Another year of UFC action has passed its midway point, as fans anticipate Conor McGregor’s long-awaited return to the Octagon as well as some major title fights.
McGregor, who remains the face of the sport, has not competed since breaking his leg in July 2021 but is due to fight Michael Chandler some time late this year or early next, though new stars have emerged elsewhere to help keep audiences engaged.
In one of the biggest fights of 2023, lightweight champion Islam Makhachev retained his title against featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski, narrowly winning a decision on the latter’s home turf in Australia in February. Then, in March, light-heavyweight ‘GOAT’ Jon Jones moved up to heavyweight after three years away, submitting Ciryl Gane in the first round to win the title vacated by Francis Ngannou in January, when the latter left the UFC.
Later in March, Britain’s Leon Edwards retained the welterweight belt with a decision win over Kamaru Usman in London, seven months after taking the title from the “Nigerian Nightmare” with a stunning head kick. April then kicked off with Israel Adesanya finally beating long-time rival Alex Pereira, the 33-year-old knocking out the Brazilian to regain the middleweight belt that he lost to Pereira in November.
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There are plenty more title fights to come, too. Here is every fight and event announced by the mixed martial arts promotion for the coming weeks and months (cards subject to change)
Saturday 19 August – UFC 292 – TD Garden, Boston, US
Aljamain Sterling defends the UFC bantamweight belt again— (Getty Images)
Main card
Aljamain Sterling (C) vs Sean O’Malley (bantamweight title)
Zhang Weili (C) vs Amanda Lemos (women’s strawweight title)
Neil Magny vs Ian Machado Garry (welterweight)
Marlon Vera vs Pedro Munhoz (bantamweight)
Chris Weidman vs Brad Tavares (middleweight)
Prelims
Da’mon Blackshear vs Mario Bautista (bantamweight)
Gregory Rodrigues vs Denis Tiuliulin (middleweight)
Austin Hubbard vs Kurt Holobaugh (lightweight)
Early prelims
Andre Petroski vs Gerald Meerschaert (middleweight)
Andrea Lee vs Natalia Silva (women’s flyweight)
Karine Silva vs Maryna Moroz (women’s flyweight)
Saturday 26 August – UFC Fight Night – Singapore Indoor Stadium, Singapore
Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway— (Getty Images)
Main card
Max Holloway vs “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung (featherweight)
Anthony Smith vs Ryan Spann (light-heavyweight)
Giga Chikadze vs Alex Caceres (featherweight)
Rinya Nakamura vs Fernie Garcia (bantamweight)
Taila Santos vs Erin Blanchfield (women’s flyweight)
Junior Tafa vs Parker Porter (heavyweight)
Prelims
Waldo Cortes Acosta vs Lukasz Brzeski (heavyweight)
Toshiomi Kazama vs Garrett Armfield (bantamweight)
Chidi Njokuani vs Michal Oleksiejczuk (middleweight)
Billy Goff vs Yusaku Kinoshita (welterweight)
Song Kenan vs Rolando Bedoya (welterweight)
Liang Na vs JJ Aldrich (women’s flyweight)
SeungWoo Choi vs Jarno Errens (featherweight)
Saturday 2 September – UFC Fight Night – Accor Arena, Paris, France
Former interim UFC heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane— (AFP via Getty Images)
Ciryl Gane vs Sergey Spivak (heavyweight)
Manon Fiorot vs Rose Namajunas (women’s flyweight)
Volkan Oezdemir vs Azamat Murzakanov (light-heavyweight)
Morgan Charriere vs Manolo Zecchini (featherweight)
Yannis Ghemmouri vs Caolan Loughran (bantamweight)
Benoit Saint-Denis vs Thiago Moises (lightweight)
Ange Loosa vs Rhys McKee (welterweight)
William Gomis vs Lucas Almeida (featherweight)
Zarah Fairn vs Hailey Cowan (women’s bantamweight)
Nora Cornolle vs Joselyne Edwards (women’s bantamweight)
Sunday 10 September – UFC 293 – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, Australia
Israel Adesanya vs Sean Strickland (middleweight title)
Tai Tuivasa vs Alexander Volkov (heavyweight)
Jamie Mullarkey vs John Makdessi (lightweight)
Kai Kara-France vs Manel Kape (flyweight)
Carlos Ulberg vs Da Woon Jung (light-heavyweight)
Tyson Pedro vs Anton Turkalj (light-heavyweight)
Justin Tafa vs Austen Lane (heavyweight)
Jack Jenkins vs Chepe Mariscal (featherweight)
Shane Young vs Gabriel Miranda (featherweight)
Mike Diamond vs Charlie Radtke (welterweight)
Viviane Araujo vs Casey O’Neill (women’s flyweight)
Saturday 16 September – UFC Fight Night – T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, US
Alexa Grasso (right) celebrates dethroning Valentina Shevchenko— (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Alexa Grasso (C) vs Valentina Shevchenko 2 (women’s flyweight title)
Kelvin Gastelum vs Shavkat Rakhmonov (welterweight)
Tracy Cortez vs Jasmine Jasudavicius (women’s flyweight)
Cynthia Calvillo vs Elise Reed (women’s strawweight)
Edgar Chairez vs Daniel Lacerda (flyweight)
Roman Kopylov vs Anthony Hernandez (middleweight)
Loopy Godinez vs Sam Hughes (women’s strawweight)
Saturday 24 September – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
Rafael Fiziev vs Mateusz Gamrot (lightweight)
Bruno Silva vs Cody Durden (flyweight)
Saturday 21 October – UFC 294 – Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira will square off for the lightweight title again— (AFP via Getty Images)
Islam Makhachev (C) vs Charles Oliveira (lightweight title)
Paulo Costa vs Khamzat Chimaev (middleweight)
Nassourdine Imavov vs Ikram Aliskerov (middleweight)
Saturday 4 November – UFC Fight Night – Ibirapuera Arena, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Curtis Blaydes vs Jailton Almeida (heavyweight)
Saturday 11 November – UFC 295 – Madison Square Garden, New York City, US
Jon Jones (C) vs Stipe Miocic (heavyweight title)
