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, starting with Henry Cejudo’s return after a long absence to challenge Aljamain Sterling for the bantamweight belt in May. Here is every fight and event announced by the mixed martial arts promotion for the coming weeks and months (cards subject to change)
Saturday 10 June – UFC 289 – Rogers Arena, Vancouver, Canada
Main card
Amanda Nunes (C) vs Irene Aldana (women’s bantamweight title)
Charles Oliveira vs Beneil Dariush (lightweight)
Nassourdine Imavov vs Chris Curtis (middleweight)
Dan Ige vs Nate Landwehr (featherweight)
Khalil Rountree Jr vs Chris Daukaus (light-heavyweight)
Prelims
Mike Malott vs Adam Fugitt (welterweight)
Miranda Maverick vs Jasmine Jasudavicius (women’s flyweight)
Marc-Andre Barriault vs Eryk Anders (middleweight)
David Dvorak vs Stephen Erceg (flyweight)
Early prelims
Aiemann Zahabi vs Aoriqileng (bantamweight)
Kyle Nelson vs Blake Bilder (featherweight)
Diane Belbita vs Maria Oliveira (women’s strawweight)
Saturday 17 June – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
Main card
Marvin Vettori vs Jared Cannonier (middleweight)
Arman Tsarukyan vs Joaquim Silva (lightweight)
Armen Petrosyan vs Christian Leroy Duncan (middleweight)
Pat Sabatini vs Lucas Almeida (featherweight)
Manuel Torres vs Nikolas Motta (lightweight)
Raoni Barcelos vs Miles Johns (bantamweight)
Prelims
Nicolas Dalby vs Muslim Salikhov (welterweight)
Jimmy Flick vs Alessandro Costa (flyweight)
Kyung Ho Kang vs Cristian Quinonez (bantamweight)
Carlos Hernandez vs Denys Bondar (flyweight)
Zhalgas Zhumagulov vs Felipe Bunes (flyweight)
Tereza Bleda vs Gabriella Fernandes (women’s flyweight)
Dan Argueta vs Ronnie Lawrence (bantamweight)
Zac Pauga vs Modestas Bukauskas (light-heavyweight)
Saturday 24 June – UFC Fight Night – Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, US
Main card
Josh Emmett vs Ilia Topuria (featherweight)
Amanda Ribas vs Maycee Barber (women’s flyweight)
Punahele Soriano vs Sedriques Dumas (middleweight)
Gregory Rodrigues vs Denis Tiuliulin (middleweight)
Brendan Allen vs Bruno Silva (middleweight)
Prelims
Neil Magny vs Phil Rowe (welterweight)
Austen Lane vs Justin Tafa (heavyweight)
David Onama vs Gabriel Santos (featherweight)
Randy Brown vs Wellington Turman (welterweight)
Mateusz Rebecki vs Loik Radzhabov (lightweight)
Tabatha Ricci vs Gillian Robertson (women’s strawweight)
Trevor Peek vs Victor Martinez (lightweight)
Jamall Emmers vs Jack Jenkins (featherweight)
Tatsuro Taira vs Kleydson Rodrigues (flyweight)
Saturday 1 July – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
Sean Strickland vs Abus Magomedov (middleweight)
Ariane Lipski vs Melissa Gatto (women’s flyweight)
Joanderson Brito vs Khusein Askhabov (featherweight)
Ismael Bonfim vs Benoit Saint-Denis (lightweight)
Jordan Leavitt vs Elves Brener (lightweight)
Ivana Petrovic vs Luana Carolina (women’s flyweight)
Saturday 8 July – UFC 290 – T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, US
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)
Christian Rodriguez vs Cameron Saaiman (bantamweight)
Shannon Ross vs Jesus Aguilar (flyweight)
Kamuela Kirk vs Esteban Ribovics (lightweight)
Saturday 15 July – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
Holly Holm vs Mayra Bueno Silva (women’s bantamweight)
Victoria Dudakova vs Istela Nunes (women’s strawweight)
Austin Lingo vs Melquizael Costa (featherweight)
Albert Duraev vs Junyong Park (middleweight)
Jafel Filho vs Juancamilo Ronderos (flyweight)
Norma Dumont vs Chelsea Chandler (women’s featherweight)
Saturday 22 July – UFC Fight Night – O2 Arena, London, UK
Tom Aspinall vs Marcin Tybura (heavyweight)
Molly McCann vs Julija Stoliarenko (women’s flyweight)
Paul Craig vs Andre Muniz (middleweight)
Nathaniel Wood vs Andre Fili (featherweight)
Jai Herbert vs Fares Ziam (lightweight)
Lerone Murphy vs Josh Culibao (featherweight)
Ketlen Vieira vs Pannie Kianzad (women’s bantamweight)
Marc Diakiese vs Joel Alvarez (lightweight)
Davey Grant vs Daniel Marcos (bantamweight)
Chris Duncan vs Yanal Ashmouz (lightweight)
Danny Roberts vs Jonny Parsons (welterweight)
Makhmud Muradov vs Bryan Barberena (middleweight)
Nick Parkin vs Jamal Pogues (heavyweight)
Saturday 29 July – UFC 291 – Vivint Arena, Utah, US
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 12 August – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
Vicente Luque vs Rafael dos Anjos (welterweight)
Saturday 19 August – UFC 292 – TD Garden, Boston, US
Aljamain Sterling (C) vs Sean O’Malley (bantamweight title)
Zhang Weili (C) vs Amanda Lemos (women’s strawweight title)
Saturday 2 September – UFC Fight Night, Accor Arena, Paris, France
TBA vs TBA
Sunday 10 September – UFC 293 – TBA, Sydney, Australia
TBA vs TBA
Saturday 21 October – UFC 294 – Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, UAE
TBA vs TBA
