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Another year of UFC action is under way, with several title fights and fan-friendly match-ups already in the books and on the calendar.
The UFC’s year kicked off on 24 January, as Paddy Pimblett fought for gold for the first time, but hopes of a Liverpudlian title win collapsed as he was thoroughly beaten up by Justin Gaethje, who claimed the interim lightweight belt on points. Next for Gaethje is a unification fight with superstar Ilia Topuria at the White House.
Just seven days after that Gaethje’s win, Alexander Volkanovski fended off Diego Lopes for the second time, outpointing the Brazilian again to retain the featherweight strap and extend his second reign as champ. Max Holloway then lost his “Baddest Motherf*****” title in an annihilation at the hands of fellow legend Charles Oliveira at the start of March, while April brought a vacant-title fight in Miami: Carlos Ulberg overcoming an injury to knock out ex-champ Jiri Prochazka at 205lb.
All roads lead to the White House, however, where Topuria and Gaethje clash in June, with support from Alex Pereira vs Ciryl Gane – an interim heavyweight title fight.
Check out all of the UFC’s confirmed fights for 2026, below (cards subject to change; ‘C’ denotes champion):
Saturday 2 May – UFC Fight Night – RAC Arena, Perth, Australia
Former UFC welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena (Getty Images)
Main card
Jack Della Maddalena vs Carlos Prates (welterweight)
Beneil Dariush vs Quillan Salkilld (lightweight)
Tim Elliott vs Steve Erceg (flyweight)
Marwan Rahiki vs Ollie Schmid (featherweight)
Shamil Gaziev vs Brando Pericic (heavyweight)
Tai Tuivasa vs Louie Sutherland (heavyweight)
Prelims
Cam Rowston vs Robert Bryczek (middleweight)
Junior Tafa vs Kevin Christian (light-heavyweight)
Jacob Malkoun vs Gerald Meerschaert (middleweight)
Colby Thicknesse vs Vince Morales (bantamweight)
Ben Johnston vs Wes Schultz (middleweight)
Jonathan Micallef vs Themba Gorimbo (welterweight)
Dom Mar Fan vs Kody Steele (lightweight)
Saturday 9 May – UFC 328 – Prudential Center, Newark, US
Khamzat Chimaev is interviewed by Joe Rogan after winning middleweight gold (Getty Images)
Main card
Khamzat Chimaev (C) vs Sean Strickland (middleweight title)
Joshua Van (C) vs Tatsuro Taira (flyweight title)
Alexander Volkov vs Waldo Cortes-Acosta (heavyweight)
Sean Brady vs Joaquin Buckley (welterweight)
King Green vs Jeremy Stephens (lightweight)
Prelims
Ateba Gautier vs Ozzy Diaz (middleweight)
Joel Alvarez vs Yaroslav Amosov (welterweight)
Grant Dawson vs Mateusz Rebecki (lightweight)
Jim Miller vs Jared Gordon (lightweight)
Early prelims
Roman Kopylov vs Marco Tulio (middleweight)
Pat Sabatini vs William Gomis (featherweight)
Baisangur Susurkaev vs Djorden Santos (middleweight)
Clayton Carpenter vs Jose Ochoa (flyweight)
Saturday 16 May – UFC Fight Night – Meta Apex, Las Vegas, US
Britain’s Arnold Allen before his fight with Jean Silva (Getty Images)
Main card
Arnold Allen vs Melquizael Costa (featherweight)
Dooho Choi vs Daniel Santos (featherweight)
Malcolm Wellmaker vs Juan Diaz (bantamweight)
