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 2022:
Saturday 12 March – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas
Thiago Santos vs Magomed Ankalaev (light heavyweight)
Marlon Moraes vs Song Yadong (bantamweight)
Alex Pereira vs Bruno Silva (middleweight)
Saturday 19 March – UFC Fight Night – O2 Arena, London
Main card
Alexander Volkov vs Tom Aspinall (heavyweight)
Paddy Pimblett vs Kazula Vargas (lightweight)
Arnold Allen vs Dan Hooker (featherweight)
Shamil Abdurakhimov vs Sergei Pavlovich (heavyweight)
Nikita Krylov vs Paul Craig (light heavyweight)
Gunnar Nelson vs Claudio Silva (welterweight)
Prelims
Jai Herbert vs Mike Davis (lightweight)
Muhammad Mokaev vs Cody Durdan (flyweight)
Mike Grundy vs Makwan Amirkhani (featherweight)
Molly McCann vs Luana Carolina (women’s flyweight)
Jack Shore vs Timur Valiev (bantamweight)
Cory McKenna vs Elise Reed (women’s strawweight)
Nathaniel Wood vs Liudvik Sholinian (bantamweight)
Saturday 26 March – UFC Fight Night – Nationwide Arena, Columbus
Main card
Curtis Blaydes vs Chris Daukaus (heavyweight)
Askar Askarov vs Kai Kara-France (flyweight)
Matt Brown vs Bryan Barberena (welterweight)
Michelle Waterson vs Amanda Ribas (women’s strawweight)
Nate Landwehr vs Lerone Murphy (featherweight)
Joanne Wood vs Alexa Grasso (women’s flyweight)
Prelims
Michelle Waterson vs Amanda Ribas (women’s strawweight)
Tucker Lutz vs SeungWoo Choi (featherweight)
Sara McCann vs Karol Rosa (women’s bantamweight)
Montel Jackson vs Danaa Batgerel (bantamweight)
Matheus Nicolau vs David Dvorak (flyweight)
Aliaskhab Khizriev vs Abus Magomedov (middleweight)
Saturday 9 April – UFC 273 – VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville
Alexander Volkanovski (C) vs Chan Sung Jung (featherweight title)
Aljamain Sterling (C) vs Petr Yan (IC) (bantamweight title)
Gilbert Burns vs Khamzat Chimaev (welterweight)
Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs Marcin Tybura (heavyweight)
Irene Aldana vs Aspen Ladd (women’s bantamweight)
Kelvin Gastelum vs Nassourdine Imavov (middleweight)
Mackenzie Dern vs Tecia Torres (women’s strawweight)
Ian Garry vs Darian Weeks (welterweight)
Gavin Tucker vs Pat Sabatini (featherweight)
Mickey Gall vs Mike Malott (welterweight)
Dricus du Plessis vs Chris Curtis (middleweight)
Saturday 7 May – UFC 274 – Footprint Center, Phoenix
Charles Oliveira (C) vs Justin Gaethje (lightweight title)
