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 as vocal as ever about a return, 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 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 (lightweight)
Jeongyeong Li vs Yi Zha (featherweight)
Toshiomi Kazama vs Rinya Nakamura (bantamweight)
Seungguk Choi vs Hyunsung Park (flyweight)
Ji Yeon Kim vs Many Bohm (women’s flyweight)
Junyong Park vs Denis Tiuliulin (middleweight)
Tatsuro Taira vs Jesus Aguilar (flyweight)
Saturday 11 February – UFC 284 – RAC Arena, Perth, Australia
Islam Makhachev (C) vs Alexander Volkanovski (featherweight champion) (lightweight title)
Yair Rodriguez vs Josh Emmett (interim featherweight title)
Jack Della Maddalena vs Randy Brown (welterweight)
Loma Lookboonmee vs Elise Reed (women’s strawweight)
Joel Alvarez vs Zubaira Tukhugov (lightweight)
Justin Tafa vs Parker Porter (heavyweight)
Tyson Pedro vs Zhang Mingyang (light-heavyweight)
Jimmy Crute vs Alonzo Menifield (light-heavyweight)
Josh Culibao vs Melsik Baghdasaryan (featherweight)
Shannon Ross vs Kleydson Rodrigues (flyweight)
Jack Jenkins vs Don Shainis (featherweight)
Saturday 18 February – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
Marlon Vera vs Cory Sandhagen (bantamweight)
Taila Santos vs Erin Blanchfield (women’s flyweight)
Saturday 25 February – UFC Fight Night – UFC Apex, Las Vegas, US
TBA vs TBA
Mike Malott vs Yohan Lainesse (welterweight)
Cortney Casey vs Jasmine Jasudavicius (women’s flyweight)
Saturday 4 March – UFC 285 – T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, US
Jon Jones vs Ciryl Gane (vacant heavyweight title)
Geoff Neal vs Shavkat Rakhmonov (welterweight)
Saturday 11 March – UFC Fight Night – The Theater, Las Vegas, US
Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili (bantamweight)
Saturday 18 March – UFC 286 – O2 Arena, London, UK
Leon Edwards (C) vs Kamaru Usman 3 (welterweight title)
Justin Gaethje vs Rafael Fiziev (lightweight)
Marvin Vettori vs Roman Dolidze (middleweight)
Nathaniel Wood vs Lerone Murphy (featherweight)
Joanne Wood vs Luana Carolina (women’s flyweight)
Jake Hadley vs Malcolm Gordon (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)
