UFC 2022 schedule: Every major fight happening this year

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Following one of the most successful and engrossing years in the history of the UFC, the mixed martial arts promotion will look to keep building in 2022.

2021 saw Conor McGregor fight twice, marking his most active year since 2016. The Irishman lost to Dustin Poirier in each outing, suffering a horrific broken leg in the most recent, but he is targeting a summer return to the Octagon.

Elsewhere, newer stars like Israel Adesanya, Khamzat Chimaev and Sean O’Malley are looking to further enhance their legacies and profiles, while featherweight queen Amanda Nunes will surely seek to regain her bantamweight belt after losing it to Julianna Pena in a major upset in December.

READ MORE: Predicting every year-end UFC champion in 2022

Islam Makhachev continues to pursue his goal of becoming lightweight champion to follow in the footsteps of his close friend and cornerman Khabib Nurmagomedov, while the men’s bantamweight division is set to see a unification bout between its interim champion Petr Yan and official title holder Aljamain Sterling – with the heavyweight title having been unified in January when Francis Ngannou outpointed Ciryl Gane.

Here are all the UFC events and fights announced for the coming weeks and months (cards subject to change):

Saturday 13 August – UFC Fight Night – Pechanga Arena, San Diego

Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz (AP)

Marlon Vera vs Dominick Cruz (bantamweight)

Angela Hill vs Loopy Godinez (catchweight)

Nate Landwehr vs David Onama (featherweight)

Devin Clark vs Azamat Murzakanov (light heavyweight)

Cynthia Calvillo vs Nina Nunes (women’s flyweight)

Bruno Silva vs Gerald Meerschaert (middleweight)

Yazmin Jauregui vs Iasmin Lucindo (women’s strawweight)

Martin Buday vs Lukasz Brzeski (heavyweight)

Gabriel Benitez vs Charlie Ontiveros (lightweight)

Youssef Zalal vs D’Amon Blackshear (bantamweight)

Ode’ Osbourne vs Tyson Nam (flyweight)

Saturday 20 August – UFC 278 – Vivint Arena, Salt Lake City

UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman (Getty Images)

Main card

Kamaru Usman (C) vs Leon Edwards 2 (welterweight title)

Paulo Costa vs Luke Rockhold (middleweight)

Jose Aldo vs Merab Dvalishvili (bantamweight)

Marcin Tybura vs Alexander Romanov (heavyweight)

Tyson Pedro vs Harry Hunsucker (light heavyweight)

Prelims

Leonardo Santos vs Jared Gordon (lightweight)

Wu Yanan vs Lucie Pudilova (women’s bantamweight)

Sean Woodson vs Luis Saldana (featherweight)

Early prelims

AJ Fletcher vs Ange Loosa (welterweight)

Amir Albazi vs Francisco Figueiredo (flyweight)

Aoriqileng vs Jay Perrin (bantamweight)

Daniel da Silva vs Victor Altamirano (flyweight)

Saturday 3 September – UFC Fight Night – Accor Arena, Paris

Former interim UFC heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane (Getty Images)

Ciryl Gane vs Tai Tuivasa (heavyweight)

Robert Whittaker vs Marvin Vettori (middleweight)

Nassourdine Imavov vs Joaquin Buckley (middleweight)

Alessio di Chirico vs Roman Kopylov (middleweight)

John Makdessi vs Nasrat Haqparast (lightweight)

Benoit Saint-Denis vs Christos Giagos (lightweight)

Zarah Fairn vs Ailin Perez (women’s featherweight)

Saturday 10 September – UFC 279 – T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas

Nate Diaz (left) and Khamzat Chimaev have agreed to a welterweight clash (Getty)

Nate Diaz vs Khamzat Chimaev (welterweight)

Denis Tiuliulin vs Jamie Pickett (middleweight)

Johnny Walker vs Ion Cutelaba (light heavyweight)

Jake Collier vs Chris Barnett (heavyweight)

Chad Anheliger vs Alatengheili (bantamweight)

Shamil Abdurakhimov vs Jailton Almeida (heavyweight)

Melissa Martinez vs Elise Reed (women’s strawweight)

Norma Dumont vs Danyelle Wolf (women’s featherweight)

Irene Aldana vs Macy Chiasson (women’s bantamweight)

Saturday 17 September – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas

Bantamweight UFC contender Cory Sandhagen in action against Raphael Assuncao (Getty Images)

Cory Sandhagen vs Song Yadong (bantamweight)

Giga Chikadze vs Sodiq Yusuff (featherweight)

Joe Pyfer vs Alen Amedovski (middleweight)

Anthony Hernandez vs Marc-Andre Barriault (middleweight)

Chidi Njokuani vs Gregory Rodrigues (middleweight)

Tanner Boser vs Rodrigo Nascimento Ferreira (heavyweight)

Andre Fili vs Lando Vannata (featherweight)

Mariya Agapova vs Gillian Robertson (women’s flyweight)

Maryna Moroz vs Sijara Eubanks (women’s flyweight)

Loma Lookboonmee vs Diana Belbita (women’s strawweight)

Saturday 22 October – UFC 280 – Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi

Charles Oliveira (left) and Islam Makhachev will clash for the vacant lightweight belt (Getty Images)

Charles Oliveira vs Islam Makhachev (vacant lightweight title)

Aljamain Sterling (C) vs TJ Dillashaw (bantamweight title)

Beneil Dariush vs Mateusz Gamrot (lightweight)

Petr Yan vs Sean O’Malley (bantamweight)

Belal Muhammad vs Sean Brady (welterweight)

Marina Rodriguez vs Amanda Lemos (women’s strawweight)

Saturday 12 November – UFC 281 – Madison Square Garden, New York City

Israel Adesanya (C) vs Alex Pereira (middleweight title)