Kazakh light heavyweight Diyar Nurgozhay will step into the octagon on November 21 at UFC Fight Night in Doha, Qatar. His opponent will be American Alik Lorenz, who will make his UFC debut after a successful showing on Dana White's Contender Series, infohub.kz reports.
The upcoming bout was reported by journalist Nolan King. The main event of the evening in the Qatari capital will pit former UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka of the Czech Republic against undefeated New Zealander Navajo Stirling.
The 29-year-old Nurgozhay enters the fight with a professional record of 12 wins and two losses. In the UFC, the Kazakh has fought four times, going 2-2. In 2025, he lost back-to-back bouts to Brendson Ribeiro and Uran Satybaldiev, both by submission. In 2026, Nurgozhay returned to winning ways: first he earned a unanimous decision over Rafael Tobias, and in his most recent fight on August 8, he knocked out Bruno Lopes.
His opponent, Alik Lorenz, also competes at light heavyweight and represents the United States. The 29-year-old American holds a record of eight wins and two losses, with all eight victories coming by stoppage – seven by knockout and one by submission. Lorenz has appeared on Dana White's Contender Series twice. In August 2025, he lost to Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev by technical knockout in 30 seconds, after which he won two straight fights. In his most recent bout on August 18, Lorenz faced Mahamed Ali on the Contender Series, knocked him out at the 2:23 mark of the first round and earned a UFC contract. Thus, the meeting with Nurgozhay will be Lorenz's first official fight after signing with the world's largest MMA promotion.
Another Kazakh, Asu Almabayev, will also compete at the Doha event. The No. 7 flyweight will face No. 5 in the division, Kyoji Horiguchi. Almabayev enters the bout with a 24-3 record and a three-fight winning streak. In his last fight on June 27, he defeated Charles Johnson by submission in the third round.