Uncrowned has Kubrat Pulev vs. Murat Gassiev live results, round-by-round updates, highlights, ring walks and start time for the Pulev vs. Gassiev fight card on Friday at the Duty Free Tennis Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Bulgarian veteran Kubrat Pulev defends his WBA regular heavyweight title against Russian contender Murat Gassiev in the afternoon’s 12-round main event.
Pulev (32-3, 14 KOs) returns to the ring for the first time since capturing the WBA regular heavyweight title with a unanimous decision over Mahmoud Charr in December 2024. A 44-year-old who represented Bulgaria in the 2008 Olympics, Pulev has twice challenged for world title honors and twice fallen short, doing so against Wladimir Klitschko and Anthony Joshua.
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He enters Friday’s bout on a three-fight streak of decision wins.
Gassiev (32-2, 25 KOs) fights for the second time of 2025 following a seventh-round TKO of Jeremiah Milton in August. The 32-year-old veteran is a former unified cruiserweight world champion, who notably pushed Oleksandr Usyk to a decision in a 2018 battle for the undisputed cruiserweight title. Gassiev has won six of his seven bouts since moving up to heavyweight, falling short only to Otto Wallin in a 2023 split decision.
Gassiev rides into Friday’s WBA title bout on the heels of back-to-back stoppage wins.
The Pulev vs. Gassiev main card starts at 11:45 a.m. ET on DAZN, with main event ring walks expected around 3:45 p.m. ET.
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Follow all of the action with Uncrowned’s live results and play-by-play of the main card below.
Main card (11:45 a.m. ET, DAZN)
WBA (regular) heavyweight championship: Kubrat Pulev vs. Murat Gassiev
Lightweight: Bakhodur Usmonov vs. Maxi Hughes
Middleweight: Nico Ali Walsh def. Jeremiah Sserwadda by UD (59-55 and 58-56 x 2)
Lightweight: Daud Alaev def. Dave Penalosa by 6th Rd TKO [Watch the highlight]
Super lightweight: Ruben Nestor Neri Munoz def. Khariton Agrba by UD (117-111, 119-109, and 120-108)
Welterweight: Vadim Musaev def. Tulani Mbenge by 3rd Rd KO
Live45 updates
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 11:51 AM PST
Alan Dawson
Hughes had done so well in the first five rounds, sweeping the early action, but has surrendered the next five all to Usmonov. It’s a grueling contest, but Hughes took his foot off the gas and we’re surely level, or close to it, at a critical time in the fight.
Round 10: 95-95
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 11:48 AM PST
Alan Dawson
Usmonov clatters Hughes with a clever one-two to the body and head, with an uppercut at the end of the sequence. Hughes is trying his best to dampen Usmonov’s momentum but it’s still the Tajikistani’s round.
Round 9: 86-85 — Hughes
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 11:45 AM PST
Alan Dawson
Both fighters swapping slugs and combination of shots from close range. Usmonov back on his jab, and power shots, and Hughes needs to find an answer to a lot of the mid-fight questions that he’s asking, before this valiant comeback is complete.
Round 8: 77-75 — Hughes
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 11:43 AM PST
Alan Dawson
Usmonov is now closer and closer to walking Hughes down and this fight looks VERY different in the seventh, than it did in the first four to five rounds. Range, and punch selection, are Usmonov’s assets.
Round 7: 68-65 — Hughes
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 11:37 AM PST
Alan Dawson
Usmonov was in desperate need of a momentum switch and it had gradually been coming, as he finally wins the sixth, and starts closing the gap on the British road warrior.
Round 6: 59-55 — Hughes
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 11:31 AM PST
Alan Dawson
Hughes caught Usmonov with a clever right hand over the top that caught him off-balance to start the fifth. Hughes has typically started every round well, landing a punch of substance, and then carries that momentum through the entire three minutes. This is a solid performance so far from Hughes.
