2026 in UFC

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

Based on court filings from late July 2025, the Johnson v. Zuffa antitrust lawsuit, originally filed in 2021, is proceeding, and status conference for the case is scheduled for late August 2025.^[1]

In May 2025, two antitrust lawsuits were filed against the UFC. One, led by former fighter Misha Cirkunov, specifically challenges the enforceability of arbitration clauses and class action waivers in UFC contracts.^[2][3] The other lawsuit, filed by former fighter Phil Davis, alleges that the UFC's anticompetitive practices also negatively impacted the ability of non-UFC fighters to secure fair wages.^[4][5][6]

On August 11, 2025, the UFC announced a seven-year media rights agreement with Paramount Skydance Corporation worth $7.7 billion. Paramount+ will exclusively stream all events for seven years, starting in 2026. Some numbered events will also air on CBS. The agreement will allow the UFC to move away from pay-per-view as events will stream on Paramount+ at no additional cost. All 13 of the UFC's flagship events and 30 Fight Nights a year will be streamed on the Paramount+ service.^[7] UFC CEO and President Dana White announced the UFC would produce four big events per year on CBS, and that the UFC's planned card for the White House on June 14th, 2026 would be one of those events.^[8]

To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States, the UFC plans to hold a historic mixed martial arts event entited UFC Freedom 250 on the grounds of the White House in June 2026, marking the first professional sporting event ever staged at the presidential residence.^[9][10]

The event was first announced by US President Donald Trump on July 3, 2025, during a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds:^[11] On August 29, 2025, UFC CEO Dana White confirmed via social media that plans for the event had been finalized, stating, "We had the meeting at the White House... The White House fight is on."^[12]

On October 6, 2025, President Trump announced that the event would take place on June 14, 2026, coinciding with his 80th birthday.^[13]

Beginning in January 2026, starting with UFC 324, the UFC increased its post‑fight bonus structure, raising Performance of the Night and Fight of the Night awards from $50,000 to $100,000, and introducing additional $25,000 bonuses for any knockout or submission not selected among the standard four post‑fight awards.^[14]

These fighters have either been released from their UFC contracts, announced their retirement, or joined other promotions:

Month	Day	ISO	Fighter	Division	Reason	Ref
January	9		Mohammad Yahya	Featherweight	Released	[15]
	23		Tecia Pennington	Women's Strawweight	Retired	[16]
	28		Darrius Flowers	Welterweight	Released	[17]
	29		Patchy Mix	Bantamweight	Signed with Rizin FF	[18]
February	5		Aaron Tau	Flyweight	Released	[19]
			Rafael Cerqueira	Light Heavyweight		[20]
	10		Alex Morono	Welterweight		[21]
			Javid Basharat	Bantamweight	Contract expired	[22]
	11		Lucas Almeida	Featherweight	Released	[23]
			Jailton Almeida	Heavyweight		[24]
	13		Adam Fugitt	Welterweight		[25]
			Mohammed Usman	Heavyweight
	20		AJ Cunningham	Bantamweight	Retired	[26]
	25		Nathan Fletcher		Re-signed with Cage Warriors	[27]
			Gianni Vázquez		Released
	27		Gavin Tucker	Featherweight	Retired	[28]
March	2		Felipe Bunes	Flyweight	Released	[29]
			José Medina	Middleweight
	10		Philip Rowe	Welterweight		[30]
	11		Erik Silva	Featherweight		[31]
			Kris Moutinho	Bantamweight
	14		Eryk Anders	Middleweight	Retired	[32]
	26		Luan Lacerda	Bantamweight	Released	[33]
			Montserrat Rendon	Women's Bantamweight
	28		Michael Chiesa	Welterweight	Retired	[34]
			Niko Price
April	1		Antonio Trócoli	Middleweight	Released	[35]
			Bruna Brasil	Women's Strawweight
			Luana Carolina	Women's Bantamweight
	11		Cub Swanson	Featherweight	Retired	[36]
	18		Gilbert Burns	Welterweight		[37]
	21		Pedro Munhoz	Bantamweight	Released	[38]
			Shaqueme Rock	Lightweight

The following fighters fought their first UFC fight in 2026:

