UFC president Dana White took the opportunity to announce a trio of pay-per-view headlining fights on Monday afternoon. The announced fights will serve as main events for the first three UFC PPV events of 2024.
Sean Strickland’s first fight as middleweight champion will headline UFC 297 from Toronto on Jan. 20 when he puts the title on the line against Dricus Du Plessis. Strickland won the title at UFC 293 in September, dominating Israel Adesanya en route to a unanimous decision. That opportunity was only available to Strickland because Du Plessis was not able to make a relatively quick turnaround after he stopped Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 in July, a win that set him up as the No. 1 contender to bitter rival Adesanya.
UFC 298 will see Alexander Volkanovski look to get back in the win column when he defends the featherweight championship against Ilia Topuria in February. The date and location for the event has not been confirmed but it’s believed the UFC will hold the fights in Las Vegas during Super Bowl weekend. Volkanovski took a big risk in his most recent fight, rematching lightweight champion Islam Makhachev on short notice only to suffer a brutal knockout. Volkanovski is still undefeated in the UFC as a featherweight and faces a stiff test in Topuria, who holds a 14-0 pro record and is coming off a win over Josh Emmett.
Finally, Sean O’Malley will make his first defense as bantamweight champion at UFC 299. O’Malley will face Marlon Vera in a rematch at the event, which does not yet have a confirmed date or location. O’Malley won the title in August, knocking out Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292. In Vera, O’Malley faces the lone man to defeat him in professional MMA. The two met at UFC 252 in August 2020, when Vera landed a heavy kick that caused an injury to O’Malley’s leg and set him up to be stopped by punches before the conclusion of the first round. Vera has gone 5-2 since the first fight with O’Malley, losing to Jose Aldo before a four-fight winning streak that was snapped by a split decision loss to Cory Sandhagen. Vera took a unanimous decision over Pedro Munhoz in August to secure his shot at the belt.
