Fights on Tap is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.
UFC 277 is on Saturday! Julianna Peña defends her bantamweight championship against Amanda Nunes in a much-anticipated rematch, and Brandon Moreno returns for an interim flyweight title fight against Kai Kara-France. Sounds good, right? But before we get to that pay-per-view event, let’s look at what we have ahead of us on the upcoming schedule.
The UFC either announced or finalized 18 fights this week, and the spotlight is on the bantamweights this fall.
Given its recent additions, UFC 280 is already one of the most stacked events of the year. Joining the lineup is a championship fight between Aljamain Sterling and TJ Dillashaw, and the wild card that is Petr Yan vs. Sean O’Malley (seriously, who saw this one coming?). Fresh off his first defense against Yan at UFC 273 this past April, Sterling meets Dillashaw, the former two-time champion who earned his championship opportunity with a split decision over Cory Sandhagen at UFC Vegas 32 a year ago.
Yan is also in action for the first time since losing to Sterling, as he prepares to share the Octagon with the ‘Sugar Show’. O’Malley recently fought Pedro Munhoz to a No Contest after an accidental eye poke left the Brazilian unable to continue at UFC 276 in July.
Oh, and one more thing: Khamzat Chimaev vs. Nate Diaz is your headliner for UFC 279. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that here.
UFC 277 — July 30
Don’Tale Mayes vs. Hamdy Abdelwahab — heavyweight
First rep. by ESPN
Michael Morales vs. Adam Fugitt — welterweight
First rep. by Andy Caballero
UFC Vegas 59 Fight Night — August 6
Zac Pauga vs. Mohammed Usman — heavyweight
Brogan Walker vs. Juliana Miller — women’s flyweight
UFC San Diego — August 13
David Onama vs. Nate Landwehr — featherweight
First rep. by Iridium Sports Agency
UFC Paris — September 3
Taylor Lapilus vs. Khalid Taha — bantamweight
First rep. by Culture MMA
Benoît Saint-Denis vs. Christos Giagos — lightweight
First rep. by Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie
Abusupiyan Magomedov vs. Dustin Stoltzfus — middleweight
First rep. by UFD Gym
Darian Weeks vs. Cédric Doumbé — welterweight
First rep. by Tudor Leonte of Sherdog
UFC 279 — September 10
Khamzat Chimaev vs. Nate Diaz — welterweight
First rep. by Brett Okamoto of ESPN
Johnny Walker vs. Ion Cutelaba — light heavyweight
First rep. by Walker on his official YouTube channel
Jamie Pickett vs. Denis Tiuliulin — middleweight
First rep. by Nolan King of MMA Junkie
UFC 280 — October 22
Aljamain Sterling vs. TJ Dillashaw — bantamweight
First rep. by Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports
Petr Yan vs. Sean O’Malley — bantamweight
First rep. by O’Malley on the DC & RC Show
Beneil Dariush vs. Mateusz Gamrot — lightweight
First rep. by Brett Okamoto of ESPN
Marina Rodriguez vs. Amanda Lemos — women’s strawweight
First rep. by Raphael Marinho of Combate
Zubaira Tukhugov vs. Lucas Almeida — featherweight
First rep. by Red Fury MMA
Katlyn Chookagian vs. Manon Fiorot — women’s flyweight
Chookagian vs. Fiorot was already confirmed, but shifted from UFC Paris to UFC 280 as per Alexandre Herbinet of RMC Sport
Announced Cage Warriors fights:
Cage Warriors 142 — August 13
Stephanie Evans vs. Jasmine Favero — women’s lightweight
Aaron Aby vs. Michelangelo Lupoli — flyweight
Josh Reed vs. Bogdan Barbu — bantamweight
Announced Invicta FC fights:
Invicta FC 49 — September 28
Jéssica Delboni vs. Jillian DeCoursey — women’s atomweight
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