The Blog

UFC 295: Pereira vs. Prochazka — November 11, 2023, Madison Square Garden, New York. Alex Pereira won the vacant UFC light heavyweight title by TKO of Jiri Prochazka in round two. Tom Aspinall knocked out Sergei Pavlovich in 20 seconds to win the interim heavyweight title — the fastest interim title finish in UFC history. A historic double-title night at MSG.

UFC 294: Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 2 — October 21, 2023, Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi. Islam Makhachev retained the lightweight title by knocking out Alexander Volkanovski at 0:41 of round one. Khamzat Chimaev defeated Kamaru Usman via unanimous decision in a short-notice middleweight bout. Ikram Aliskerov upset Robert Whittaker by TKO in round two.

UFC 293: Strickland vs. Adesanya — September 9, 2023, Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney. Sean Strickland produced one of the biggest upsets in middleweight history, defeating Israel Adesanya via unanimous decision to win the UFC middleweight title as a +400 underdog. Alexander Volkov outpointed Tai Tuivasa in the co-main. The result shocked the MMA world.

UFC 292: O'Malley vs. Sterling — August 19, 2023, TD Garden, Boston. Sean O'Malley knocked out Aljamain Sterling at 2:58 of round two to win the UFC bantamweight title in one of the biggest upsets of 2023. Zhang Weili defended the strawweight title with a second-round armbar submission of Amanda Lemos. Bo Nickal extended his unbeaten UFC run with a first-round finish.

UFC 291: Poirier vs. Gaethje 2 — July 29, 2023, Delta Center, Salt Lake City. Justin Gaethje knocked out Dustin Poirier at 3:29 of round one to win the BMF belt in one of the fastest finishes of 2023. Tony Ferguson lost his seventh consecutive UFC fight. Jan Blachowicz stopped Aleksandar Rakic. The card produced a clean first-round KO as the headline moment.

UFC 290: Volkanovski vs. Rodriguez — July 8, 2023, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas (International Fight Week). Alexander Volkanovski retained the featherweight title with a third-round TKO of Yair Rodriguez. Alexandre Pantoja upset Brandon Moreno to win the flyweight title by majority decision. Dricus du Plessis upset Robert Whittaker in a pivotal middleweight contender bout.

UFC 289: Nunes vs. Aldana — June 10, 2023, Rogers Arena, Vancouver. Amanda Nunes defended the bantamweight title with a unanimous-decision win over Irene Aldana, then retired from MMA in the cage — ending a 23-5 career with six UFC title reigns and the most decorated women's championship run in promotion history. Charles Oliveira submitted Beneil Dariush in the co-main.

UFC 288: Sterling vs. Cejudo — May 6, 2023, Prudential Center, Newark. Aljamain Sterling retained the bantamweight title with a split-decision win over Henry Cejudo in Cejudo's comeback fight after three years in retirement. The result was disputed; most observers had Cejudo winning rounds two and three. Cory Sandhagen defeated Marlon Vera in the co-main. Kevin Holland stopped Yohan Lainesse.

UFC 287: Pereira vs. Adesanya 2 — April 8, 2023, Kaseya Center, Miami. Israel Adesanya reclaimed the middleweight title by knocking out Alex Pereira at 4:21 of round two, leveling their MMA series 1-1. Gilbert Burns stopped Jorge Masvidal in round two in Masvidal's retirement fight. Kevin Holland outpointed Santiago Ponzinibbio. Raul Rosas Jr. extended his UFC unbeaten run.

UFC 286: Edwards vs. Usman 3 — March 18, 2023, O2 Arena, London. Leon Edwards retained the welterweight title with a majority-decision win over Kamaru Usman in London, completing the trilogy 2-1 in his favour. Justin Gaethje outpointed Rafael Fiziev in the co-main. Belal Muhammad stopped Vicente Luque in round one in the most-watched welterweight contender bout of the night.

UFC 285: Jones vs. Gane — March 4, 2023, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas. Jon Jones returned from a three-year layoff to win the vacant UFC heavyweight title by submitting Ciryl Gane at 2:04 of round one. Alexa Grasso submitted Valentina Shevchenko in round four in the biggest upset in women's flyweight division history. Bo Nickal debuted. The $15.2 million live gate was the highest non-McGregor UFC gate in promotion history.

UFC 284: Makhachev vs. Volkanovski — February 11, 2023, RAC Arena, Perth. Islam Makhachev retained the lightweight title against Alexander Volkanovski in the most-anticipated champ-vs-champ fight of 2023. Makhachev won via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) in a razor-close fight that most observers had for Volkanovski. Yair Rodriguez stopped Josh Emmett in the co-main. The card produced one of the highest Australian UFC gates in promotion history.