Abus Magomedov and Michal Oleksiejczuk meet in the UFC Fight Night 280 main card opener Saturday at National Gymnastics Arena in Baku, Azerbaijan. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom.

• Last event's results: 4-1
• UFC main cards, 2026: 64-36-1

Abus Magomedov vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk UFC Fight Night 280 preview

Magomedov (28-7-1 MMA, 4-3 UFC) enters his first fight of the year looking to rebound from a second-round submission against Joe Pyfer at UFC 320. That result ended a three-fight winning streak, which included wins over Warlley Alves, Brunno Ferreira and Michel Pereira.

Oleksiejczuk (22-9 MMA, 10-7 UFC) will look to make it four straight as he enters on a three-fight streak. His run includes first-round finishes of Sedriques Dumas and Gerald Meerschaert, with a unanimous decision Fight of the Night win over Marc-Andre Barriault in February.

Abus Magomedov vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk UFC Fight Night 280 expert pick, prediction

Kicking off the main card in Mick Maynard fashion is a middleweight matchup between Abus Magomedov and Michal Olekseijczuk.

Although this is one of my least favorite divisions for main-card openers, Magomedov vs. Olekseijczuk should produce some weird action for as long as it lasts.

Olekseijczuk may have strangely bucked his quick finish or bust trend in his last outing, but I'm still not sure how much the Pole has actually changed despite shifting his recent camps over to the Fighting Nerds team.

Despite Magomedov having his fair share of Jekyll-and-Hyde fights with his smash-or-gas sensibilities, I suspect that the Dagestani's superior length and wrestling could be enough in what has all the feels of your classic trap fight.

The pick is Magomedov to find a submission on the floor by Round 2.

Abus Magomedov vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk UFC Fight Night 280 odds

Even though the oddsmakers opened the Russian as the favorite, public money has pushed this to pick'em prices, listing Magomedov -106 and Oleksiejczuk -114 via FanDuel.

Abus Magomedov vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk UFC Fight Night 280 start time, how to watch

Magomedov and Oleksiejczuk are expected to walk to the cage at approximately 12:10 p.m. ET. The fight streams live on Paramount+.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Abus Magomedov vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk prediction, pick for UFC Fight Night 280