UFC title unification among 18 bouts announced – Fights on Tap

Fights on Tap is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions. The UFC either announced or finalized 18 fights this week, and the featured pay-per-view event of International Fight Week has its official headliner.

This past Wednesday, UFC president Dana White announced the official PPV line-up of UFC 290, the upcoming event scheduled for July 8 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the headliner, reigning UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski will attempt to unify titles with interim UFC featherweight champion Yaír Rodriguez. The pair were previously in action at UFC 284, where the ‘Great’ lost a unanimous decision to Islam Makhachev and ‘El Pantera’ submitted Josh Emmett. 

Though Volkanovski initially sought an immediate rematch with Makchaev, the City Kickboxing product decided to stay active instead of waiting for the Dagestani’s schedule to clear—which led to the unification against Rodríguez. Aside from Emmett, the Huntington Beach Ultimate Training Center talent also finished Brian Ortega in one of his most recent appearances. 

Announced UFC fights:

UFC Vegas 73 — June 3

• Johnny Muñoz Jr. vs. Daniel Santos — bantamweight (Muñoz Jr. vs. Santos was already confirmed, but shifted from UFC 288 to UFC Vegas 73, per Carlos Contreras Legaspi of ESPN Deportes)
• Mackenzie Dern vs. Angela Hill — women’s strawweight (Dern vs. Hill was already confirmed, but shifted from UFC Charlotte to UFC Vegas 73)

UFC Vegas 75 — June 17

• Arman Tsarukyan vs. Joaquim Silva — lightweight (First rep. by Brett Okamoto of ESPN)
• Kyung Ho Kang vs. Cristian Quiñonez — bantamweight (First rep. by Lee Gyo Dyok of SpoTV News)
• Christian Leroy Duncan vs. Armen Petrosyan — middleweight (First rep. by Nolan King and George Garcia of MMA Junkie)

UFC Vegas 76 — July 1

• Damir Ismagulov vs. Grant Dawson — lightweight (First rep. by Farah Hannoun and Nolan King of MMA Junkie)

UFC 290 — July 8

• Alexander Volkanovski vs. Yair Rodríguez — featherweight (First rep. by Ariel Helwani)
• Kamuela Kirk vs. Esteban Ribovics — lightweight (First rep. by Nolan King and Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie)
• Vitor Petrino vs. Marcin Prachnio — light heavyweight (First rep. by Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting)

UFC Vegas 77 — July 15

• Holly Holm vs. Mayra Bueno Silva — women’s bantamweight (First rep. by Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour)
• Ottman Azaitar vs. Francisco Prado — lightweight (First rep. by Gaston Reyno of ESPN Knockout)

UFC London — July 22

• Ketlen Vieira vs. Pannie Kianzad — women’s bantamweight
• Lerone Murphy vs. Joshua Culibao — featherweight (First rep. by Marcel Dorff of Eurosport Nederland)
• Tom Aspinall vs. Marcin Tybura — heavyweight
• Nathaniel Wood vs. Andre Fili — featherweight (First rep. by Al Zullino)
• Bryan Barberena vs. Makhmud Muradov — middleweight (First rep. by Muradov on Instagram)

UFC 291 — July 29

• CJ Vergara vs. Vinicius Salvador — flyweight (First rep. by Marcel Dorff of Eurosport Nederland)

UFC Vegas 78 — August 12

• Lando Vannata vs. Mike Breeden — lightweight (First rep. by Damon Martin of MMA Fighting)

Announced Bellator fights:

Bellator Dublin — September 23

• Johnny Eblen vs. Fabian Edwards — middleweight

Announced Professional Fighters League (PFL) fights:

PFL 4 (2023 Regular Season) — June 8

• Robert Wilkinson vs. Ty Flores — light heavyweight
• Movlid Khaybulaev vs. Tyler Diamond — featherweight
• Marlon Moraes vs. Gabriel Braga — featherweight
• Impa Kasanganay vs. Tim Caron — light heavyweight
• Taylor Johnson vs. Andrew Sanchez — light heavyweight
• Abigail Montes vs. Brandy Hester — women’s featherweight
• Alexei Pergande vs. Akeem Bashir — featherweight

PFL 5 (2023 Regular Season) — June 16

• Ante Delija vs. Maurice Greene — heavyweight
• Larissa Pacheco vs. Amber Leibrock — women’s featherweight
• Biaggio Ali Walsh vs. Travell Miller — lightweight
• Aspen Ladd vs. Karolina Sobek — women’s featherweight
• Renan Ferreira vs. Matheus Scheffel — heavyweight
• Denis Goltsov vs. Yorgan De Castro — heavyweight
• Marina Mokhnatkina vs. Evelyn Martins — women’a featherweight
• Danilo Marques vs. Marcelo Nunes — heavyweight
• Julia Budd vs. Martina Jindrova — women’s featherweight
• Olena Kolesnyk vs. Yoko Higashi — women’s featherweight
• Patrick Brady vs. Jordan Heiderman — heavyweight (First rep. by Patrick Danna on Twitter)
• Isaiah Pinson vs. Denzel Freeman — heavyweight

PFL 6 (2023 Regular Season) — June 23

• Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Anthony Romero — lightweight
• Sadibou Sy vs. Shane Mitchell — welterweight
• Shane Burgos vs. Yamato Nishikawa — lightweight
• Clay Collard vs. Stevie Ray — lightweight
• Magomed Magomedkerimov vs. David Zawada — welterweight
• Magomed Umalatov vs. Nayib Lopez — welterweight
• Natan Schulte vs. Raush Manfio — lightweight
• Carlos Leal vs. Dilano Taylor — welterweight
• Alexander Martinez vs. Bruno Miranda — lightweight
• Jarrah Al Silawi vs. Cédric Doumbé — welterweight
• Brahyan Zurcher vs. Mike Bardsley — featherweight
• Abdullah Al Qahtani vs. Lamar Brown — lightweight

Announced Cage Warriors fights:

Cage Warriors 155 — June 2

• Jovidon Khojaev vs. Sunni Imhotep — lightweight

Announced KSW fights:

KSW 83 — June 3

• Maciej Kazieczko vs. Leo Brichta — lightweight