Round 5: 50-45 — Hughes
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 11:28 AM PST
Alan Dawson
Hughes lands a solid three-punch combo early in the fourth and just never seems to let up with his activity. He’s still in a firm lead here, for me, and Usmonov will need to make drastic tactical changes if he’s to win on the cards, otherwise he’ll have to push for a knockout instead.
Round 4: 40-36 — Hughes
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 11:23 AM PST
Alan Dawson
Usmonov increased the pressure in the third but this allowed Hughes to find timing and catch the fighter with cracking left hands.
Round 3: 30-27 — Hughes
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 11:18 AM PST
Alan Dawson
Usmonov is more upright and commands the middle of the ring while Hughes moves around him, throws with abundance and varies his target from the head to the body, landing one-twos. It’s nowhere near the kind of fight we saw previously, from Ali Walsh and Sserwadda, as well as Alaev and Penalosa, but it’s one Hughes is winning on intelligence moreso than brute force.
Round 2: 20-18 — Hughes
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 11:15 AM PST
Alan Dawson
Maxi Hughes boxed well against Bakhodur Usmonov in the first round, seemed the more active, and out-landed the unbeaten fighter, as Usmonov looked, but didn’t find, his openings.
Round 1: 10-9 — Hughes
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 11:10 AM PST
Alan Dawson
Maxi Hughes now takes on Bakhodur Usmonov in a good test for both.
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 11:06 AM PST
Alan Dawson
It looks great!
BUT… you can never see blood on black.
SHOW ME BLOOD!
I remember black canvases from Kalle Sauerland’s days of organizing boxing tournaments. I typically prefer white so you can always see the splatter.
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 11:03 AM PST
Alan Dawson
And Nico Ali Walsh takes it with scores of 59-55 and 58-56 (x 2)!
The 59-55 card is HARSH! No issue with the other two cards. There’s no way Sserwadda only won one round. Come on.
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 11:02 AM PST
Alan Dawson
No result would surprise me, even though I had it a draw.
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 11:01 AM PST
Alan Dawson
Ali Walsh perhaps sensed he was down by the midway mark because he’s really stepped it up a level since then, and though he’s kind of taking one to give one, he has the power advantage and so it has been a fight-changing adaptation. Good body-shot toward the end. Well, that’s a draw on my card but that was a very competitive and very watchable fight.
Round 6: 57-57
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 10:59 AM PST
Alan Dawson
His is one of the saddest stories I’ve seen in boxing, as he suffered life-changing injury in a fight with Mike Perez. Big up Abdusalamov, and all those who helped him in his continued recovery. Great to see him ringside.
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 10:57 AM PST
Alan Dawson
Ai Walsh increases the pressure in the fifth, landing a thudding right hand after measuring with a pawing jab. He maintains the momentum here, and closes the gap on Sserwadda.
Round 5: 48-47 — Sserwadda
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 10:52 AM PST
Alan Dawson
Ali Walsh gets a better gauge of distance in the fourth, landing right hands and shots up close, too. Ali Walsh cracks him with a left, too. This is his best round of the fight. A one-two from him looks slightly one-paced but, despite Sserwadda’s defensive capability, both shots actually land.
Round 4: 39-37 — Sserwadda
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 10:49 AM PST
Alan Dawson
Which is fine.
These guys are well-matched, and this is one of the better bouts on the entire card so far. But I just can’t help but think the story of this fight is being told by Sserwadda because of a combination of both his jabbing winning the attack, and his head and foot movement winning the defense.
Fri, December 12, 2025 at 10:48 AM PST
Alan Dawson
Ali Walsh counters Sserwadda’s jab in the third, and has seemingly non-stop movement as he presses forward but, still, the Sserwadda jab remains, for me at least, the punch of the fight. It’s something he keeps landing and that Ali Walsh, thus far, has no consistent answer for. Sserwadda’s head movement looks just as good as his footwork, as he makes Ali Walsh miss with one-twos. Sserwadda returns to the corner with the happiest look on his face.
Round 3: 30-27 — Sserwadda