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 15 October – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas
Main card
Alexa Grasso vs Viviane Araujo (women’s flyweight)
Cub Swanson vs Jonathan Martinez (bantamweight)
Askar Askarov vs Brandon Royval (flyweight)
Jordan Wright vs Dusko Todorovic (middleweight)
Prelims
Misha Cirkunov vs Alonzo Menifield (light heavyweight)
Mana Martinez vs Brandon Davis (bantamweight)
Nick Maximov vs Jacob Malkoun (middleweight)
Raphael Assuncao vs Victor Henry (bantamweight)
Piera Rodriguez vs Sam Hughes (women’s strawweight)
Tatsuro Taira vs CJ Vergara (flyweight)
Mike Jackson vs Pete Rodriguez (welterweight)
Saturday 22 October – UFC 280 – Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi
Main card
Charles Oliveira vs Islam Makhachev (vacant lightweight title)
Aljamain Sterling (C) vs TJ Dillashaw (bantamweight title)
Petr Yan vs Sean O’Malley (bantamweight)
Beneil Dariush vs Mateusz Gamrot (lightweight)
Katlyn Chookagian vs Manon Fiorot (women’s flyweight)
Belal Muhammad vs Sean Brady (welterweight)
Prelims
Makhmud Muradov vs Caio Borralho (middleweight)
Volkan Oezdemir vs Nikita Krylov (light heavyweight)
Marina Rodriguez vs Amanda Lemos (women’s strawweight)
Zubaira Tukhugov vs Lucas Almeida (featherweight)
Magomed Mustafaev vs Jamie Mullarkey (lightweight)
Abubakar Nurmagomedov vs Gadzhi Omargadzhiev (welterweight)
Muhammad Mokaev vs Malcolm Gordon (flyweight)
Shamil Abdurakhimov vs Jailton Almeida (heavyweight)
Saturday 29 October – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas
Calvin Kattar vs Arnold Allen (featherweight)
Andrei Arlovski vs Marcos Rogerio de Lima (heavyweight)
Kleydson Rodrigues vs Vinicius Salvador (flyweight)
Joseph Holmes vs Jun Yong Park (middleweight)
Waldo Cortes Acosta vs Jared Vanderaa (heavyweight)
Saturday 12 November – UFC 281 – Madison Square Garden, New York City
Main card
Israel Adesanya (C) vs Alex Pereira (middleweight title)
Carla Esparza (C) vs Weili Zhang (women’s strawweight title)
Dustin Poirier vs Michael Chandler (lightweight)
Dan Hooker vs Claudio Puelles (lightweight)
Brad Riddell vs Renato Moicano (lightweight)
Erin Blanchfield vs Molly McCann (women’s flyweight)
Prelims
Matt Frevola vs Ottman Azaitar (lightweight)
Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs Silvan Gomez Juarez (women’s strawweight)
Dominick Reyes vs Ryan Spann (light heavyweight)
Michael Trizano vs Seung Woo Choi (featherweight)
Carlos Ulberg vs Nicolae Negumereanu (light heavyweight)
Saturday 19 November – UFC Fight Night – TBA
Derrick Lewis vs Serghei Spivac (heavyweight)
Saturday 3 December – UFC Fight Night – TBA, Orlando
Stephen Thompson vs Kevin Holland (welterweight)
Saturday 17 December – UFC Fight Night – TBA
Jared Cannonier vs Sean Strickland (middleweight)
Jamal Pogues vs Tafon Nchukwi (light heavyweight)
