Following one of the most successful and engrossing years in the history of the UFC, the mixed martial arts promotion will look to keep building in 2022.
2021 saw Conor McGregor fight twice, marking his most active year since 2016. The Irishman lost to Dustin Poirier in each outing, suffering a horrific broken leg in the most recent, but he is targeting a summer return to the Octagon.
Elsewhere, newer stars like Israel Adesanya, Khamzat Chimaev and Sean O’Malley are looking to further enhance their legacies and profiles, while featherweight queen Amanda Nunes will surely seek to regain her bantamweight belt after losing it to Julianna Pena in a major upset in December.
Islam Makhachev continues to pursue his goal of becoming lightweight champion to follow in the footsteps of his close friend and cornerman Khabib Nurmagomedov, while the men’s bantamweight division is set to see a unification bout between its interim champion Petr Yan and official title holder Aljamain Sterling – with the heavyweight title having been unified in January when Francis Ngannou outpointed Ciryl Gane.
Here are all the UFC events and fights announced for the coming weeks and months (cards subject to change):
Saturday 9 July – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas
Main card
Rafael dos Anjos vs Rafael Fiziev (lightweight)
Caio Borralho vs Armen Petrosyan (middleweight)
Douglas Silva de Andrade vs Said Nurmagomedov (bantamweight)
Jamie Pickett vs Denis Tiuliulin (middleweight)
Jared Vanderaa vs Chase Sherman (heavyweight)
Michael Johnson vs Jamie Mullarkey (lightweight)
Prelims
Cynthia Calvillo vs Nina Nunes (women’s flyweight)
Aiemann Zahabi vs Ricky Turcios (bantamweight)
Antonina Shevchenkov vs Cortney Casey (women’s flyweight)
Cody Brundage vs Tresean Gore (middleweight)
Kennedy Nzechukwu vs Karl Roberson (light heavyweight)
Ronnie Lawrence vs Saidyokub Kakhramonov (bantamweight)
Saturday 16 July – UFC Fight Night – UBS Arena, Elmont
Main card
Brian Ortega vs Yair Rodriguez (featherweight)
Shane Burgos vs Charles Jourdain (featherweight)
Ricky Simon vs Jack Shore (bantamweight)
Lauren Murphy vs Miesha Tate (women’s flyweight)
Michelle Waterson vs Amanda Lemos (women’s strawweight)
Prelims
Bill Algeo vs Billy Quarantillo (featherweight)
Li Jingliang vs Abubakar Nurmagomedov (welterweight)
Matt Schnell vs Sumudaerji (flyweight)
Herbert Burns vs Khusein Askhabov (bantamweight)
Punahele Soriano vs Dalcha Lungiambula (middleweight)
Early prelims
Dustin Jacoby vs Da-Un Jung (light heavyweight)
Dwight Grant vs Dustin Stoltzfus (middleweight)
Jessica Penne vs Brianna Fortino (women’s strawweight)
Saturday 23 July – UFC Fight Night – O2 Arena, London
Main card
Curtis Blaydes vs Tom Aspinall (heavyweight)
Jack Hermansson vs Darren Till (middleweight)
Alexander Gustafsson vs Nikita Krylov (light heavyweight)
Paddy Pimblett vs Jordan Leavitt (lightweight)
Paul Craig vs Volkan Oezdemir (light heavyweight)
Prelims
Marc Diakiese vs Damir Hadzovic (lightweight)
Molly McCann vs Hannah Goldy (women’s flyweight)
Makwan Amirkhani vs Jonathan Pearce (featherweight)
Muhammad Mokaev vs Charles Johnson (flyweight)
Mandy Bohm vs Victoria Leonardo (women’s flyweight)
Saturday 30 July – UFC 277 – American Airlines Center, Dallas
Main card
Julianna Pena (C) vs Amanda Nunes 2 (women’s bantamweight title)
Brandon Moreno vs Kai Kara-France (interim flyweight title)
Derrick Lewis vs Sergei Pavlovich (heavyweight)
Magomed Ankalaev vs Anthony Smith (light heavyweight)
Drew Dober vs Rafael Alves (lightweight)
Prelims
Ramiz Brahimaj vs Michael Morales (welterweight)
Nicolae Negumereanu vs Ihor Potieria (light heavyweight)
Justin Tafa vs Don’Tale Mayes (heavyweight)
Diego Ferreira vs Drakkar Klose (lightweight)
Ji Yeon Kim vs Mariya Agapova (women’s flyweight)
Saturday 6 August – UFC Fight Night – TBD
Thiago Santos vs Jamahal Hill (light heavyweight)
Saturday 13 August – UFC Fight Night – Pechanga Arena, San Diego
Dominick Cruz vs Marlon Vera (bantamweight)
Saturday 20 August – UFC 278 – Vivint Arena, Salt Lake City
Kamaru Usman (C) vs Leon Edwards 2 (welterweight title)
Saturday 3 September – UFC Fight Night – Accor Arena, Paris
Ciryl Gane vs Tai Tuivasa (heavyweight)
Robert Whittaker vs Marvin Vettori (middleweight)
Jessica Andrade vs Manon Fiorot (women’s flyweight)
John Makdessi vs Nasrat Haqparast (lightweight)
Saturday 23 October – UFC 281 – Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi
TBD vs TBD
