Fight Announcement Thread

[Kfogg1991]

It's now confirmed Moreno Vs Tairia on it too.

They've added Sean Brady Vs Michael morales to the MSG card aswell which I can't understand why Brady would take such a risk when he's 2nd ranked and has a undeniably strong claim for a title shot next is absolutely batshit I hope it goes well and doesn't blow up in his face 

[wandshogun09]

I think the Brady thing is because he’s been struggling to get a fight. He was pushing hard for an Ian Garry fight. He reckons they were supposed to headline this week’s Vancouver card at one point but Garry was “dragging his feet” and didn’t wanna know. I’m sure he was on about a Belal rematch at one point as well but that obviously hasn’t happened either. And next thing you know, Belal vs Garry is booked. Shavkat vs Brady would’ve been ideal but Shavkat’s constantly injured.

Brady talks about why he took the fight here. Didn’t wanna sit out until next year. 

 

Edited October 14, 2025 by wandshogun09

[Kfogg1991]

Wow you know what after listening to his explanation about it I've tripled the respect and admiration for him and his reasons for taking the fight now.

He didn't want to sit out until next year and morales is the only person willing to fight him and all they could offer and his outlook on everyone ranked and there is it's a fight that will happen one day so let's get it done and it will solidify and guarantee I'm next for a title shot next year because of it.

 

I'm happy to admit I was wrong with my thinking and feelings about him and doing the fight at all, thanks for sharing this it's destroyed any negatives towards him completely 

[wandshogun09]

For fuck’s sake. Silva vs Weidman 3 is going down on the Jake Paul vs Tank Davis undercard.

[Kfogg1991]

Saw that yesterday what a Trainwreck it will be from once again two huge figures in MMA/UFC 

[wandshogun09]

Dana’s gonna be announcing some stuff today apparently. And they just put out a trailer for their move to Paramount. So looks like we’re finally gonna get some fights for 2026 confirmed.

Could be something of nothing but I found it interesting that this made the trailer…

If that fight isn’t happening next, it seems odd to include it here as it’s the only in-cage interaction they’ve had. And I might’ve missed it but I didn’t notice Arman Tsarukyan in the trailer. Tsarukyan absolutely deserves it more but as long as Topuria vs Pimblett is early enough in the year, it won’t really matter anyway. Tsarukyan’s next fight can still be for the title against the winner. Let Topuria kick off the year on a positive by obliterating Paddy Piglett. That’ll do nicely.

Can see Alex Pereira vs Carlos Ulberg and Kayla Harrison vs Amanda Nunes getting their dates confirmed as well. Feels like Harrison vs Nunes especially has taken forever to be made official. That one feels overdue. I know seemingly half the roster is banging on about getting on the White House card but they can’t all sit out until June. Hopefully we get some big fights announced for January and February tonight and we can get shit moving for ‘26. 

[Bruce85]

I’ve just seen on TikTok (I’m a 40 year old man, I have no business being on there) but some people saying it’s going to be Paddy vs Justin for the intrim title. No idea of their sources or how true it is. 
 

At least it looks like wheels are in motion for next year, so many good fights that could be made for next year! 

[wandshogun09]

1 hour ago, Bruce85 said:

I’ve just seen on TikTok (I’m a 40 year old man, I have no business being on there) but some people saying it’s going to be Paddy vs Justin for the intrim title. No idea of their sources or how true it is. 

Might well be something to that actually. Topuria’s just tweeted this…

So tonight’s announcement isn’t gonna be about him fighting. Him specifically saying he doesn’t want to “hold up the division” certainly makes it seem like there’s an interim coming. I don’t think he’s vacating the belt so, considering Tsarukyan just fought and probably won’t be doing that quick of a turnaround, I’d say Gaethje vs Pimblett is likely.

It really is bollocks though that they’re probably gonna do Gaethje vs Paddy for an interim belt while the #1 ranked guy and most interesting challenger Tsarukyan is left out in the cold. Maybe there’s a swerve coming and we get Tsarukyan vs Pimblett or something but I’ve got a feeling Tsarukyan’s about to get fucked in this whole situation. Dana will either use the excuse of 1) well we couldn’t put Tsarukyan in there yet he just fought. Or 2) well we were gonna give Tsarukyan the next shot but he headbutted Hooker so fuck him. They want Paddy in that title shot by hook or crook and he’s got a better chance against Gaethje than he does against Tsarukyan. 

Edited November 27, 2025 by wandshogun09

[wandshogun09]

UFC 324 main and co-main for January…

Also confirmed for that card…

Sean O’Malley vs Song Yadong

Waldo Cortes Acosta vs Derrick Lewis 

Umar Nurmagomedov vs Deiveson Figueiredo 

Alexa Grasso vs Rose Namajunas

Arnold Allen vs Jean Silva

And this bollocks for 325 in Sydney the week after…

Really don’t get this one. Volk’s got a limited number of fights left, he just beat Lopes clearly in his last fight. And they’re doing a re-run when we’ve got two legitimate and fresh contenders in Lerone Murphy and Movsar Evloev? Piss off. 

Edited November 27, 2025 by wandshogun09

[Bruce85]

Well that is some head scratching match making!

Apparently Topuria is going through a divorce which is why he’s not fighting. I’ve no issue with a intrim title whilst he’s out and Paddy and Justin should be one of the names but not both of them! Arman really has been shafted here, the winner will fight Topuria later in the year so best case Arman gets a title shot late 2026 but that’s another 12 months of inactivity. He’s going to have to fight again isn’t he.

