Another year of UFC action is upon us, as fans anticipate Conor McGregor’s long-awaited return to the Octagon as well as some major title fights.
McGregor, who remains the face of the sport, has not competed since breaking his leg in July 2021 but is due to fight Michael Chandler this autumn, though new stars have emerged elsewhere to help keep audiences engaged.
In one of the biggest fights of 2023, lightweight champion Islam Makhachev retained his title against featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski, narrowly winning a decision on the latter’s home turf in Australia in February. Then, in March, light-heavyweight ‘GOAT’ Jon Jones moved up to heavyweight after three years away, submitting Ciryl Gane in the first round to win the title vacated by Francis Ngannou in January, when the latter left the UFC.
Later in March, Britain’s Leon Edwards retained the welterweight belt with a decision win over 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 33-year-old knocking out the Brazilian to regain the middleweight belt that he lost to Pereira in November.
There are plenty more title fights to come, too, starting with Henry Cejudo’s return after a long absence to challenge Aljamain Sterling for the bantamweight belt in May. Here is every fight and event announced by the mixed martial arts promotion for the coming weeks and months (cards subject to change):
Saturday 15 April – UFC Fight Night – T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, US
Main card
Max Holloway vs Arnold Allen (featherweight)
Edson Barboza vs Billy Quarantillo (featherweight)
Dustin Jacoby vs Azamat Murzakanov (light-heavyweight)
Tanner Boser vs Ion Cutelaba (light-heavyweight)
Pedro Munhoz vs Chris Gutierrez (bantamweight)
Clay Guida vs Rafa Garcia (lightweight)
Prelims
Bill Algeo vs TJ Brown (featherweight)
Brandon Royval vs Matheus Nicolau (flyweight)
Zak Cummings vs Ed Herman (light-heavyweight)
Gillian Robertson vs Piera Rodriguez (women’s strawweight)
Lando Vannata vs Daniel Zellhuber (lightweight)
Bruna Brasil vs Denise Gomes (women’s strawweight)
Aaron Phillips vs Gaston Bolanos (bantamweight)
Joselyne Edwards vs Lucie Pudilova (women’s bantamweight)
Saturday 22 April – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
Main card
Sergei Pavlovich vs Curtis Blaydes (heavyweight)
Song Yadong vs Ricky Simon (bantamweight)
Brad Tavares vs Bruno Silva (middleweight)
Bobby Green vs Jared Gordon (lightweight)
Iasmin Lucindo vs Brogan Walker (women’s flyweight)
Jeremiah Wells vs Matthew Semelsberger (welterweight)
Prelims
Ricky Glenn vs Christos Giagos (lightweight)
Rani Yahya vs Montel Jackson (bantamweight)
Karol Rosa vs Norma Dumont (women’s featherweight)
Rafael Estevam vs Carlos Candelario (flyweight)
Mohammed Usman vs Junior Tafa (heavyweight)
Francis Marshall vs William Gomis (featherweight)
Priscila Cachoeira vs Karine Silva (women’s flyweight)
Brady Hiestand vs Batgerel Danaa (bantamweight)
Saturday 29 April – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
Main card
Caio Borralho vs Michal Oleksiejczuk (middleweight)
Rodolfo Vieira vs Cody Brundage (middleweight)
Emily Ducote vs Polyana Viana (women’s strawweight)
Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs Waldo Cortes Acosta (heavyweight)
Josh Quinlan vs Ange Loosa (welterweight)
Prelims
Martin Buday vs Jake Collier (heavyweight)
Julian Erosa vs Fernando Padilla (featherweight)
Nathan Levy vs Pete Rodriguez (lightweight)
Cody Durden vs Charles Johnson (flyweight)
Stephanie Egger vs Irina Alekseeva (woman’s bantamweight)
Brian Kelleher vs Journey Newson (bantamweight)
Hailey Cowan vs Jamey-Lin Horth (women’s bantamweight)
Saturday 6 May – UFC 288 – Prudential Center, Newark, US
Aljamain Sterling (C) vs Henry Cejudo (bantamweight title)
Bryce Mitchell vs Jonathan Pearce (featherweight)
Kron Gracie vs Charles Jourdain (featherweight)
Jessica Andrade vs Yan Xiaonan (women’s strawweight)
Marina Rodriguez vs Virna Jandiroba (women’s strawweight)
Kennedy Nzechukwu vs Devin Clark (light-heavyweight)
Andre Petroski vs Armen Petrosyan (middleweight)
Khaos Williams vs Rolando Bedoya (welterweight)
Marina Rodriguez vs Virna Jandiroba (women’s strawweight)
Nate Maness vs Zhalgas Zhumagulov (flyweight)
Daniel Santos vs Johnny Munoz (bantamweight)
Saturday 13 May – UFC Fight Night – Spectrum Center, Charlotte, US
Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs Jailton Almeida (heavyweight)
Anthony Smith vs Johnny Walker (light-heavyweight)
Ian Machado Garry vs Daniel Rodriguez (welterweight)
Mackenzie Dern vs Angela Hill (women’s strawweight)
Carlos Ulberg vs Ihor Potieria (light-heavyweight)
Tim Means vs Alex Morono (welterweight)
Bryan Battle vs Gabe Green (welterweight)
Matt Brown vs Court McGee (welterweight)
Cody Stamann vs Douglas Silva De Andrade (bantamweight)
Jessica-Rose Clark vs Tainara Lisboa (women’s bantamweight)
Ji Yeon Kim vs Mandy Bohm (women’s flyweight)
Saturday 10 June – UFC 289 – Rogers Arena, Vancouver, Canada
Amanda Nunes (C) vs Julianna Pena 3 (women’s bantamweight title)
Saturday 8 July – UFC 290 – T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, US
TBA vs TBA
Alexander Volkanovski (C) vs Yair Rodriguez (IC) (featherweight title) [TBC]
Saturday 21 October – UFC 294 – Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, UAE
TBA vs TBA
