Kazakh mixed martial arts fighter Asu Almabaev has officially been booked against a top opponent at a UFC event in Qatar, the website infohub.kz reports.
The Kazakh fighter's team, DAR Pro Team, confirmed that he will compete at the UFC Fight Night show in Doha on November 21. His opponent will be Japan's Kyoji Horiguchi, a former Rizin champion in the bantamweight and flyweight divisions and a former Bellator bantamweight titleholder.
The bout will be part of the main card. Heading into the fight, Almabaev sits seventh in the flyweight (up to 56.7 kg) rankings, while Horiguchi is ranked fifth.
"We remind you that the winner of this fight may earn a shot at the title," the Kazakh fighter's team said.
Almabaev comes into the event on a three-fight winning streak. Overall in professional MMA, he has won 24 fights and lost three.
Horiguchi lost his most recent bout to Portugal's Manel Kape, who had also previously beaten Almabaev. The Japanese fighter's five-fight winning streak came to an end. Overall in MMA, he has 36 wins, six losses and one no contest.