This stacked card, airing under special broadcast circumstances for viewers in the United States, features a six-fight main card with two title fights and an additional nine bouts on the preliminary card.
How To Watch UFC 267 — ESPN+ Special Presentation From Abu Dhabi
On top of the fully-loaded fight card, four athletes will be making the walk to the Octagon for the third time in 2021, joining a short list of the most active fighters so far this year, with three fights completed.
Islam Makhachev
By now, Islam Makhachev is probably a name you’ve heard once or twice this year. After an entire year filled with fights falling off for various reasons in 2020, Makhachev made his highly anticipated return to the Octagon on March 6, 2021 at UFC 259: Blachowicz vs Adesanya, facing Drew Dober. After dominating for two full rounds, Mahkachev locked up a third-round submission via arm triangle with just under three-and-a-half minutes to go in the fight.
Islam Makhachev Submits Drew Dober
Four months later, Makhachev returned to Las Vegas to take part in his first UFC main event bout, taking on Brazil’s Thiago Moisés. The Russian advanced his record to 20-1 after a fourth-round submission via rear-naked choke. In his Octagon interview following the fight, the combat sambo world champion called out essentially the entire lightweight division for shying away from the challenge he brings from bell to bell.
Islam Makhachev Submits Thiago Moisés
Makhachev’s desires were fulfilled — kind of — when the previously scheduled bout against former UFC lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos from October 2020 was rescheduled for a year later at UFC 267. Dos Anjos was forced to pull out from the bout due to an injury sustained during camp, but the spot was filled almost immediately by New Zealand’s Dan Hooker.