I wonder if they even offered him the chance to fight for the intim title? I know he only just had a fight but he didn’t take loads of damage so unless he’s injured you’d think he’d take the fight. I know it’s a quick turn around and not ideal but sometimes you just got to take the chance and it’s clear the UFC don’t like him so turning it down is not going to do you any favours. I suspect he wasn’t even offered the fight though. 
 

Not loving the Volk vs Lopez fight either, you have 2 fresh contenders sat right there, why give Lopez another shot? The PPV is in Oz, it will sell out, it’s on paramount so they won’t have to worry about doing buys so they can’t use the excuse that  Murphy or Evloev aren’t big enough draws. Baffling. 
 

Could this be Volks last fight?! Headlining on home soil, could be a good way to bow out. 

Edited November 28, 2025 by Bruce85

[kev2050]

That January card is insane! I haven't stayed up/got up for a UFC card in a few years now, but I might do for that one. 

[Carbomb]

Arman has been shafted, but at the same time, there aren't many others in the LW division that I think will de-rail him. Gamrot's beaten him before, but I honestly think he'd avenge that loss if they were to have that fight again. BSD is always dangerous, but his losses would suggest he has a bit of a ceiling.

Only major threat to Arman that I can see is Holloway, and it's difficult to see that they would book them in a bout before they've had a title fight out of Tsarukyan, even if they don't like him.

[wandshogun09]

4 hours ago, Bruce85 said:

Arman really has been shafted here, the winner will fight Topuria later in the year so best case Arman gets a title shot late 2026 but that’s another 12 months of inactivity. He’s going to have to fight again isn’t he.

I wonder if they even offered him the chance to fight for the intim title?

I’d be pretty confident that they didn’t offer Tsarukyan the fight at all. They obviously badly want Pimblett to fight for UFC gold (hence why they’ve tried to baby him at pretty much every step of his UFC run matchmaking-wise). But they know if they matched him up with Tsarukyan next then that plan likely gets derailed badly. Gaethje is tough and he could beat Paddy as well but, of the two, he’s definitely the more winnable option. And that’s what they’ve done throughout Paddy’s UFC stint. Gave him the most winnable fight against names who were faded/shot/old or on losing streaks. Look at this…

Now granted, I actually picked Green and Chandler to beat Paddy, so I had to begrudgingly give him his due. But that was more to do with my lack of confidence in Paddy than believing those guys were in top form at the time. They weren’t. And it also doesn’t change the fact of what the matchmakers intentions were when they booked these fights. They’ve actively tried to give him the path of least resistance and maximise his chances of winning at every turn. Which, yeah I get from the UFC’s point of view. Having a gobshite twat with a following like Paddy in big fights is good for the UFC. I get the boring ‘business’ argument. But so many fans now can’t see it for what it is and have fully bought into the smoke and mirrors shite surrounding him. Seen divs acting like he’s Topuria’s boogeyman and all sorts recently. Based off wins over an old inactive Chandler and the corpse of Ferguson. It’s comical. The only reason I was on board with him possibly getting the title shot he really hasn’t earned is because I wanted to see Topuria finally get to chin him. It’s been brewing since 2022, Paddy’s had that beating coming for over three years now. But he’s dodged the bullet here and now we’re actually at the point where Paddy Pimblett is close to holding UFC gold (even if it is just an interim) off the back of rading the old people’s home section of the Lightweight division.

And the mad thing is, the jammy get might have the luckiest timing. He’s managed to miss Makhachev due to Makhachev moving up to Welterweight. Now if he beats a post-prime Gaethje (and I’m not saying that’s a given at all), who’s to say Topuria doesn’t end up vacating the 155 belt to chase that Makhachev fight at 170 next? Then Paddy’s interim would be upgraded to ‘undisputed’. He’d have made it to the title without having to fight any of Makhachev, Topuria, Tsarukyan, Oliveira or Holloway. I know there are a lot of ‘ifs’ to this scenario but it’s not that far fetched. The UFC might actually bullshit their way to getting Paddy all the way to the belt now. 

Yeah, I highly doubt Tsarukyan’s phone rang at all. 

Edited November 28, 2025 by wandshogun09

[Carbomb]

I'd say it's still risky - Gaethje may be post-prime, but he's not shot by any means. His last three losses are Oliveira, Holloway, and Khabib, so it doesn't really tell us anything about where he is right now.

Given his level of violence, it may be that the beating Pimblett is due is coming sooner than expected. And even if Pimblett wins, he'll have to walk through fire to do so.

[wandshogun09]

It’s definitely still risky, it’s the riskiest and most dangerous fight Pimblett will have had in the UFC yet. But my point isn’t that Gaethje is shot or a walkover but that he’s not as difficult a fight for Paddy as Tsarukyan would be and they’ve once again given Paddy the more winnable fight. Tsarukyan even said after beating Hooker that he’d be good to go again and to “send the contract for the end of January”. He was up for fighting specifically at 324 and they just passed him over for no good reason other than they don’t want Paddy anywhere near him.

And while I’m shitting on Paddy, it’s only fair to say also that Gaethje doesn’t have any business getting the title fight over Tsarukyan either. He’s one fight removed from getting thoroughly dominated and then faceplant KO’d by Max Holloway. The only thing he’s done since is win a so-so decision over Fiziev. Either Gaethje or Pimblett against Tsarukyan would’ve been fine. But how do you leave the #1 ranked guy out of an interim title fight and do #4 vs #5 instead?

I’ve got no doubt Gaethje vs Pimblett will be a fun fight to watch, but it’s such bollocks what they’re doing here. Even worse that they’re doing the same thing the following week with the Volk vs Lopes rematch which not a soul asked for while Murphy and Evloev sit on the sidelines. What are they playing at?