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.
Volkanovski’s Title Defence and Oliveira’s Win
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.
Upcoming Fights at the White House
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.
Confirmed UFC Fights for 2026
Check out all of the UFC’s confirmed fights for 2026, below (cards subject to change; ‘C’ denotes champion):
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- Ateba Gautier vs Ozzy Diaz (middleweight)
- Joel Alvarez vs Yaroslav Amosov (welterweight)
- Grant Dawson vs Mateusz Rebecki (lightweight)
- Jim Miller vs Jared Gordon (lightweight)
- Roman Kopylov vs Marco Tulio (middleweight)
- Pat Sabatini vs William Gomis (featherweight)
- Baisangur Susurkaev vs Djorden Santos (middleweight)
- Clayton Carpenter vs Jose Ochoa (flyweight)
- 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)
- 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 Ardel