UFC schedule 2023: Every major fight happening this year

Another year of UFC motion is upon us, as followers anticipate Conor McGregor’s long-awaited return to the Octagon in addition to some major title fights.

McGregor, who stays the face of the game, has not competed since breaking his leg in July 2021 however is as vocal as ever a couple of return, although new stars have emerged elsewhere and can assist to maintain audiences engaged.

In one of many greatest fights of 2023, just lately topped light-weight champion Islam Makhachev will defend his title in opposition to featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski, with the pair scheduled to satisfy on the latter’s house turf in Australia in February. Furthermore, former pound-for-pound No 1 Kamaru Usman will attempt to regain the welterweight title from Leon Edwards, who dethroned the Nigerian-American with a surprising knockout in August 2022. The pair’s rematch – their third conflict, in truth – is ready to headline March’s London card, after Edwards’ title triumph made him simply the second British UFC champion ever.

And we are going to lastly see light-heavyweight ‘GOAT’ Jon Jones transfer as much as heavyweight, as he fights Ciryl Gane for the championship vacated by Francis Ngannou, who has now left the UFC.

Here is each fight and occasion introduced by the combined martial arts promotion for the approaching weeks and months (playing cards topic to alter):

Saturday 4 February – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US

Main card

Derrick Lewis vs Serghei Spivac (heavyweight)

Da-un Jung vs Devin Clark (light-heavyweight)

Marcin Tybura vs Blagoy Ivanov (heavyweight)

Dooho Choi vs Kyle Nelson (featherweight)

Yusaku Kinoshita vs Adam Fugitt (welterweight)

Prelims

Jeka Saragih vs Anshul Jubli (light-weight)

Jeongyeong Li vs Yi Zha (featherweight)

Toshiomi Kazama vs Rinya Nakamura (bantamweight)

Seungguk Choi vs Hyunsung Park (flyweight)

Ji Yeon Kim vs Many Bohm (girls’s flyweight)

Junyong Park vs Denis Tiuliulin (middleweight)

Tatsuro Taira vs Jesus Aguilar (flyweight)

Saturday 11 February – UFC 284 – RAC Arena, Perth, Australia

Main card

Islam Makhachev (C) vs Alexander Volkanovski (featherweight champion) (light-weight title)

Yair Rodriguez vs Josh Emmett (interim featherweight title)

Jack Della Maddalena vs Randy Brown (welterweight)

Justin Tafa vs Parker Porter (heavyweight)

Jimmy Crute vs Alonzo Menifield (light-heavyweight)

Prelims

Tyson Pedro vs Zhang Mingyang (light-heavyweight)

Josh Culibao vs Melsik Baghdasaryan (featherweight)

Shannon Ross vs Kleydson Rodrigues (flyweight)

Jack Jenkins vs Don Shainis (featherweight)

Jamie Mullarkey vs Francisco Prado (light-weight)

Early prelims

Jack Jenkins vs Don Shainis (featherweight)

Loma Lookboonmee vs Elise Reed (girls’s strawweight)

Shane Young vs Blake Bilder (featherweight)

Zubaira Tukhugov vs Elves Brenner (light-weight)

Saturday 18 February – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US

Main card

Marlon Vera vs Cory Sandhagen (bantamweight)

Taila Santos vs Erin Blanchfield (girls’s flyweight)

Prelims

Joe Solecki vs Benoit Saint-Denis (light-weight)

Lina Lansberg vs Mayra Bueno Silva (girls’s bantamweight)

Ramiz Brahimaj vs Carlston Harris (welterweight)

Ovince Saint Preux vs Philipe Lins (light-heavyweight)

Saturday 25 February – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US

Main card

TBA vs TBA

Andre Fili vs Lucas Almeida (featherweight)

Augusto Sakai vs Don’Tale Mayes (heavyweight)

Tatiana Suarez vs Montana De La Rosa (girls’s flyweight)

Mike Malott vs Yohan Lainesse (welterweight)

Andre Muniz vs Brendan Allen (middleweight)

Prelims

Jasmine Jasudavicius vs Gabriella Fernandes (girls’s flyweight)

Rafael Alves vs Narullo Aliev (featherweight)

Saturday 4 March – UFC 285 – T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, US

Main card

Jon Jones vs Ciryl Gane (vacant heavyweight title)

Valentina Shevchenko (C) vs Alexa Grasso (girls’s flyweight title)

Dan Hooker vs Jalin Turner (light-weight)

Geoff Neal vs Shavkat Rakhmonov (welterweight)

Bo Nickal vs Jamie Pickett (middleweight)

Derek Brunson vs Dricus Du Plessis (middleweight)

Prelims

Ian Machado Garry vs Song Kenan (welterweight)

Cody Garbrandt vs Julio Arce (bantamweight)

Viviane Araujo vs Amanda Ribas (girls’s flyweight)

Juulian Marquez vs Marc-Andre Barriault (middleweight)

Jessica Penne vs Tabatha Ricci (girls’s strawweight)

Da’Mon Blackshear vs Farid Basharat (bantamweight)

Kamuela Kirk vs Esteban Ribovics (light-weight)

Saturday 11 March – UFC Fight Night – The Theater, Las Vegas, US

Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili (bantamweight)

Alexander Volkov vs Alexandr Romanov (heavyweight)

Ricardo Ramos vs Austin Lingo (featherweight)

Raphael Assuncao vs Kyler Phillips (bantamweight)

Vitor Petrino vs Anton Turkalj (light-heavyweight)

Karl Williams vs Lukasz Brzeski (heavyweight)

Mario Bautista vs Guido Cannetti (bantamweight)

Said Nurmagomedov vs Jonathan Martinez (bantamweight)

Victory Henry vs Tony Gravely (bantamweight)

Sedriques Dumas vs Abu Azaitar (middleweight)

Ariane Lipski vs JJ Aldrich (girls’s flyweight)

Tyson Nam vs Bruno Silva (flyweight)

Saturday 18 March – UFC 286 – O2 Arena, London, UK

Leon Edwards (C) vs Kamaru Usman 3 (welterweight title)

Justin Gaethje vs Rafael Fiziev (light-weight)

Gunnar Nelson vs Daniel Rodriguez (welterweight)

Marvin Vettori vs Roman Dolidze (middleweight)

Jack Shore vs Makwan Amirkhani (featherweight)

Sam Patterson vs Yanal Ashmoz (light-weight)

Muhammad Mokaev vs Jafel Filho (flyweight)

Jai Herbert vs Ludovit Klein (light-weight)

Nathaniel Wood vs Lerone Murphy (featherweight)

Christian Leroy Duncan vs Dusko Todorovic (middleweight)

Joanne Wood vs Luana Carolina (girls’s flyweight)

Jake Hadley vs Malcolm Gordon (flyweight)

Juliana Miller vs Veronica Macedo (girls’s flyweight)

Saturday 25 March – UFC Fight Night – AT&T Center, San Antonio, US

TBA vs TBA

Saturday 8 April – UFC 287 – TBC

Alex Pereira (C) vs Israel Adesanya 2 (middleweight title)

Gilbert Burns vs Jorge Masvidal (welterweight)

Kevin Holland vs Santiago Ponzinibbio (welterweight)

Paul Rosas Jr vs Christian Rodriguez (bantamweight)

Rob Font vs Adrian Yanez (bantamweight)

Gerald Meerschaert vs Joe Pyfer (middleweight)