Month	Day	ISO	Fighter	Division	Event	Ref
January	24		Ty Miller	Welterweight	UFC 324	[39]
February	1		Dom Mar Fan	Lightweight	UFC 325	[40]
			Kim Sang-wook
			Keiichiro Nakamura	Featherweight		[41]
			Sebastian Szalay
			Lawrence Lui	Bantamweight		[42]
			Sulang Rangbo
	7		Gianni Vázquez		UFC Fight Night 266	[43]
	21		Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani	Welterweight	UFC Fight Night 267	[44]
			Josiah Harrell			[45]
	28		Damian Pinas	Middleweight	UFC Fight Night 268	[46]
			Wesley Schultz
			Regina Tarin	Women's Flyweight		[47]
			Javier Reyes	Featherweight		[48]
			Ryan Gandra	Middleweight		[49]
			Imanol Rodríguez	Flyweight		[50]
March	7		Luke Fernandez	Light Heavyweight	UFC 326	[51]
			Rafael Tobias			[52]
			Alberto Montes	Featherweight		[53]
	14		Hecher Sosa	Bantamweight	UFC Fight Night 269	[54]
			Manoel Sousa	Lightweight		[55]
			Marwan Rahiki	Featherweight		[56]
	21		Shanelle Dyer	Women's Strawweight	UFC Fight Night 270	[57]
			Mantas Kondratavičius	Middleweight		[58]
			Felipe Franco	Heavyweight		[59]
			Losene Keita	Featherweight		[60]
			Kurtis Campbell			[61]
	28		Tyrell Fortune	Heavyweight	UFC Fight Night 271	[62]
			Lerryan Douglas	Featherweight		[63]
April	4		Dakota Hope	Lightweight	UFC Fight Night 272	[64]
			José Mauro Delano	Featherweight		[65]
			Tommy McMillen			[66]
	18		Jamie Siraj	Bantamweight	UFC Fight Night 273	[67]
			Mark Vologdin			[68]
			Gökhan Saricam	Heavyweight		[69]
			Julien Leblanc	Middleweight		[70]
			Márcio Barbosa	Featherweight		[71]
			Mandel Nallo	Lightweight		[72]
	25		Lucas Brennan	Lightweight	UFC Fight Night 274	[73]
			Victor Valenzuela	Welterweight		[74]
			Adrián Luna Martinetti	Bantamweight		[75]

The list below is based on fighters suspended either by (1) United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) or World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for violation of taking prohibited substances or non-analytical incidents, (2) by local commissions on misconduct during the fights or at event venues, or (3) by the UFC for reasons also stated below.

ISO	Name	Nickname	Division	From	Duration	Tested positive for / Info	By	Eligible to fight again	Ref.	Notes
	Conor McGregor	Notorious	Lightweight	September 20, 2024	18 months	Three anti-doping whereabout failures on June 13, September 19, and September 20, 2024.	CSAD	March 20, 2026	[76]
	Ramazan Temirov	Temurlan	Flyweight	July 5, 2025	1 year	Trimetazidine	CSAD	July 5, 2026	[77]
	Mohammed Usman	The Motor	Heavyweight	October 9, 2025	30 months	Testosterone and BPC-157	CSAD	April 9, 2028	[78]	Removed from the UFC Roster on February 12, 2026[79]
	Iasmin Lucindo		Women's Strawweight	September 24, 2025	9 months	Mesterolone	CSAD	June 24, 2026	[80]
	Levi Rodrigues		Light Heavyweight	October 14, 2025	9 months	Nandrolone	NSAC	July 14, 2026	[81]
	Alibi Idiris		Flyweight	February 21, 2026	12 months	Hydrochlorothiazide	CSAD	February 21, 2027	[82]	Result vs. Ode Osbourne overturned.

The following The Ultimate Fighter season is scheduled for broadcast in 2026:

Season	Division	Winner	Runner-up	Ref
The Ultimate Fighter 34[83]	Bantamweight
	Women's Strawweight

Event	Date	Venue	City	Country	Ref.
UFC Fight Night	Aug 29, 2026	Shanghai Indoor Stadium	Shanghai	China	[91]
UFC 330	Aug 15, 2026	Xfinity Mobile Arena	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	United States	[92]
UFC Fight Night 282	Aug 1, 2026	Belgrade Arena	Belgrade	Serbia	[93]
UFC Fight Night 281	Jul 18, 2026	Paycom Center	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	United States	[94]
UFC 329	Jul 11, 2026	T-Mobile Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada		[95]
UFC Fight Night 280	Jun 27, 2026	Baku Crystal Hall	Baku	Azerbaijan	[96]
UFC Fight Night 279	Jun 20, 2026	Meta Apex	Las Vegas, Nevada	United States	[97]
UFC Freedom 250	Jun 14, 2026	White House	Washington, D.C.		[98]
UFC Fight Night: Muhammad vs. Bonfim	Jun 6, 2026	Meta Apex	Las Vegas, Nevada		[99]
UFC Fight Night: Song vs. Figueiredo	May 30, 2026	Galaxy Arena	Macau, SAR	China	[100]
UFC Fight Night: Allen vs. Costa	May 16, 2026	Meta Apex	Las Vegas, Nevada	United States	[101]
UFC 328: Chimaev vs. Strickland	May 9, 2026	Prudential Center	Newark, New Jersey		[102]
UFC Fight Night: Della Maddalena vs. Prates	May 2, 2026	RAC Arena	Perth	Australia	[103]

