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.
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 29 July – UFC 291 – Vivint Arena, Utah, US
Former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier— (Getty Images)
Main card
Dustin Poirier vs Justin Gaethje 2 (lightweight – vacant ‘BMF’ title)
Jan Blachowicz vs Alex Pereira (light-heavyweight)
Stephen Thompson vs Michel Pereira (welterweight)
Tony Ferguson vs Bobby Green (lightweight)
Michael Chiesa vs Kevin Holland (welterweight)
Prelims
Trevin Giles vs Gabriel Bonfim (welterweight)
Derrick Lewis vs Marcos Rogerio de Lima (heavyweight)
Roman Kopylov vs Claudio Ribeiro (middleweight)
Jake Matthews vs Miguel Baeza (welterweight)
Early prelims
CJ Vergara vs Vinicius Salvador (flyweight)
Matthew Semelsberger vs Yohan Lainesse (welterweight)
Miranda Maverick vs Priscila Cachoeira (women’s flyweight)
Saturday 5 August – UFC Fight Night – Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, US
Former UFC bantamweight title challenger Cory Sandhagen— (Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Cory Sandhagen vs Rob Font (bantamweight)
Jessica Andrade vs Tatiana Suarez (women’s strawweight)
Tanner Boser vs Aleksa Camur (light-heavyweight)
Ignacio Bahamondes vs Ludovit Klein (lightweight)
Dustin Jacoby vs Kennedy Nzechukwu (light-heavyweight)
Billy Quarantillo vs Damon Jackson (featherweight)
Ovince Saint Preux vs Ion Cutelaba (light-heavyweight)
Sean Woodson vs Steve Garcia (featherweight)
Tagir Ulanbekov vs Jake Hadley (flyweight)
Said Nurmagomedov vs Kyler Phillips (bantamweight)
Ode’ Osbourne vs Assu Almabayev (flyweight)
Jeremiah Wells vs Carlston Harris (welterweight)
Saturday 12 August – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
Vicente Luque vs Rafael dos Anjos (welterweight)
Khalil Rountree Jr vs Chris Daukaus (light-heavyweight)
Saturday 19 August – UFC 292 – TD Garden, Boston, US
Aljamain Sterling defends the UFC bantamweight belt again— (Getty Images)
Aljamain Sterling (C) vs Sean O’Malley (bantamweight title)
Zhang Weili (C) vs Amanda Lemos (women’s strawweight title)
Marlon Vera vs Pedro Munhoz (bantamweight)
Rob Font vs Song Yadong (bantamweight)
Geoff Neal vs Ian Machado Garry (welterweight)
Cody Garbrandt vs Mario Bautista (bantamweight)
Chris Weidman vs Brad Tavares (middleweight)
Andre Petroski vs Gerald Meerschaert (middleweight)
Andrea Lee vs Natalia Silva (women’s flyweight)
Gregory Rodrigues vs Denis Tiuliulin (middleweight)
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)
Max Holloway vs “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung (featherweight)
Anthony Smith vs Ryan Spann (light-heavyweight)
Taila Santos vs Erin Blanchfield (women’s flyweight)
Song Kenan vs Rolando Bedoya (welterweight)
Chidi Njokuani vs Michal Oleksiejczuk (middleweight)
Junior Tafa vs Parker Porter (heavyweight)
Waldo Cortes Acosta vs Lukasz Brzeski (heavyweight)
Liang Na vs JJ Aldrich (women’s flyweight)
Rinya Nakamura vs Fernie Garcia (bantamweight)
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)
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
TBA vs TBA
Carlos Ulberg vs Da Woon Jung (light-heavyweight)
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)
Saturday 21 October – UFC 294 – Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Islam Makhachev (C) vs Charles Oliveira (lightweight title)
Paulo Costa vs Khamzat Chimaev (middleweight)
Nassourdine Imavov vs Ikram Aliskerov (middleweight)
Saturday 11 November – UFC 295 – Madison Square Garden, New York City, US
Jon Jones (C) vs Stipe Miocic (heavyweight title)
