UFC 2023 schedule: Every major fight happening this year
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 summer, though new stars have emerged elsewhere and will help to keep audiences engaged.
In one of the biggest fights of 2023, recently crowned lightweight champion Islam Makhachev will defend his title against featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski, with the pair scheduled to meet on the latter’s home turf in Australia in February. Furthermore, former pound-for-pound No 1 Kamaru Usman will try to regain the welterweight title from Leon Edwards, who dethroned the Nigerian-American with a stunning knockout in August 2022. The pair’s rematch – their third clash, in fact – is set to headline March’s London card, after Edwards’ title triumph made him just the second British UFC champion ever.
And we will finally see light-heavyweight ‘GOAT’ Jon Jones move up to heavyweight, as he fights Ciryl Gane for the championship vacated by Francis Ngannou, who has now left the UFC.
Here is every fight and event announced by the mixed martial arts promotion for the coming weeks and months (cards subject to change):
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 (women’s flyweight title)
Geoff Neal vs Shavkat Rakhmonov (welterweight)
Mateusz Gamrot vs Jalin Turner (lightweight)
Bo Nickal vs Jamie Pickett (middleweight)
Prelims
Cody Garbrandt vs Trevin Jones (bantamweight)
Derek Brunson vs Dricus Du Plessis (middleweight)
Viviane Araujo vs Amanda Ribas (women’s flyweight)
Julian Marquez vs Marc-Andre Barriault (middleweight)
Early prelims
Ian Machado Garry vs Song Kenan (welterweight)
Mana Martinez vs Cameron Saaiman (bantamweight)
Jessica Penne vs Tabatha Ricci (women’s strawweight)
Da’Mon Blackshear vs Farid Basharat (bantamweight)
Kamuela Kirk vs Esteban Ribovics (lightweight)
Saturday 11 March – UFC Fight Night – The Theater, Las Vegas, US
Main card
Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili (bantamweight)
Alexander Volkov vs Alexandr Romanov (heavyweight)
Ricardo Ramos vs Austin Lingo (featherweight)
Vitor Petrino vs Anton Turkalj (light-heavyweight)
Said Nurmagomedov vs Jonathan Martinez (bantamweight)
Prelims
Raphael Assuncao vs Kyler Phillips (bantamweight)
Karl Williams vs Lukasz Brzeski (heavyweight)
Mario Bautista vs Guido Cannetti (bantamweight)
Victory Henry vs Tony Gravely (bantamweight)
Sedriques Dumas vs Abu Azaitar (middleweight)
Ariane Lipski vs JJ Aldrich (women’s flyweight)
Tyson Nam vs Bruno Silva (flyweight)
Saturday 18 March – UFC 286 – O2 Arena, London, UK
Main card
Leon Edwards (C) vs Kamaru Usman 3 (welterweight title)
Justin Gaethje vs Rafael Fiziev (lightweight)
Joanne Wood vs Luana Carolina (women’s flyweight)
Gunnar Nelson vs Bryan Barberena (welterweight)
Marvin Vettori vs Roman Dolidze (middleweight)
Prelims
Jack Shore vs Makwan Amirkhani (featherweight)
Jennifer Maia vs Casey O’Neill (women’s flyweight)
Sam Patterson vs Yanal Ashmoz (lightweight)
Muhammad Mokaev vs Jafel Filho (flyweight)
Early prelims
Jai Herbert vs Ludovit Klein (lightweight)
Christian Leroy Duncan vs Dusko Todorovic (middleweight)
Jake Hadley vs Malcolm Gordon (flyweight)
Juliana Miller vs Veronica Macedo (women’s flyweight)
Saturday 25 March – UFC Fight Night – AT&T Center, San Antonio, US
Marlon Vera vs Cory Sandhagen (bantamweight)
Holly Holm vs Yana Santos (women’s bantamweight)
Alex Perez vs Manel Kape (flyweight)
Alex Caceres vs Nate Landwehr (featherweight)
Chidi Njokuani vs Albert Duraev (middleweight)
Daniel Pineda vs Tucker Lutz (featherweight)
Steven Peterson vs Lucas Alexander (featherweight)
Trevin Giles vs Preston Parsons (welterweight)
Liang Na vs Brogan Walker (women’s flyweight)
CJ Vergara vs Daniel Da Silva (flyweight)
Andrea Lee vs Maycee Barber (women’s flyweight)
Saturday 8 April – UFC 287 – Miami-Dade Arena, Miami, US
Alex Pereira (C) vs Israel Adesanya 2 (middleweight title)
Gilbert Burns vs Jorge Masvidal (welterweight)
Kevin Holland vs Santiago Ponzinibbio (welterweight)
Raul Rosas Jr vs Christian Rodriguez (bantamweight)
Rob Font vs Adrian Yanez (bantamweight)
Gerald Meerschaert vs Joe Pyfer (middleweight)
Saturday 15 April – UFC Fight Night – T-Mobile Center, Kansas, US
Max Holloway vs Arnold Allen (featherweight)
