Along with the return of Jon Jones (as well as his heavyweight debut) against Ciryl Gane for the vacant heavyweight title, the Octagon pops back up in London a couple weeks afterward to host the grudge match between Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman.
Following each of those epic fights, eye-popping and crucial bantamweight matchups top the bill on March 11 and March 25, as former champ Petr Yan battles Merab Dvalishvili at the Las Vegas Virgin Hotel and Marlon “Chito” Vera squares off against Cory Sandhagen in San Antonio.
While most of those cards are relatively set, a handful of tweaks are made to the already-intriguing bouts.
On March 11, Davey Grant steps into a bantamweight bout against steeled veteran Raphael Assuncao, and Josh Fremd hops into a matchup with UFC debutant and Contender Series alumnus Sedriques Dumas.
Fellow Contender Series alum Chris Duncan makes his debut in London at UFC 286 against Omar Morales, and Gunnar Nelson returns against all-action man Bryan Barberena.
In San Antonio, a flyweight matchup between Victor Altamirano and Vinicius Salvador is set as well.
Stay tuned to UFC.com for all updates to events.
UFC Fight Night: Yan vs. Dvalishvili – March 11, Las Vegas Virgin Hotel
Middleweight
Sedriques Dumas vs Josh Fremd
Bantamweight
Raphael Assuncao vs Davey Grant
UFC 286: Edwards vs. Usman III – March 18, London O2 Arena
Lightweight
Chris Duncan vs Omar Morales
Welterweight
Gunnar Nelson vs Bryan Barberena
UFC Fight Night: Vera vs. Sandhagen – March 25, San Antonio, AT&T Center
Flyweight
Victor Altamirano vs Vinicius Salvador