UFC schedule 2026: Every Q2 foremost occasion and title battle, ranked

The UFC-Paramount Era is properly underway, as the first quarter wrapped with last week’s occasion in Seattle.

Quarter 2 seems, on paper, to perhaps convey an elevated stage of anticipation, with some of the greatest stars in the sport making their first appearances of 2026.

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Currently, there are 5 title fights scheduled across 12 occasions, including eight UFC Fight Nights and three numbered occasions.

There’s a lot to unpack in the Quarter 2 schedule, but what are the fights followers should keep away from lacking at all prices?

We ranked all of the foremost occasions and title fights for Quarter 2 below based mostly on three standards: significance, pleasure potential, and fan anticipation.

It should be famous the UFC Fight Night occasion scheduled for June 27 in Baku, Azerbaijan does not have a publicly-announced foremost occasion, so it was not included in the record.

13. Gilbert Burns vs. Mike Malott at UFC Fight Night 273

• Location: Canada Life Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

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Preview: You’ll be hard-pressed to discover a higher consultant of the UFC and MMA than Gilbert Burns. A complete class act, enjoyable fighter, and someone who grew up proper in entrance of the UFC viewers’s eyes. The losses have piled up not too long ago, though. He enters the UFC Fight Night 273 foremost occasion on a four-fight skid. Mike Malott carries himself in a comparable means, as the present most distinguished Canadian flag-bearer in the UFC. With time, he will doubtless be considered in the same mild. On a three-fight profitable streak, Malott gets a home-country foremost occasion. However, it’s perhaps a little stunning that this battle is headlining, given where each fighter is in the division.

• Location: META Apex, Las Vegas

Preview: Former UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad is a identify. He has followers. He has detractors. But there’s no denying he’s a great fighter. There’s also no denying he wants a win to stay in the dialog atop the division. Off back-to-back losses to Jack Della Maddalena and Ian Machado Garry, Muhammad faces Gabriel Bonfim, a fighter who has quietly racked up win after win (with the exception of a loss to Nicolas Dalby in 2023). At the Meta APEX, the occasion is one week prior to the UFC White House card, where many followers’ consideration will be targeted. Talent-wise, this battle is top-notch, though stylistically, it may not be the most thrilling – at least on paper.

11. Renato Moicano vs. Chris Duncan

• Location: META Apex, Las Vegas

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Preview: Similarly to UFC Fight Night 273 in Winnipeg, UFC Fight Night 271’s foremost occasion is a little stunning. No one can look at Renato Moicano vs. Chris Duncan and think, “Hey, that’s a bad fight.” It’s a great battle. It has motion potential and is extraordinarily important to each man. Moicano desires to show he’s still an elite light-weight, despite his age and some current hiccups. Duncan desires to seize the second and set up himself among the record of high marquee fighters. There’s also a wrinkle of teammate vs. teammate, which is fascinating. However, the significance to the division is comparatively low. It’s basically a battle to see which man belongs somewhere in the rankings. But hey, at least it’ll nearly actually present some leisure.

10. Song Yadong vs. Deiveson Figueiredo

• Location: Galaxy Arena, Cotai, Macau

Preview: A matchup that the UFC has seemingly needed endlessly, yet has been unable to materialize, Song Yadong and Deiveson Figueiredo will finally get their arms on one another, unless the harm bug rears its ugly head again. Both males perhaps have a little less momentum than in years previous. Yadong has lost two of three. Figueiredo has lost three of 4. But it stays a enjoyable matchup, significantly with it being 5 rounds and in Yadong’s yard. The winner is still doubtless at least a couple fights away from a crack at UFC gold. But perhaps it’s a little more of a correct foremost occasion, given the identify recognition, the kinds, and there being some contendership at stake.

