Saygid Izagakhmaev signs with PFL six weeks after UFC release

Dagestani welterweight Saygid Izagakhmaev (22-4), a product of the Nurmagomedov school, has joined the PFL roster after being cut by the UFC in September.

Saygid Izagakhmaev has signed with the Professional Fighters League, the promotion's website shows. The Dagestani welterweight now has a fighter profile on pflmma.com listing a 22-4-0 professional record, and the signing was first flagged on social media late on Wednesday, Oct. 28. Neither a debut date nor an opponent has been announced.

The move comes roughly six weeks after the UFC removed Izagakhmaev from its roster in mid-September following back-to-back decision losses.

What the PFL has confirmed

Izagakhmaev's PFL profile lists him at 170 pounds, standing 6-foot-0 with a 74-inch reach, aged 32, and both from and fighting out of Makhachkala, Dagestan, Russia. The page does not yet list an upcoming bout.

The promotion has not published a press release or announced which event he will debut on. PFL's next major card is PFL Dubai on Nov. 14, headlined by a heavyweight title fight between champion Vadim Nemkov and Sergei Bilostenniy, and Izagakhmaev is not part of that announced lineup.

A short UFC run

Izagakhmaev arrived in the UFC with high expectations as a member of the Nurmagomedov school; his UFC profile notes that he started training as a child with Khabib Nurmagomedov and his late father, Abdulmanap. MMA Mania described him as a former ONE Championship standout and called him one of the UFC's "strangest free-agent signings".

His Octagon stint lasted just two fights:

Nov. 22, 2025: lost to Nicolas Dalby by split decision after three rounds
July 25, 2026: lost to Abubakar Vagaev by unanimous decision after three rounds

He was then listed among nine fighters who disappeared from the UFC's active roster in September, alongside Lyman Good, Bruno Lopes, Bekzat Almakhan, Cody Gibson, Aoriqileng, Ravena Oliveira, Stewart Nicoll and Hailey Cowan, according to MMA Mania's roster tracker. Dagestan news agency RIA Dagestan also reported his exit on Sept. 17.

Finisher on the ground

Despite the two decision defeats in the UFC, Izagakhmaev's record before the Octagon was built on finishes. According to his UFC athlete profile, he has three wins by knockout and 13 by submission, including five armbars, three rear-naked chokes and two triangles. Eight of his wins came in the first round.

His profile also highlights a TKO win over Japanese veteran Shinya Aoki in November 2022, and notes that he has only been finished once, by an anaconda choke against Carlston Harris in January 2021. A pro since July 2013, he lists sambo as his fighting style.

What comes next

A 170-pound grappler from the Nurmagomedov camp gives the PFL another option at welterweight. Some observers on social media argued his style is better suited to the PFL than to the UFC, though that remains opinion until he competes.

POP MMA will update this story once the PFL confirms Izagakhmaev's debut date, opponent or weight class.