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.
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 30 July – UFC 277 – American Airlines Center, Dallas
Main card
Julianna Pena (C) vs Amanda Nunes 2 (women’s bantamweight title)
Brandon Moreno vs Kai Kara-France (interim flyweight title)
Derrick Lewis vs Sergei Pavlovich (heavyweight)
Alexandre Pantoja vs Alex Perez (flyweight)
Magomed Ankalaev vs Anthony Smith (light heavyweight)
Prelims
Alex Morono vs Matthew Semelsberger (welterweight)
Drew Dober vs Rafael Alves (lightweight)
Don’Tale Mayes vs Hamdy Abdelwahab (heavyweight)
Rafa Garcia vs Drakkar Klose (lightweight)
Early prelims
Adam Fugitt vs Michael Morales (welterweight)
Ji Yeon Kim vs Joselyne Edwards (women’s flyweight)
Nicolae Negumereanu vs Ihor Potieria (light heavyweight)
Orion Cosce vs Mike Mathetha (welterweight)
Saturday 6 August – UFC Fight Night – TBD
Thiago Santos vs Jamahal Hill (light heavyweight)
Shamil Gamzatov vs Misha Cirkunov (light heavyweight)
Bryan Battle vs Takashi Sato (welterweight)
Saturday 13 August – UFC Fight Night – Pechanga Arena, San Diego
Main card
Marlon Vera vs Dominick Cruz (bantamweight)
Alexa Grasso vs Viviane Araujo (women’s flyweight)
Malcolm Gordon vs Allan Nascimento (flyweight)
Aspen Ladd vs Sara McMann (women’s bantamweight)
Devin Clark vs Azamat Murzakanov (light heavyweight)
Prelims
Bruno Silva vs Gerald Meerschaert (middleweight)
Martin Buday vs Lukasz Brzeski (heavyweight)
Yazmin Jauregui vs Istela Nunes (women’s strawweight)
Saturday 20 August – UFC 278 – Vivint Arena, Salt Lake City
Main card
Kamaru Usman (C) vs Leon Edwards 2 (welterweight title)
Jose Aldo vs Merab Dvalishvili (bantamweight)
Paulo Costa vs Luke Rockhold (middleweight)
Amir Albazi vs Francisco Figueiredo (flyweight)
Marcin Tybura vs Alexander Romanov (heavyweight)
Prelims
Leonardo Santos vs Jared Gordon (lightweight)
Wu Yanan vs Lucie Pudilova (women’s bantamweight)
Tyson Pedro vs Harry Hunsucker (light heavyweight)
Daniel da Silva vs Victor Altamirano (flyweight)
Aoriqileng vs Jay Perrin (bantamweight)
AJ Fletcher vs Ange Loosa (welterweight)
Sean Woodson vs Luis Saldana (featherweight)
Saturday 3 September – UFC Fight Night – Accor Arena, Paris
Ciryl Gane vs Tai Tuivasa (heavyweight)
Robert Whittaker vs Marvin Vettori (middleweight)
Katlyn Chookagian vs Manon Fiorot (women’s flyweight)
Nassourdine Imavov vs Joaquin Buckley (middleweight)
Alessio di Chirico vs Roman Kopylov (middleweight)
Zarah Fairn vs Ailin Perez (women’s featherweight)
John Makdessi vs Nasrat Haqparast (lightweight)
Saturday 10 September – UFC Fight Night – TBA
Nate Diaz vs Islam Makhachev (welterweight) – TBC
Saturday 17 September – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas
Cory Sandhagen vs Song Yadong (bantamweight)
Giga Chikadze vs Sodiq Yusuff (featherweight)
Chidi Njokuani vs Gregory Rodrigues (middleweight)
Tanner Boser vs Rodrigo Nascimento Ferreira (heavyweight)
Andre Fili vs Lando Vannata (featherweight)
Maryna Moroz vs Sijara Eubanks (women’s flyweight)
Saturday 22 October – UFC 280 – Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi
Charles Oliveira vs Islam Makhachev (vacant lightweight title)
Petr Yan vs Sean O’Malley (bantamweight)
Belal Muhammad vs Sean Brady (welterweight)
