Another year of UFC action is coming towards its end, 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 – and later repeated the trick in October. 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 was meant to be heavyweight ‘GOAT’ Stipe Miocic at Madison Square Garden, but an injury to Jones opened the door for Tom Aspinall to win the interim belt against Sergei Pavlovich.
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 longtime rival Alex Pereira, the “Last Stylebender” knocking out the Brazilian to regain the middleweight belt that he lost to Pereira last year. However, Adesanya would drop the title again in September, suffering a stunning upset loss to Sean Strickland. Meanwhile, Pereira moved up to light-heavyweight and won the belt within two fights.
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Elsewhere, “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 remaining weeks of the year (cards subject to change):
Saturday 2 December – UFC Fight Night – Moody Center, Austin, US
Beneil Dariush is aiming to get back to winning ways at the top end of the lightweight division— (Getty Images)
Main card
Beneil Dariush vs Arman Tsarukyan (lightweight)
Jalin Turner vs Bobby Green (lightweight)
Rob Font vs Deiveson Figueiredo (bantamweight)
Sean Brady vs Kelvin Gastelum (welterweight)
Clay Guida vs Joaquim Silva (lightweight)
Punahele Soriano vs Dustin Stoltzfus (middleweight)
Prelims
Miesha Tate vs Julia Avila (women’s bantamweight)
Zach Reese vs Cody Brundage (middleweight)
Drakkar Klose vs Joe Solecki (lightweight)
Steve Garcia vs Melquizael Costa (featherweight)
Rodolfo Bellato vs Ihor Potieria (light-heavyweight)
Wellington Turman vs Jared Gooden (welterweight)
Veronica Hardy vs Jamey-Lyn Horth (women’s flyweight)
Saturday 9 December – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
UFC bantamweight contender Song Yadong— (Getty Images)
Main card
Song Yadong vs Chris Gutierrez (bantamweight)
Anthony Smith vs Khalil Rountree Jr (light-heavyweight)
Sumudaerji vs Allan Nascimento (flyweight)
Nasrat Haqparast vs Jamie Mullarkey (lightweight)
Jun-yong Park vs Andre Muniz (middleweight)
Prelims
Song Kenan vs Kevin Jousset (welterweight)
Hyun Sung Park vs Shannon Ross (flyweight)
Luana Santos vs Stephanie Egger (women’s bantamweight)
Tatsuro Taira vs Carlos Hernandez (flyweight)
Rayanne Amanda vs Talita Alencar (women’s strawweight)
Saturday 16 December – UFC 296 – T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, US
Leon Edwards will make the second defence of his UFC welterweight title (Kieran Cleeves/PA)— (PA Wire)
Main card
Leon Edwards (C) vs Colby Covington (welterweight title)
Alexandre Pantoja (C) vs Brandon Royval 2 (flyweight title)
Shavkat Rahkmonov vs Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson (welterweight)
Tony Ferguson vs Paddy Pimblett (lightweight)
Vicente Luque vs Ian Machado Garry (welterweight)
Prelims
Josh Emmett vs Giga Chikadze (featherweight)
Irene Aldana vs Karol Rosa (women’s bantamweight)
Cody Garbrandt vs Brian Kelleher (bantamweight)
Casey O’Neill vs Ariane Lipski (women’s flyweight)
Early prelims
Alonzo Menifield vs Dustin Jacoby (light-heavyweight)
Martin Buday vs Shamil Gaziev (heavyweight)
Tagir Ulanbekov vs Cody Durden (flyweight)
Andre Fili vs Lucas Almeida (featherweight)
Martin Buday vs Shamil Gaziev (heavyweight)
Randy Brown vs Muslim Salikhov (welterweight)
Saturday 13 January – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
Magomed Anakalaev is held back after a controversial end to his first fight with Johnny Walker— (AFP via Getty Images)
Main card
Magomed Ankalaev vs Johnny Walker 2 (light-heavyweight)
Matheus Nicolau vs Manel Kape (flyweight)
Jim Miller vs Gabriel Benitez (lightweight)
Ketlen Vieira vs Macy Chiasson (women’s bantamweight)
Ricky Simon vs Mario Bautista (bantamweight)
Phil Hawes vs Brunno Ferreira (middleweight)
Prelims
Andrei Arlovski vs Waldo Cortes-Acosta (heavyweight)
Bassil Hafez vs Preston Parsons (welterweight)
Marcus McGhee vs Gaston Bolanos (bantamweight)
Yana Santos vs Norma Dumont (women’s bantamweight)
Farid Basharat vs Taylor Lapilus (bantamweight)
Gabriel Santos vs Westin Wilson (featherweight)
Felipe Bunes vs Denys Bondar (flyweight)
Saturday 20 January – UFC 297 – Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, Canada
A tearful Sean Strickland was crowned UFC middleweight champion in September— (Getty Images)
Sean Strickland (C) vs Dricus Du Plessis (middleweight title)
Raquel Pennington vs Mayra Bueno Silva (vacant women’s bantamweight title)
Jan Blachowicz vs Aleksandar Rakic 2 (light-heavyweight)
Arnold Allen vs Movsar Evloev (featherweight)
Dominick Reyes vs Carlos Ulberg (light-heavyweight)
Neil Magny vs Mike Malott (welterweight)
Brad Katona vs Garrett Armfield (bantamweight)
Chris Curtis vs Marc-Andre Barriault (middleweight)
Charles Jourdain vs Sean Woodson (featherweight)
Gillian Robertson vs Polyana Viana (women’s strawweight)
Serhiy Sidey vs Ramon Taveras (bantamweight)
Yohan Lainesse vs Sam Patterson (welterweight)
Jasmine Jasudavicius vs Priscila Cachoeira (women’s flyweight)
Malcolm Gordon vs Jimmy Flick (flyweight)
Saturday 3 February – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
UFC middleweight contender Roman Dolidze— (Getty Images)
Roman Dolidze vs Nassourdine Imavov (middleweight)
Saturday 10 February – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
Jack Hermansson vs Joe Pyfer (middleweight)
Saturday 17 February – UFC 298 – Honda Center, Anaheim, US
Alexander Volkanovski (C) vs Ilia Topuria (featherweight title)
Saturday 9 March – UFC 299 – TBA
Sean O’Malley (C) vs Marlon “Chito” Vera 2 (bantamweight title)
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