#	Event	Date	Venue	City	Country	Atten.	Ref.	Fight of the Night			Performance of the Night		Bonus	Ref.
771	UFC Fight Night: Sterling vs. Zalal	Apr 25, 2026	Meta Apex	Enterprise, Nevada	United States	—N/a	[104]	Davey Grant	vs.	Adrián Luna Martinetti	Ryan Spann	Jackson McVey	$100,000	[105]
770	UFC Fight Night: Burns vs. Malott	Apr 18, 2026	Canada Life Centre	Winnipeg, Manitoba	Canada	14,051	[106]	Charles Jourdain	vs.	Kyler Phillips	Mike Malott	Márcio Barbosa	$100,000	[107]
769	UFC 327: Procházka vs. Ulberg	Apr 11, 2026	Kaseya Center	Miami, Florida	United States	17,741	[108]	Josh Hokit	vs.	Curtis Blaydes	Carlos Ulberg	Josh Hokit	$100,000	[109]
768	UFC Fight Night: Moicano vs. Duncan	Apr 4, 2026	Meta Apex	Las Vegas, Nevada		—N/a	[110]	Tommy McMillen	vs.	Manolo Zecchini	Alessandro Costa	Alice Pereira	$100,000	[111]
767	UFC Fight Night: Adesanya vs. Pyfer	Mar 28, 2026	Climate Pledge Arena	Seattle, Washington		17,854	[112]	Ignacio Bahamondes	vs.	Tofiq Musayev	Joe Pyfer	Alexa Grasso	$100,000	[113]
766	UFC Fight Night: Evloev vs. Murphy	Mar 21, 2026	The O2 Arena	London, England	United Kingdom	18,629	[114]	Mason Jones	vs.	Axel Sola	Iwo Baraniewski	Shanelle Dyer	$100,000	[115]
765	UFC Fight Night: Emmett vs. Vallejos	Mar 14, 2026	Meta Apex	Las Vegas, Nevada	United States	—N/a	[116]	Marwan Rahiki	vs.	Harry Hardwick	Kevin Vallejos	Manoel Sousa	$100,000	[117]
764	UFC 326: Holloway vs Oliveira 2	Mar 7, 2026	T-Mobile Arena			19,480	[118]	—N/a			Drew Dober	Gregory Rodrigues	$100,000	[119]
											Alberto Montes	Rodolfo Bellato
763	UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs. Kavanagh	Feb 28, 2026	Arena CDMX	Mexico City	Mexico	16,454	[120]	Regina Tarin	vs.	Ernesta Kareckaitė	Lone'er Kavanagh	Imanol Rodríguez	$100,000	[121]
762	UFC Fight Night: Strickland vs. Hernandez	Feb 21, 2026	Toyota Center	Houston, Texas	United States	17,160	[122]	—N/a			Sean Strickland	Uroš Medić	$100,000	[123]
											Melquizael Costa	Jacobe Smith
761	UFC Fight Night: Bautista vs. Oliveira	Feb 7, 2026	Meta Apex	Las Vegas, Nevada		—N/a	[124]	Michał Oleksiejczuk	vs.	Marc-André Barriault	Mario Bautista	Jakub Wikłacz	$100,000	[125]
760	UFC 325: Volkanovski vs. Lopes 2	Feb 1, 2026	Qudos Bank Arena	Sydney	Australia	18,102	[126]	Alexander Volkanovski	vs.	Diego Lopes	Maurício Ruffy	Quillan Salkilld	$100,000	[127]
759	UFC 324: Gaethje vs. Pimblett	Jan 24, 2026	T-Mobile Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada	United States	19,481	[128]	Justin Gaethje	vs.	Paddy Pimblett	Josh Hokit	Ty Miller	$100,000	[129]