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9. Aljamain Sterling vs. Yousseff Zalal at UFC Fight Night 274

• Location: META Apex, Las Vegas

Preview: On paper, this could be a grueling watch. But for MMA purists that admire approach and strategy over pleasure (and there might not be a ton of us relative to the swang-and-bang), this battle is for you. Youssef Zalal, a fighter who was launched by the promotion just a few years in the past, has stormed back with win after win. Here’s his large shot, preventing one of the division’s most recognizable names and one of the best bantamweights of all time. Sterling has breathed new life into his profession at featherweight, though he hasn’t perhaps made the splash he’d hoped. He first lost an extraordinarily high-level battle to Movsar Evloev. Then, he beat a heavy Brian Ortega. For Sterling, a fighter who has been around the block, it’s important if he desires to make another push that he wins this battle. For Zalal, this is the second he’s always been ready for. The stakes are there.

8. Arnold Allen vs. Melquizael Costa at UFC Fight Night 276

• Location: META Apex, Las Vegas

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Preview: Arnold Allen vs. Melquizael Costa is yet another instance of a veteran attempting to maintain his ground, and a rising contender attempting to snatch his place. Different than the others, however, is just how red-hot Costa is. MMA Junkie’s 2025 Breakthrough Fighter of the Year, Costa went 4-0 in 2025, after a 2-2 begin in the UFC. His present momentum is of uncommon type. Allen stays underappreciated and underrated, one way or the other, despite his decade-plus tenure on the UFC roster. Perhaps it’s his streaks of inactivity due to harm. Perhaps it’s that he’s lost three of 4. But going beyond the on-paper resume, Allen has regularly been a troublesome out for top-tier expertise in one the promotion’s most aggressive selections. This is a canine battle. Let’s see not who can bark the loudest, but who can chunk the hardest.

7. Manel Kape vs. Kyoji Horiguchi at UFC Fight Night 279

• Location: META Apex, Las Vegas

Preview: We’re now actually turning the nook into the “yes please” echelon of the quarter’s highest-positioned fights. Despite its close to dismantlement years in the past, the UFC flyweight division has repeatedly proved its value. It’s not going anywhere, and Manel Kape vs. Kyoji Horiguchi 2 will nearly actually remind us why. The approach and pace will be off the charts. The reality that this battle is 5 rounds is really a deal with, and it has instant, perhaps No. 1 contender-esque, implications. Oh, and we didn’t even point out that these two have historical past. The two RIZIN standouts fought in the promotion’s 2017 World Grand Prix when Horiguchi submitted Kape. This checks so many packing containers – an completely sick foremost occasion.

6. Joshua Van (c) vs. Tatsuro Taira at UFC 327

• Location: Kaseya Center, Miami

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Preview: Sticking in the UFC’s most thrilling division, here’s a battle for all the marbles. Joshua Van and Tatsuro Taira will serve as a supporting act at UFC 327, but that’s OK. The flyweight division may not ever get the respect it deserves, unless a true celebrity emerges. Van, however, could be that. He’s the most fashionable flyweight we’ve seen in years and carries Myanmar on his back as the first Burmese fighter in UFC historical past. He’s younger, and his charge of enchancment as someone who made his newbie debut in December 2020 is completely insane. Taira, meanwhile, stumbled with a barnburner loss to Brandon Royval, but hopped proper back on the horse. He’s regularly enhancing, too. These two fighters are pushing the ceiling of what’s conceivable at flyweight. Now they’ll face each other in what could be an completely off-the-rails title UFC battle at Kaseya Center.

5. Jiri Prochazka vs. Carlos Ulberg at UFC 327

• Location: Kaseya Center, Miami

Preview: One of the UFC’s greatest stars returns against the most thrilling fighter in UFC historical past at the White House. Seeing Ilia Topuria back is a reduction of kinds. Step after step, he took up the ladder of stardom. Legal battles led to inactivity, which led to him dropping some steam, but it shouldn’t take long for him to get back on monitor and doubtlessly attain new heights. In order to do that, he’ll have to get through Gaethje, who admits he’s at the tail-end of his profession, doubtless in the last title alternative he’ll ever get. The oddsmakers record this battle lopsidedly, however. Gaethje has been knocked out several occasions in his profession, with growing frequency as the years have rolled on. Topuria, meanwhile, has appeared invincible. You can never rely Justin Gaethje out – never, ever… ever….. ever! But I do think the public notion is closely supporting a dominant Topuria win, and that’s knocked the hype down a notch.

