UFC 2023 schedule: Every major fight happening this year

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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 summer, though new stars have emerged elsewhere and will help to keep audiences engaged.

In one of the biggest fights of 2023, recently crowned lightweight champion Islam Makhachev will defend his title against featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski, with the pair scheduled to meet on the latter’s home turf in Australia in February. Furthermore, former pound-for-pound No 1 Kamaru Usman will try to regain the welterweight title from Leon Edwards, who dethroned the Nigerian-American with a stunning knockout in August 2022. The pair’s rematch – their third clash, in fact – is set to headline March’s London card, after Edwards’ title triumph made him just the second British UFC champion ever.

And we will finally see light-heavyweight ‘GOAT’ Jon Jones move up to heavyweight, as he fights Ciryl Gane for the championship vacated by Francis Ngannou, who has now left the UFC.

Here is every fight and event announced by the mixed martial arts promotion for the coming weeks and months (cards subject to change):

Saturday 11 March – UFC Fight Night – The Theater, Las Vegas, US

Interim UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan (Getty Images)

Main card

Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili (bantamweight)

Alexander Volkov vs Alexandr Romanov (heavyweight)

Nikita Krylov vs Ryan Spann (light-heavyweight)

Abus Magomedov vs Makhmud Muradov (middleweight)

Said Nurmagomedov vs Jonathan Martinez (bantamweight)

Vitor Petrino vs Anton Turkalj (light-heavyweight)

Prelims

Karl Williams vs Lukasz Brzeski (heavyweight)

Raphael Assuncao vs Davey Grant (bantamweight)

Sedriques Dumas vs Josh Fremd (middleweight)

Mario Bautista vs Guido Cannetti (bantamweight)

Ariane Lipski vs JJ Aldrich (women’s flyweight)

Victory Henry vs Tony Gravely (bantamweight)

Tyson Nam vs Bruno Silva (flyweight)

Carlston Harris vs Jared Gooden (welterweight)

Saturday 18 March – UFC 286 – O2 Arena, London, UK

Leon Edwards (left) dethroned Kamaru Usman last year to win welterweight gold (Getty Images)

Main card

Leon Edwards (C) vs Kamaru Usman 3 (welterweight title)

Justin Gaethje vs Rafael Fiziev (lightweight)

Joanne Wood vs Luana Carolina (women’s flyweight)

Gunnar Nelson vs Bryan Barberena (welterweight)

Marvin Vettori vs Roman Dolidze (middleweight)

Prelims

Jack Shore vs Makwan Amirkhani (featherweight)

Sam Patterson vs Yanal Ashmoz (lightweight)

Muhammad Mokaev vs Jafel Filho (flyweight)

Early prelims

Christian Leroy Duncan vs Dusko Todorovic (middleweight)

Jake Hadley vs Malcolm Gordon (flyweight)

Jennifer Maia vs Casey O’Neill (women’s flyweight)

Jai Herbert vs Ludovit Klein (lightweight)

Juliana Miller vs Veronica Hardy (women’s flyweight)

Saturday 25 March – UFC Fight Night – AT&T Center, San Antonio, US

Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera (pictured) and Cory Sandhagen are among the UFC’s most exciting bantamweights (Getty Images)

Main card

Marlon Vera vs Cory Sandhagen (bantamweight)

Holly Holm vs Yana Santos (women’s bantamweight)

Alex Caceres vs Nate Landwehr (featherweight)

Andrea Lee vs Maycee Barber (women’s flyweight)

Chidi Njokuani vs Albert Duraev (middleweight)

Prelims

Daniel Pineda vs Tucker Lutz (featherweight)

Steven Peterson vs Lucas Alexander (featherweight)

Trevin Giles vs Preston Parsons (welterweight)

Alex Perez vs Manel Kape (flyweight)

CJ Vergara vs Daniel Da Silva (flyweight)

Liang Na vs Brogan Walker (women’s flyweight)

Victor Altamirano vs Vinicius Salvador (flyweight)

Saturday 8 April – UFC 287 – Miami-Dade Arena, Miami, US

Alex Pereira (left) secured a TKO win against Israel Adesanya in 2021 (Getty Images)

Main card

Alex Pereira (C) vs Israel Adesanya 2 (middleweight title)

Gilbert Burns vs Jorge Masvidal (welterweight)

Rob Font vs Adrian Yanez (bantamweight)

Kevin Holland vs Santiago Ponzinibbio (welterweight)

Raul Rosas Jr vs Christian Rodriguez (bantamweight)

Prelims

Kelvin Gastelum vs Chris Curtis (middleweight)

Michael Chiesa vs Li Jingliang (welterweight)

Michelle Waterson-Gomez vs Luana Pinheiro (women’s strawweight)

Chris Barnett vs Chase Sherman (heavyweight)

Early prelims

Gerald Meerschaert vs Joe Pyfer (middleweight)

Cynthia Calvillo vs Loopy Godinez (women’s strawweight)

Ignacio Bahamondes vs Nikolas Motta (lightweight)

Shayilan Nuerdanbieke vs Steve Garcia (featherweight)

Jacqueline Amorim vs Sam Hughes (women’s strawweight)

Saturday 15 April – UFC Fight Night – T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, US

Britain’s Arnold Allen (left) faces his toughest test yet in ex-champion Max Holloway (Getty Images)

Max Holloway vs Arnold Allen (featherweight)

Tanner Boser vs Ion Cutelaba (light-heavyweight)

Saturday 22 April – UFC Fight Night – TBA

Sergei Pavlovich vs Curtis Blaydes (heavyweight)

Saturday 6 May – UFC 288 – Prudential Center, Newark, US

Former dual-weight UFC champion Henry Cejudo has said he will return at UFC 288 (Getty Images)

Aljamain Sterling (C) vs Henry Cejudo (bantamweight title) – TBC

Charles Oliveira vs Beneil Dariush (lightweight)

Bryce Mitchell vs Jonathan Pearce (featherweight)

Kron Gracie vs Charles Jourdain (featherweight)

Marina Rodriguez vs Virna Jandiroba (women’s strawweight)

Kennedy Nzechukwu vs Devin Clark (light-heavyweight)

Andre Petroski vs Armen Petrosyan (middleweight)

Nate Maness vs Zhalgas Zhumagulov (flyweight)

Khaos Williams vs Rolando Bedoya (welterweight)

Daniel Santos vs Johnny Munoz (bantamweight)

Saturday 8 July – UFC 290 – T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, US

TBA vs TBA