UFC is preparing for a busy first quarter of 2025. The mixed martial arts leader takes the first two weeks of the New Year off before getting back to action.
UFC’s first card of the year is a Fight Night headlined by Mackenzie Dern and Amanda Ribas. The women’s strawweights were bumped to the main event of the Jan. 11 card after their Dec. 14 fight was pushed. Ribas handed Dern her first professional MMA loss when they last fought in 2019.
UFC Fight Night lacks juice but the following week’s pay-per-view is gangbusters. UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and Arman Tsarukyan headline UFC 311 in Inglewood, California on Jan. 18. Makhachev and Tsarukyan previously met in a 2019 Fight of the Night that served as Tsarukyan’s short-notice UFC debut. It was a competitive showcase for two young athletes who would later become elite lightweights.
A quality main card further elevates the terrific main event. UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili fights top contender Umar Nurmagomdov, and former light heavyweight champions Jamahal…