Modestas Bukauskas vs Rodolfo Bellato (light-heavyweight)
Timmy Cuamba vs Benardo Sopaj (bantamweight)
Prelims
Jeremiah Wells vs Nicolas Dalby (welterweight)
Tuco Tokkos vs Ivan Erslan (light-heavyweight)
Trey Ogden vs Thomas Gantt (lightweight)
Ketlen Vieira vs Jacqueline Cavalcanti (women’s bantamweight)
Cody Brundage vs Andre Petroski (middleweight)
Alice Ardelean vs Polyana Viana (women’s strawweight)
Daniel Barez vs Luis Gurule (flyweight)
Shauna Bannon vs Nicolle Caliari (women’s strawweight)
Saturday 30 May – UFC Fight Night – Galaxy Arena, Macao
Deiveson Figueiredo (right) is a former two-time flyweight champion (Getty Images)
Main card
Song Yadong vs Deiveson Figueiredo (bantamweight)
Zhang Mingyang vs Alonzo Menifield (light-heavyweight)
Sergei Pavlovich vs Tallison Teixeira (heavyweight)
Kai Asakura vs Cameron Smotherman (bantamweight)
Zhu Kangjie vs Ramon Taveras (featherweight)
Alex Perez vs Sumudaerji (flyweight)
Prelims
Muslim Salikhov vs Jake Matthews (welterweight)
Yi Sak Lee vs Luis Dias de Assis (middleweight)
Aoriquileng vs Cody Haddon (bantamweight)
Rei Tsuruya vs Jesus Aguilar (flyweight)
Angela Hill vs Jingnan Xiong (women’s strawweight)
Loma Lookboonmee vs Jaqueline Amorim (women’s strawweight)
Saturday 6 June – UFC Fight Night – Meta Apex, Las Vegas, US
Belal Muhammad (top) is a former UFC welterweight champion (Getty)
Belal Muhammad vs Gabriel Bonfim (welterweight)
Brendan Allen vs Edmen Shahbazyan (middleweight)
Bryce Mitchell vs Victor Henry (bantamweight)
Iwo Baraniewski vs Billy Elekana (light-heavyweight)
Imanol Rodriguez vs Matt Schnell (flyweight)
Marcus McGhee vs Jakub Wiklacz (bantamweight)
Bruno Silva vs Edgar Chairez (flyweight)
Jordan Leavitt vs Joanderson Brito (featherweight)
Fares Ziam vs Tom Nolan (lightweight)
Ketlen Souza vs Ariane Carnelossi (women’s strawweight)
Priscila Cachoeira vs Chelsea Chandler (women’s bantamweight)
Jeisla Chaves vs Yuneisy Duben (women’s flyweight)
Sunday 14 June – UFC Freedom 250 – White House, Washington DC, US
Ilia Topuria (C) vs Justin Gaethje (lightweight title)
Alex Pereira vs Ciryl Gane (interim heavyweight title)
Sean O’Malley vs Aiemann Zahabi (bantamweight)
Derrick Lewis vs Josh Hokit (heavyweight)
Mauricio Ruffy vs Michael Chandler (lightweight)
Bo Nickal vs Kyle Daukaus (middleweight)
Diego Lopes vs Steve Garcia (featherweight)
Saturday 20 June – UFC Fight Night – Meta Apex, Las Vegas, US
Manel Kape (left) may be one win from a flyweight title shot (Getty)
Manel Kape vs Kyoji Horiguchi (flyweight)
Ion Cutelaba vs Navajo Stirling (light-heavyweight)
Andre Lima vs Kevin Borjas (flyweight)
Hyder Amil vs Christian Rodriguez (featherweight)
Bia Mesquita vs Melissa Mullins (women’s bantamweight)
Allan Nascimento vs Mitch Raposo (flyweight)
Saturday 27 June – UFC Fight Night – Baku Crystal Hall, Baku, Azerbaijan
TBA vs TBA
Saturday 11 July – UFC 329 – T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, US
Wrestler-turned-mixed martial artist Gable Stevenson (Getty)
TBA vs TBA
Gable Steveson vs TBA
Saturday 1 August – UFC Fight Night – Belgrade Arena, Belgrade, Serbia
TBA vs TBA
Saturday 15 August – UFC 330 – Xfinity Mobile Arena, Philadelphia, US
TBA vs TBA
