Rizvan Kuniev is looking at Saturday, July 25 as the night that could move him closer to the top of the UFC heavyweight division. He is scheduled to face Tyrell Fortune in a three-round, 265-pound bout at UFC Abu Dhabi, and he says a win could push him up one or two spots in the rankings.
That matters because Kuniev is already No. 7 in the official Meta UFC heavyweight rankings, just behind Waldo Cortes-Acosta at No. 6 and Josh Hokit at No. 5. Above them sit Alex Pereira, Sergei Pavlovich, Alexander Volkov and Ciryl Gane, with Tom Aspinall expected to face Gane in a title unifier later this year. In a division that close to a title picture, even a small jump can change the next fight that becomes realistic.
Kuniev has made the case that he is not waiting for anyone to hand him a shortcut. He said he has never turned down fights and has accepted every UFC offer, and that if he beats Fortune he will ask for Hokit or another higher-ranked opponent. He also named the kind of names he wants next: Hokit, Waldo Cortes-Acosta, Sergei Pavlovich or Alex Pereira. That is the language of a fighter who believes he is already near the upper tier, not one simply trying to stay busy.
The record supports that confidence, but only to a point. Kuniev earned a TKO win over Hugo Cunha in DWCS in 2024, lost his UFC main roster debut to Curtis Blaydes by split decision last year and then defeated Jailton Almeida by unanimous decision earlier this year. Those results explain why he can talk about the top end of the division with a straight face. They also explain why the ranking gap still matters: he has not yet had the kind of run against the highest-ranked heavyweights that turns ambition into a clear title path.
So the next step is simple, even if the standings are not. If Kuniev beats Fortune, he is likely to press for a fight against one of the men above him and see whether the rankings reward another clean win with a real climb. If he does not get that move, the bigger question is whether the division will keep asking him to prove the same thing one opponent at a time.
