When is the next UFC pay-per-view card? Date, location, and fight card
We're coming up on the final UFC pay-per-view of the calendar year. UFC 296 transpires on Saturday, December 16th, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Kicking off the pay-per-view main card, Ian Machado Garry collides with Vicente Luque. Garry looks to improve to 14-0 as a pro with a win. Luque looks to go 2-0 this calendar year and earn his 23rd professional mixed martial arts win.
In a polarizing crossroads fight at lightweight, former interim champion Tony Ferguson takes on outspoken Brit Paddy Pimblett. Ferguson was previously riding a 12-fight win streak but now heads into this bout on a six-bout losing skid, albeit against elite competition.
Pimblett, the former Cage Warriors featherweight champion, looks to improve to 5-0 in the Ultimate Fighting Championship when he returns from a year-long hiatus.
Shavkat Rakhmonov and Stephen Thompson is yet another consequential contest at welterweight. 'Wonderboy' looks to cause a major upset and edge closer to a third shot at the undisputed title. Rakhmonov aims to keep his 100% finishing rate intact, and the former M1 welterweight champion is also gunning for UFC gold.
Check out the official UFC 296 event trailer below:
UFC 296 championship fights
In the co-main event, Alexandre Pantoja defends his flyweight crown against Brandon Royval. Pantoja steps into the cage for his sophomore fight of the calendar year and for the first defense of his 125-pound crown.
Royval's last MMA defeat was to Pantoja, and since that loss, 'Raw Dawg' is riding a three-fight win streak heading into this rematch with consecutive first-round finishes to his name.
The main event of UFC 296 sees Leon Edwards aiming to make the sophomore defense of his welterweight strap against No.3-ranked 170-pounder Colby Covington. This contest marks Covington's third bid for the Ultimate Fighting Championship's welterweight title. He previously had a pair of bids for then-champion Kamaru Usman's belt but came up short both times.
Edwards and Covington will lock horns in the final UFC fight of 2023.