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 3 September – UFC Fight Night – Accor Arena, Paris
Main card
Ciryl Gane vs Tai Tuivasa (heavyweight)
Robert Whittaker vs Marvin Vettori (middleweight)
Alessio di Chirico vs Roman Kopylov (middleweight)
John Makdessi vs Nasrat Haqparast (lightweight)
Taylor Lapilus vs Khalid Taha (bantamweight)
Charles Jourdain vs Nathaniel Wood (featherweight)
Prelims
Zarah Fairn vs Ailin Perez (women’s featherweight)
Benoit Saint-Denis vs Christos Giagos (lightweight)
Nassourdine Imavov vs Joaquin Buckley (middleweight)
Ricardo Ramos vs Danny Henry (featherweight)
Saturday 10 September – UFC 279 – T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
Nate Diaz vs Khamzat Chimaev (welterweight)
Tony Ferguson vs Li Jingliang (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
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 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)
Carla Esparza (C) vs Weili Zhang (women’s strawweight title)
