya Rahmani | Heavyweight | Main Card |
| Saygid Izagakhmaev vs. David Martinez* | Welterweight | Main Card |
| Sergio Pettis vs. Joji Goto | Bantamweight | Main Card |
| Shaqueme Rock vs. Connor Hughes | Lightweight | Preliminary Card |
| Lewis McGrillen-Evans vs. Nawras Abzakh | Bantamweight | Preliminary Card |
| Asaël Adjoudj vs. Movlid Khaybulaev | Featherweight | Preliminary Card |
| Alexei Pergande vs. Akhmed Magomedov | Lightweight | Preliminary Card |
| Khasan Magomedsharipov vs. Ádám Borics | Featherweight | Preliminary Card |
| Denis Goltsov vs. Maxwell Djantou Nana | Heavyweight | Preliminary Card |
| Rhys McKee vs. Ernesto Rodriguez | Welterweight | Preliminary Card |
| Khabib Nabiev vs. Styve Ngono Essono | Light Heavyweight | Preliminary Card |
| Khamzat Abaev vs. Leon Hill | Welterweight | Preliminary Card |
| Aleksandra Savicheva vs. Jacinta Austin | Women's Strawweight | Preliminary Card |
* Late change: Abubakar Nurmagomedov has withdrawn from his welterweight bout with David Martinez, AgentMMA and fighttime.ru reported on Nov. 6 and 7. No reason was given. According to fighttime.ru, his teammate Saygid Izagakhmaev took the fight on short notice, and Sherdog now lists Izagakhmaev vs. Martinez. The PFL's Oct. 27 card announcement still shows the original pairing.
Main event: Vadim Nemkov vs. Sergey Bilostenniy for the PFL heavyweight title
Nemkov (20-2, according to the PFL) has not lost in more than a decade. The PFL says he is unbeaten in his last 15 appearances, and his last defeat in our database dates back to April 2016. The Russian ruled Bellator's light heavyweight division, moved up to heavyweight in 2024 and won the PFL heavyweight title by submitting Renan Ferreira with an arm-triangle choke in December 2025. All three of his heavyweight wins came by choke, so he has yet to go to a decision at the weight.
"I always try to finish fights with a submission or a choke. Like Fedor says, fights should end early," Nemkov said in the PFL's announcement. "But fighting is unpredictable, things don't always go according to plan, so you have to be ready to adjust during the fight."
Bilostenniy (15-4) is 4-1 in the PFL. He became the first fighter to stop Karl Williams, with a second-round TKO in August 2025, submitted Tyrell Fortune with a heel hook in 2024 and stopped former PFL champion Ferreira in the third round in May 2026. His record also includes a spinning wheel kick TKO of Kasim Aras at Bellator 299.
The PFL bills both men as Team Fedor fighters who have shared training camps. "I want to treat the fans to a great, exciting bout between two big Russian guys," Bilostenniy said. That shared history cuts both ways: each man knows the other's habits from the gym, which makes this harder to call than the records suggest.
Co-main event: Patrick Habirora vs. Omar El Dafrawy
Belgium's Patrick Habirora (9-0) fights outside Europe for the first time. His profile jumped in May 2026, when he knocked out former UFC champion Benson Henderson in 20 seconds in Brussels, and eight of his nine wins are finishes.
Omar El Dafrawy (16-6), the inaugural PFL MENA welterweight champion, is 6-1 in the PFL. He comes in off a first-round TKO of James Vake in April and a unanimous decision over Jonathan Piersma in July, and he fights close to home in Dubai. The unbeaten prospect against the established regional champion is one of the most interesting matchups on the card.
More main card fights
Oleg Popov (23-2), the PFL's No. 1-ranked heavyweight, faces Dubai's unbeaten Pouya Rahmani (6-0) in front of Rahmani's home crowd.
Izagakhmaev (22-4) joined the PFL after leaving the UFC, where his last fight was a unanimous-decision loss to Abubakar Vagaev in July 2026. He now meets Australia's David Martinez (17-6) at welterweight.
Former Bellator bantamweight champion Sergio Pettis (25-8) welcomes RIZIN star Joji Goto (21-9-1, according to the PFL) to the PFL cage. Pettis lost a unanimous decision to Mitchell McKee in April, while Goto submitted Azizbek Temirov at RIZIN 54 in August.
Make your picks for PFL Dubai in the free Pugna MMA app and follow the card with live round-by-round results. The prediction game is free, uses no money and runs in eight languages.
Sources
This article was generated with AI and may contain errors.