Another year of UFC action is upon us, 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 this autumn, 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 1 July – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
Sean Strickland is winning over some fans and alienating others with controversial comments— (Getty Images)
Main card
Sean Strickland vs Abus Magomedov (middleweight)
Damir Ismagulov vs Grant Dawson (lightweight)
Max Griffin vs Michael Morales (welterweight)
Ariane Lipski vs Melissa Gatto (women’s flyweight)
Ismael Bonfim vs Benoit Saint-Denis (lightweight)
Brunno Ferreira vs Nursulton Ruziboev (middleweight)
Prelims
Kevin Lee vs Rinat Fakhretdinov (welterweight)
Joanderson Brito vs Westin Wilson (featherweight)
Yana Santos vs Karol Rosa (women’s bantamweight)
Guram Kutateladze vs Elves Brener (lightweight)
Ivana Petrovic vs Luana Carolina (women’s flyweight)
Alexandr Romanov vs Blagoy Ivanov (heavyweight)
Saturday 8 July – UFC 290 – T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, US
UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski— (Getty Images)
Main card
Alexander Volkanovski (C) vs Yair Rodriguez (IC) (featherweight title)
Brandon Moreno (C) vs Alexandre Pantoja (flyweight title)
Robert Whittaker vs Dricus Du Plessis (middleweight)
Jalin Turner vs Dan Hooker (lightweight)
Bo Nickal vs Tresean Gore (middleweight)
Prelims
Robbie Lawler vs Niko Price (welterweight)
Sean Brady vs Jack Della Maddalena (welterweight)
Yazmin Jauregui vs Denise Gomes (women’s strawweight)
Jimmy Crute vs Alonzo Menifield (light-heavyweight)
Early prelims
Vitor Petrino vs Marcin Prachnio (light-heavyweight)
Cameron Saaiman vs Terrence Mitchell (bantamweight)
Shannon Ross vs Jesus Aguilar (flyweight)
Kamuela Kirk vs Esteban Ribovics (lightweight)
Saturday 15 July – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm— (Getty Images)
Main card
Holly Holm vs Mayra Bueno Silva (women’s bantamweight)
Albert Duraev vs Junyong Park (middleweight)
Walt Harris vs Josh Parisian (heavyweight)
Norma Dumont vs Chelsea Chandler (women’s featherweight)
Ottman Azaitar Francisco Prado (lightweight)
Prelims
Terrance McKinney vs Nazim Sadykhov (lightweight)
Tucker Lutz vs Melsik Baghdasaryan (featherweight)
Viktoriia Dudakova vs Istela Nunes (women’s strawweight)
Austin Lingo vs Melquizael Costa (featherweight)
Jafel Filho vs Juancamilo Ronderos (flyweight)
Evan Elder vs Genaro Valdez (lightweight)
Tyson Nam vs Azat Maksum (flyweight)
Alexander Munoz vs Carl Deaton (lightweight)
Ashlee Evans-Smith vs Ailin Perez (women’s bantamweight)
Saturday 22 July – UFC Fight Night – O2 Arena, London, UK
Tom Aspinall suffered an injury in July 2022 and returns almost a year to the day after (Adam Davy/PA)— (PA Wire)
Main card
Tom Aspinall vs Marcin Tybura (heavyweight)
Molly McCann vs Julija Stoliarenko (women’s flyweight)
Nathaniel Wood vs Andre Fili (featherweight)
Paul Craig vs Andre Muniz (middleweight)
Jai Herbert vs Fares Ziam (lightweight)
Lerone Murphy vs Josh Culibao (featherweight)
Prelims
Davey Grant vs Daniel Marcos (bantamweight)
Danny Roberts vs Jonny Parsons (welterweight)
Marc Diakiese vs Joel Alvarez (lightweight)
Mick Parkin vs Jamal Pogues (heavyweight)
Makhmud Muradov vs Bryan Barberena (middleweight)
Ketlen Vieira vs Pannie Kianzad (women’s bantamweight)
Chris Duncan vs Yanal Ashmouz (lightweight)
Shauna Bannon vs Bruna Brasil (women’s strawweight)
Saturday 29 July – UFC 291 – Vivint Arena, Utah, US
Former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier— (Getty Images)
Dustin Poirier vs Justin Gaethje 2 (lightweight – vacant ‘BMF’ title)
Jan Blachowicz vs Alex Pereira (light-heavyweight)
Tony Ferguson vs Bobby Green (lightweight)
Paulo Costa vs Ikram Aliskerov (middleweight)
Stephen Thompson vs Michel Pereira (welterweight)
Derrick Lewis vs Marcos Rogerio de Lima (heavyweight)
Michael Chiesa vs Kevin Holland (welterweight)
Matthew Semelsberger vs Yohan Lainesse (welterweight)
Roman Kopylov vs Claudio Ribeiro (middleweight)
CJ Vergara vs Vinicius Salvador (flyweight)
Trevin Giles vs Gabriel Bonfim (welterweight)
Joanne Wood 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 Umar Nurmagomedov (bantamweight)
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)
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 Hung (featherweight)
Saturday 2 September – UFC Fight Night – Accor Arena, Paris, France
Ciryl Gane vs Sergey Spivak (heavyweight)
Nora Cornolle vs Joselyne Edwards (women’s bantamweight)
Sunday 10 September – UFC 293 – TBA, Sydney, Australia
TBA vs TBA
Saturday 16 September – UFC Fight Night – T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, US
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
TBA vs TBA
