Another 12 months of UFC motion has handed its halfway level, as followers come to phrases with Conor McGregor’s long-awaited return being delayed till 2024.
McGregor has not fought since breaking his leg in July 2021 and was on account of battle Michael Chandler this spring or summer time, however the bout remains to be with no date, location and weight class – all we all know is that it received’t happen in 2023. Thankfully for the UFC, new stars have emerged elsewhere to maintain audiences engaged.
In one of many largest fights of 2023, light-weight champion Islam Makhachev retained his title towards featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski in February. Then, in March, light-heavyweight icon Jon Jones moved as much as 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 towards Kamaru Usman in London, seven months after taking the title from the “Nigerian Nightmare” with a shocking head kick. April then kicked off with Israel Adesanya lastly beating longtime rival Alex Pereira, the “Last Stylebender” knocking out the Brazilian to regain the middleweight belt that he misplaced to Pereira final 12 months. However, Adesanya would drop the title once more in August, struggling a shocking upset loss to Sean Strickland.
Meanwhile, “Sugar” Sean O’Malley accomplished his swift rise by way of the bantamweight rankings by taking the belt from Aljamain Sterling in August, knocking out the Jamaican-American within the second spherical. There are a lot extra big fights to return, too. Here is each bout and occasion introduced by the UFC for the approaching weeks and months (playing cards topic to alter):
Saturday 24 September – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
UFC light-weight contender Rafael Fiziev (left) in motion in 2021
(Zuffa LLC)
Main card
Rafael Fiziev vs Mateusz Gamrot (light-weight)
Bryce Mitchell vs Dan Ige (featherweight)
Marina Rodriguez vs Michelle Waterson-Gomez (ladies’s strawweight)
Bryan Battle vs AJ Fletcher (welterweight)
Ricardo Ramos vs Charles Jourdain (featherweight)
Prelims
Dan Argueta vs Miles Johns (bantamweight)
Tim Means vs Andre Fialho (welterweight)
Jacob Malkoun vs Cody Brundage (middleweight)
Mohammed Usman vs Jake Collier (heavyweight)
Mizuki Inoue vs Hannah Goldy (ladies’s strawweight)
Montserrat Rendon vs Tamires Vidal (ladies’s bantamweight)
Saturday 7 October – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas
Bobby Green (left) is without doubt one of the UFC’s most entertaining strikers
(Getty Images)
Main card
Grant Dawson vs Bobby Green (light-weight)
Joe Pyfer vs Abdul Razak Alhassan (middleweight)
Alex Morono vs Joaquin Buckley (welterweight)
Drew Dober vs Ricky Glenn (light-weight)
Philipe Lins vs Ion Cutelaba (light-heavyweight)
Alexander Hernandez vs Bill Algeo (featherweight)
Prelims
Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs Diana Belbita (ladies’s strawweight)
Chris Gutierrez vs Montel Jackson (bantamweight)
Aoriqileng vs Johnny Munoz (bantamweight)
Vanessa Demopoulos vs Kanako Murata (ladies’s strawweight)
Nate Maness vs Mateus Mendonca (flyweight)
Montana De La Rosa vs Stephanie Egger (ladies’s 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)
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