Another year of UFC action has passed its midway point, as fans come to terms with Conor McGregor’s long-awaited return being delayed until 2024.
McGregor has not fought since breaking his leg in July 2021 and was due to fight Michael Chandler this spring or summer, but the bout is still without a date, location and weight class – all we know is that it won’t take place in 2023. Thankfully for the UFC, new stars have emerged elsewhere to keep audiences engaged.
In one of the biggest fights of 2023, lightweight champion Islam Makhachev retained his title against featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski in February. Then, in March, light-heavyweight icon Jon Jones moved up to heavyweight after three years away, submitting Ciryl Gane to win the title vacated by Francis Ngannou, when the latter left the UFC. Next up for Jones is heavyweight ‘GOAT’ Stipe Miocic at Madison Square Garden in November.
Elsewhere, Britain’s Leon Edwards retained the welterweight belt against 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 “Last Stylebender” knocking out the Brazilian to regain the middleweight belt that he lost to Pereira last year.
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Meanwhile, “Sugar” Sean O’Malley completed his swift rise through the bantamweight rankings by taking the belt from Aljamain Sterling in August, knocking out the Jamaican-American in the second round. There are plenty more huge fights to come, too. Here is every bout and event announced by the UFC for the coming weeks and months (cards subject to change):
Saturday 9 September – UFC 293 – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, Australia
Main card
Israel Adesanya (C) vs Sean Strickland (middleweight title)
Tai Tuivasa vs Alexander Volkov (heavyweight)
Manel Kape vs Felipe dos Santos (flyweight)
Justin Tafa vs Austen Lane (heavyweight)
Tyson Pedro vs Anton Turkalj (light-heavyweight)
Prelims
Carlos Ulberg vs Da Woon Jung (light-heavyweight)
Jack Jenkins vs Chepe Mariscal (featherweight)
Jamie Mullarkey vs John Makdessi (lightweight)
Nasrat Haqparast vs Landon Quinones (lightweight)
Early prelims
Mike Diamond vs Charlie Radtke (welterweight)
Shane Young vs Gabriel Miranda (featherweight)
Kevin Jousset vs Kiefer Crosbie (welterweight)
Saturday 16 September – UFC Fight Night – T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, US
Alexa Grasso (right) celebrates dethroning Valentina Shevchenko— (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Alexa Grasso (C) vs Valentina Shevchenko 2 (women’s flyweight title)
Kelvin Gastelum vs Shavkat Rakhmonov (welterweight)
Tracy Cortez vs Jasmine Jasudavicius (women’s flyweight)
Cynthia Calvillo vs Elise Reed (women’s strawweight)
Edgar Chairez vs Daniel Lacerda (flyweight)
Roman Kopylov vs Anthony Hernandez (middleweight)
Loopy Godinez vs Sam Hughes (women’s strawweight)
Saturday 24 September – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
Rafael Fiziev vs Mateusz Gamrot (lightweight)
Bruno Silva vs Cody Durden (flyweight)
Saturday 21 October – UFC 294 – Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira will square off for the lightweight title again— (AFP via Getty Images)
Islam Makhachev (C) vs Charles Oliveira (lightweight title)
Paulo Costa vs Khamzat Chimaev (middleweight)
Nassourdine Imavov vs Ikram Aliskerov (middleweight)
Saturday 4 November – UFC Fight Night – Ibirapuera Arena, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Curtis Blaydes vs Jailton Almeida (heavyweight)
Saturday 11 November – UFC 295 – Madison Square Garden, New York City, US
Jon Jones (C) vs Stipe Miocic (heavyweight title)
