Another 12 months of UFC motion has handed its halfway level, as followers anticipate Conor McGregor’s long-awaited return to the Octagon in addition to some main title fights.
McGregor, who stays the face of the game, has not competed since breaking his leg in July 2021 however is because of struggle Michael Chandler a while late this 12 months or early subsequent, although new stars have emerged elsewhere to assist maintain audiences engaged.
In one of many greatest fights of 2023, light-weight champion Islam Makhachev retained his title towards featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski, narrowly profitable a call on the latter’s house turf in Australia in February. Then, in March, light-heavyweight ‘GOAT’ Jon Jones moved as much as heavyweight after three years away, submitting Ciryl Gane within the first spherical 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 call win over Kamaru Usman in London, seven months after taking the title from the “Nigerian Nightmare” with a surprising head kick. April then kicked off with Israel Adesanya lastly beating long-time rival Alex Pereira, the 33-year-old knocking out the Brazilian to regain the middleweight belt that he misplaced to Pereira in November.
There are loads extra title fights to come back, too. Here is each struggle and occasion introduced by the combined martial arts promotion for the approaching weeks and months (playing cards topic to vary)
Saturday 19 August – UFC 292 – TD Garden, Boston, US
Aljamain Sterling defends the UFC bantamweight belt once more
(Getty Images)
Aljamain Sterling (C) vs Sean O’Malley (bantamweight title)
Zhang Weili (C) vs Amanda Lemos (ladies’s strawweight title)
Marlon Vera vs Pedro Munhoz (bantamweight)
Neil Magny vs Ian Machado Garry (welterweight)
Cody Garbrandt vs Mario Bautista (bantamweight)
Marlon Vera vs Pedro Munhoz (bantamweight)
Chris Weidman vs Brad Tavares (middleweight)
Gregory Rodrigues vs Denis Tiuliulin (middleweight)
Austin Hubbard vs Kurt Holobaugh (light-weight)
Andre Petroski vs Gerald Meerschaert (middleweight)
Andrea Lee vs Natalia Silva (ladies’s flyweight)
Karine Silva vs Maryna Moroz (ladies’s flyweight)
Saturday 26 August – UFC Fight Night – Singapore Indoor Stadium, Singapore
Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway
(Getty Images)
Main card
Max Holloway vs “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung (featherweight)
Anthony Smith vs Ryan Spann (light-heavyweight)
Giga Chikadze vs Alex Caceres (featherweight)
Rinya Nakamura vs Fernie Garcia (bantamweight)
Taila Santos vs Erin Blanchfield (ladies’s flyweight)
Junior Tafa vs Parker Porter (heavyweight)
Prelims
Waldo Cortes Acosta vs Lukasz Brzeski (heavyweight)
Toshiomi Kazama vs Garrett Armfield (bantamweight)
Chidi Njokuani vs Michal Oleksiejczuk (middleweight)
Billy Goff vs Yusaku Kinoshita (welterweight)
Song Kenan vs Rolando Bedoya (welterweight)
Liang Na vs JJ Aldrich (ladies’s flyweight)
SeungWoo Choi vs Jarno Errens (featherweight)
Saturday 2 September – UFC Fight Night – Accor Arena, Paris, France
Former interim UFC heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane
(AFP by way of Getty Images)
Ciryl Gane vs Sergey Spivak (heavyweight)
Manon Fiorot vs Rose Namajunas (ladies’s flyweight)
Volkan Oezdemir vs Azamat Murzakanov (light-heavyweight)
Morgan Charriere vs Manolo Zecchini (featherweight)
Yannis Ghemmouri vs Caolan Loughran (bantamweight)
Benoit Saint-Denis vs Thiago Moises (light-weight)
Ange Loosa vs Rhys McKee (welterweight)
William Gomis vs Lucas Almeida (featherweight)
Zarah Fairn vs Hailey Cowan (ladies’s bantamweight)
Nora Cornolle vs Joselyne Edwards (ladies’s bantamweight)
Sunday 10 September – UFC 293 – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, Australia
(Getty Images)
Israel Adesanya vs Sean Strickland (middleweight title)
Tai Tuivasa vs Alexander Volkov (heavyweight)
Jamie Mullarkey vs John Makdessi (light-weight)
Kai Kara-France vs Manel Kape (flyweight)
Carlos Ulberg vs Da Woon Jung (light-heavyweight)
Tyson Pedro vs Anton Turkalj (light-heavyweight)
Justin Tafa vs Austen Lane (heavyweight)
Jack Jenkins vs Chepe Mariscal (featherweight)
Shane Young vs Gabriel Miranda (featherweight)
Mike Diamond vs Charlie Radtke (welterweight)
Viviane Araujo vs Casey O’Neill (ladies’s flyweight)
Saturday 16 September – UFC Fight Night – T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, US
Alexa Grasso (proper) celebrates dethroning Valentina Shevchenko
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Alexa Grasso (C) vs Valentina Shevchenko 2 (ladies’s flyweight title)
Kelvin Gastelum vs Shavkat Rakhmonov (welterweight)
Tracy Cortez vs Jasmine Jasudavicius (ladies’s flyweight)
Cynthia Calvillo vs Elise Reed (ladies’s strawweight)
Edgar Chairez vs Daniel Lacerda (flyweight)
Chris Curtis vs Anthony Hernandez (middleweight)
Loopy Godinez vs Sam Hughes (ladies’s strawweight)
Saturday 24 September – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
Rafael Fiziev vs Mateusz Gamrot (light-weight)
Bruno Silva vs Cody Durden (flyweight)
Saturday 21 October – UFC 294 – Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira will sq. off for the light-weight title once more
(AFP by way of Getty Images)
Islam Makhachev (C) vs Charles Oliveira (light-weight 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)