Five biggest UFC fights to watch in early 2026

In a sport that doesn’t have an off-season, these six weeks we’re in are as close to one as the UFC gets. That’s how long MMA’s biggest promotion is pausing between cards, from a Fight Night event on Dec. 13 to UFC 324 on Jan. 24.

As we near the end of that unusual 41-day gap, and the beginning of UFC’s new broadcast partnership with Paramount+, the company is preparing to churn through a backlog of inventory with events on 11 of 12 weekends from UFC 324 through early April.

Here are the five biggest fights booked along the way. 

Paddy Pimblett vs. Justin Gaethje

Setting aside the complicated circumstances that led to its booking — Islam Makhachev’s move to welterweight, lightweight champion Ilia Topuria’s personal troubles, Arman Tsarukyan’s continuing promotional punishment — Paddy Pimblett vs. Justin Gaethje is a compelling matchup in a vacuum.

It’s a matchup of a pair of fan favourites with entertaining styles: Gaethje, the throwback veteran litmus testing a rising star; Pimblett, the outsized personality nurtured by social media meeting a no-nonsense, fighter’s fighter. Regardless of how much you value the interim 155-pound title on the line, these are two athletes who carry chaos and electricity with them into the octagon.

And we stand to learn a lot. Pimblett’s strength of schedule has been undeniably soft and now we finally see him tested against one of the most devastating strikers in the division. And Gaethje’s waging what must be his final run at undisputed lightweight gold, making the walk on Saturday at 37.

There are more divisionally coherent and meritocratic lightweight title fights that could have been made. But putting politics aside, the one we’re getting is must-see.

Amanda Nunes vs. Kayla Harrison

Only two months after UFC’s last women’s super fight — Valentina Shevchenko’s comprehensive dismantling of Weili Zhang at UFC 322 — the promotion has made another, bringing all-time great Nunes out of retirement to challenge two-time Olympic judo gold medalist Harrison for her bantamweight strap.

The unknowns are massive. What form will Nunes demonstrate after nearly three years on the sidelines? Can Harrison, who began MMA two years after Nunes won her first UFC title, overcome a significant experience disadvantage? Who has more to gain from the sparring sessions these two waged when both were training at American Top Team years ago?

And Shevchenko looms over it all, standing as a sensible next opponent for whomever of Nunes or Harrison emerges victorious, potentially at UFC’s White House card in June. The promotion’s women’s divisions spent most of 2025 in a rut, lacking high-interest, high-stakes fights. But by matching up two of its biggest names, the UFC has manufactured momentum while it awaits fresh stars to emerge.

Sean O’Malley vs. Song Yadong

O’Malley’s career appeared stalled last summer when he suffered a second straight defeat to bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili. But Petr Yan’s upset of Dvalishvili late last year has suddenly shifted circumstances for O’Malley, who’s been thrust right back to the title doorstep.

The 31-year-old fan favourite holds a victory over Yan from a razor-close, three-round fight in 2022 — one many believed could have been judged in the opposite direction. There was already reason to run that one back, and now that Yan is the champion, a five-round rematch books itself.

Of course, Yadong wants to have a say in that and would be happy to ruin the UFC’s plans with a victory over O’Malley at UFC 324. Song doesn’t have anywhere close to O’Malley’s broad appeal, but he does have the aggressive, heavy-handed style that can disrupt the former champion’s patient, long-range game.

Song dropped a unanimous decision to Yan in 2024, which lowers his stakes in this fight. Even if he beats O’Malley convincingly, Song will almost certainly need another win over a top contender to earn a title shot.

But if O’Malley wins, particularly emphatically, his stock will surge back to the heights it reached when he won the bantamweight belt in 2023. And a rematch with Yan — potentially on the White House lawn — will be too attention-grabbing for the UFC to deny.

Diego Lopes vs. Alexander Volkanovski

Over the nine months since Volkanovski reclaimed his featherweight belt in a one-sided out-classing of Diego Lopes at UFC 314, we’ve been eagerly awaiting the future hall-of-famer’s first defence in his second reign as champion.

Could the challenger be Movsar Evloev, the Russian grappler who’s gone 19-0 as a professional? Would it be Lerone Murphy, a 17-0-1 Brit who delivered one of the biggest knockouts of 2025 — a vicious spinning back elbow to the side of Aaron Pico’s head — his last time out? Maybe even Yousef Zalaal, the Moroccan up-and-comer who’s been as active as anyone in the division, winning five straight over the last 21 months, including four via stoppage in the first or second round?

The last opponent anyone expected was Lopes again. And for many fans of a promotion eternally balancing its scales between meritocratic sport meant to determine the best and entertainment product meant for mass consumption, this booking was far too heavily weighted in the latter direction. Even Volkanovski himself openly questioned the decision.

But the UFC is clearly looking to open its Paramount+ era in spectacular fashion, and no one can accuse Lopes of not giving the fans spectacular fights. Just look at his win following the Volkanovski loss, as he pulled a spinning back elbow out of nowhere to drop a blitzing Jean Silva late in a barn-burning second round of the pair’s firefight last September at Noche UFC. 

That doggedness, skill and comfort in chaos is what put Lopes in this position, and if you consider the fight in isolation from the deserving contenders who missed out on it, it’s hard to imagine it not being a fun one. Merely watching Volkanovski use his unmatched fight IQ to masterfully dictate each round’s range, pace and position is worth the price of admission. Mixing in an opponent with Lopes’s aggression and killer instinct only elevates the stakes.

Charles Oliveira vs. Max Holloway

A decade ago, as Jose Aldo was reigning over UFC’s featherweight division, a pair of 145-pound prospects named Charles Oliveira and Max Holloway met on a Fight Night card in Saskatoon, Sask., seeking to put themselves on the map in a deep, competitive division and work their way up to a shot at the Brazilian legend’s throne.

The result of that fight was ultimately anticlimactic, as it ended suddenly in the first round after Oliveira suffered an esophageal tear. But what played out over the next 10 years, as Holloway and Oliveira became champions and beloved fan favourites, wasn’t. And now, as mid-30s lightweights on their way to the hall of fame, two of the sport’s most entertaining athletes are meeting again to settle unfinished business from 10 years ago.

The BMF belt they’ll be competing for isn’t particularly meaningful. But their unquestioned status as two of the sport’s most skilled and willing combatants is. So, too, are their positions near the top of the lightweight rankings, where Oliveira sits No. 2, only a spot ahead of No. 3 Holloway.  

Even now, in the latter stages of their careers, both are perpetually on the verge of a title shot in a premier division. Both have recent wins over Gaethje, while neither has faced Pimblett. And one of those two will become interim champion next Saturday. If Topuria’s absence extends into the summer, either of Holloway or Oliveira could platform from this clash into a title fight.