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4. Ilia Topuria (c) vs. Justin Gaethje at UFC Freedom 250

• Location: South Lawn of The White House, Washington, D.C.

Preview: This battle could be sloppy. This battle could be wild. In reality, it’ll doubtless be both of those issues. More importantly, it’ll nearly actually be a car crash – a assured, “Well, I can’t look away from the screen for even a single second” type of battle. There’s something to be said about sure-thing violence, which is what Jiri Prochazka vs. Carlos Ulberg. Hammer the under, because this factor will doubtless be fast. The anticipation of pure chaos overshadows the division’s title image blandness, with Alex Pereira vacating the belt after profitable it in October, that means this will be for the vacant strap. It never feels proper when a new champion is topped without beating the earlier champion. However, in this second, the spotlight either Prochazka or Ulberg will create should make us overlook about that, at least for a few moments.

3. Jack Della Maddalena vs. Carlos Prates at UFC Fight Night 275

• Location: RAC Arena, Perth, Australia

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Preview: Jack Della Maddalena vs. Carlos Prates isn’t a title battle, but it could very properly be the battle on the UFC schedule that diehards are wanting ahead to the most. It checks a lot of packing containers. It’s important (perhaps a title eliminator, though that might be a slight stretch). It’s thrilling – and it’s high-level. While there’s no title on the line, both males are in their primes. Their kinds appear like a concoction that would fulfill both hardcores and casuals. Two enjoyable personalities with ending talents in the loaded welterweight division. This is what a UFC Fight Night foremost occasion should be.

2. Khamzat Chimaev (c) vs. Sean Strickland at UFC 328

• Location: Prudential Center, Newark, N.J.

Preview: Right now, this feels like “the fight.” In an MMA panorama that seems boring at occasions, Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland have already laid the groundwork for a really nasty rivalry. The trash discuss hasn’t absolutely engaged yet, though I’m sure it’s coming. The strategies will nearly actually cross into distasteful, but followers of each fighter will be keen to see the other smashed. But the visuals of either Chimaev dominating Strickland, or Strickland flipping the fight sports activities world on its head, handing Chimaev his first loss, give this battle the little additional anticipation and aura the others do not have. The matchup itself is considerably intriguing, though in a comparable vein to Topuria vs. Gaethje (but to a lesser degree), the oddsmakers are assured Chimaev will get the job executed, which perhaps tunes down the public’s notion a few quantity ranges.

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1. Ciryl Gane vs. Alex Pereira at UFC Freedom 250

• Location: South Lawn of The White House, Washington, D.C.

Preview: Don’t let the reality that we’re not getting Alex Pereira vs. Jon Jones spoil the reality that we’re getting a really fascinating co-main occasion at UFC Freedom 250 that could have all-time historic implications. How will Pereira do at heavyweight? It’s a query many, including myself, have been questioning for years since he first verbalized his plans to sometime bulk up there. “Poatan” has the skill to become the first fighter in UFC historical past to maintain a title in three weight lessons, even if this one is just an interim (for now). Ciryl Gane is a stiff take a look at, though the recollections of Jones strolling proper through him appear to endlessly dwell in the minds of many battle followers, despite Gane’s profession success and glimpse of brilliance vs. champion Tom Aspinall before an eye poke ended their battle in October. Interim title fights usually imply a unification bout up next. But will it be an all-time mega battle between Pereira and Aspinall, or a rematch between Gane and Aspinall after the first ended in controversy? There’s a lot going on. Star energy. History. Setting the scene for something doubtlessly even greater. This has all the fixings.

This article initially appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC schedule: Ranking every Spring 2026 foremost occasion and title battle