As the UFC returns from an extended break, the promotion is about to get awfully busy, with events on 11 of the 12 Saturdays, from UFC 324 on Jan. 24 in Las Vegas through UFC 327 on April 11 in Miami.
We’ll see several titles contested along the way, plus a flurry of upper-division activity that will help sort through contenders and establish pecking orders.
Here are five notable non-title fights the company has booked as it lays the groundwork for 2026.
Rose Namajunas vs. Natalia Silva
UFC 324, Jan. 24
Riding a 13-fight win streak — the last seven in the UFC — Natalia Silva was already well positioned for a 2026 title shot once flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko re-enters the fray after her recent super fight with Weili Zhang.
But rather than wait around for her opportunity, the 28-year-old jumped at the chance to test herself against a decorated former champion, stepping in to fight Rose Namajunas on a month’s notice at UFC 324 after Alexa Grasso dropped out.
It’s been some time since Namajunas’s two title reigns at 115 pounds and her flyweight introduction has been a rocky one, with a 3-2 record since moving up. But her name still carries strong recognition, and if Silva can put a “W” next to it on her Tapology page, she’ll boast one of the strongest resumes of any woman who hasn’t fought for a UFC belt.
For Namajunas, this is an opportunity to halt a prospect’s rise and generate momentum of her own up the rankings. A Namajunas win over Silva would likely position Erin Blanchfield for the next shot at Shevchenko. But a No. 1 contender’s fight against the winner of March’s clash between Grasso and Maycee Barber would be a logical next step.
Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Umar Nurmagomedov
UFC 324, Jan. 24
This time last year, Nurmagomedov’s stock was through the roof, as he carried a 17-0 record and -280 odds into a title shot at UFC 311 against Merab Dvalishvili, who had just taken the bantamweight strap from Sean O’Malley. The popular expectation was that the exceptionally well-rounded Dagestani would grab the belt and, still in his late 20s, hold onto it for a long time.
What no one knew then was Dvalishvili would not only put on a clinic against Nurmagomedov after a week of spirited trash talk, he was about to go on one of the better years we’ve seen from a champion in recent memory. Nurmagomedov, meanwhile, was forced back to the lab, his inexperience exposed by Dvalishvili’s unyielding pressure in championship rounds.
But all the factors that made Nurmagomedov a favourite in that fight — athletic fluidity, suffocating grappling, a diverse kicking game — still exist, and Khabib’s cousin rebounded upon his October return with a convincing victory over Mario Bautista, who had won eight straight and is not easy to look good against.
Nurmagomedov remains one of bantamweight’s top contenders, and if he can cruise past Figueiredo — another accomplished grappler with fierce Muay Thai — he’ll return to the cusp of a title shot. Helping matters is that the belt is now held by Petr Yan, a fresh matchup for Nurmagomedov in UFC’s most stacked division.
Of course, no one should count out Figueiredo, who will be fighting for his career. At 38, and with recent losses to Yan and Cory Sandhagen on his resume, the former flyweight champion can’t afford to drop this fight. If he does, retirement may beckon. He’ll be throwing everything he has at Nurmagomedov — a dangerous proposition considering Figueiredo has as much power as anyone in the division.
There’s a slim title-shot path here if Figueiredo can finish Nurmagomedov impressively and get a bit of luck in the way of a Song Yadong victory over O’Malley. In that situation, the UFC may want to make the most of what the veteran has left and get him into a championship fight quickly. As always in MMA, we can’t rule anything out. Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov showed why a year ago.
Anthony Hernandez vs. Sean Strickland
UFC Fight Night, Feb. 21
UFC’s middleweight division could get very interesting in 2026 if the company can goad a bit more activity out of its top fighters. New champion Khamzat Chimaev has fought only once each of the last three years. And the four champions prior — Dricus du Plessis, Sean Strickland, Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker — fought just five times combined in 2025.
That has left a rising crop of new challengers hungry for name-brand opponents to prove themselves against — Anthony Hernandez prime among them. The 32-year-old is 8-0 since 2021, with six finishes and four performance-of-the-night bonuses along the way. With relentless forward pressure, effective grappling and a suite of chokes from various positions, he possesses an array of fashions to beat you regardless of where a fight goes.
It could be a style that finally gives the dominant Chimaev a meaningful challenge, but we won’t get to find out until Hernandez is tested against stiffer competition. And a clash with Strickland, whose tight defence and range striking is a fascinating contrast to Hernandez’s pressure, is a great one to start 2026.
Brian Ortega vs. Renato Moicano
UFC 326, March 7
Brian Ortega’s move to lightweight has seemed in the cards for years now after his rise stalled out in a pair of unsuccessful featherweight title shots against future hall-of-famers Max Halloway and Alexander Volkanovski. And after a bad miss on the scales last August before being thoroughly outclassed over five rounds by Aljamain Sterling, the 34-year-old is finally making the jump as he seeks to revive his sputtering career in a new division.
His first opponent will be a familiar one in Renato Moicano, who Ortega submitted in 2017 at 145 pounds. The Brazilian veteran has settled into a lightweight gatekeeping role since and ought to be a good first test of how Ortega’s game will transfer up without such a dramatic weight cut. Durable and well-rounded, Moicano can goad some activity out of Ortega — a notorious slow starter — with early volume and won’t be afraid to test his mettle grappling with one of the slicker jiu-jitsu artists in the sport.
That’s where this fight can become a lot of fun. Both fighters are active threats from a variety of positions on the mat, which could produce some entertaining entanglements and scrambles. It’s a great matchup for Ortega to re-establish his strengths and assert himself as a threat in a new division.
Reiner de Ridder vs. Caio Borralho
UFC 326, March 7
Like with Hernandez, one of these two could quickly enter the middleweight title picture with a strong start to the year following momentum-halting setbacks late in 2025.
Borralho was undefeated in his first seven UFC fights before running into Nassourdine Imavov, whose command of distance, technical striking and takedown defence neutered him over five frustrating rounds in Paris last September.
Meanwhile, the former two-division One champion de Ridder had as much momentum as anyone in the company, speed-running through his first four UFC fights — three stoppages and a split decision victory — before biting off more than he could chew and gassing out against Brendan Allen midway through his fifth fight in 12 months.
That makes a win in this UFC 326 clash extremely important for both, lest they get left behind the crowded group atop the division. The next move for whoever loses may be up to light heavyweight, where a path to the belt is much clearer.
