Younousov vs Nam headlines ARES 44 on Saturday, October 31, 2026, at the Zénith de Strasbourg. ARES bantamweight champion Aboubakar Younousov (8-0) defends his title against Tyson Nam (23-16-1), a 43-year-old former UFC fighter. The card has 10 fights and starts at 7:30 p.m. local time.
Key takeaways
- ARES 44: Aboubakar Younousov (8-0) vs Tyson Nam (23-16-1) for the bantamweight title, Saturday, October 31, at the Zénith de Strasbourg.
- Younousov, 26, won the belt from Matheus Malta in 2024, then kept it with a 1st-round KO of Gustavo Lopez at ARES 35.
- Co-main event: Youssef Boughanem (5-0), a 24-time Muay Thai world champion, faces Mohamed Soumah.
Younousov vs Nam, the ARES 44 main event
Date and venue
ARES 44 takes place on Saturday, October 31, 2026, at the Zénith de Strasbourg in France. The event starts at 7:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. ET), according to ARES and the venue. There are 10 fights on the card.
A title on the line
Younousov vs Nam is a fight for the ARES bantamweight title, at 61 kg (135 lb). Younousov is the reigning champion and defends his belt against a challenger who travels from the other side of the world.
17 years apart
The champion is 26 and his opponent is 43, according to our fighter profiles. Younousov has never lost in 8 pro fights. Nam has fought 40 times.
Aboubakar Younousov vs Tyson Nam, the unbeaten champion and the veteran
Younousov, the champion
Younousov won the ARES bantamweight title in 2024 by beating Matheus Malta. He then defended it at ARES 35 with a 1st-round KO of Gustavo Lopez. Before that fight, he called himself a “Merab Dvalishvili 2.2”.
Nam, the UFC experience
Tyson Nam is from Hawaii. He fought in the UFC from 2019 to 2023. His record stands at 23 wins, 16 losses and a draw.
ARES’s bet
This time, the French champion faces a name that UFC fans know. A clear win would add weight to his goal of joining the biggest promotion in the world.
I'm not better than Dvalishvili, but I'm much more complete.
The rest of the ARES 44 card
Boughanem vs Soumah
In the co-main event, Youssef Boughanem (5-0) faces Mohamed Soumah. The Zénith presents Boughanem as a 24-time Muay Thai world champion. At 36, he is still unbeaten in his MMA career.
The other fights
At lightweight, the unbeaten Misiuk (6-0) meets Chaichongcharden, and El Fatni (4-1) takes on Gagliardi (4-0). Benoît Prigent (3-0) faces Jafar Yousifi (2-0) at featherweight, and Gogishvili meets Alexandre Carole at bantamweight.
What to watch
Younousov can confirm his status as the best bantamweight in ARES against the most experienced opponent of his career. Follow Younousov vs Nam, the ARES 44 results and the fighter profiles in the FightHub app.
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