UFC president Dana White announced a trio of pay-per-view headline fights which will kick off 2024 in style.
White made the huge announcement online with the UFC’s first three months of next year filled with title bouts.
Firstly, Sean Strickland will defend his middleweight title against Dricus Du Plessis in January.
Strickland won the strap in a shock upset against Israel Adesanya in September.
White had teased a rematch but Adesanya recently announced he is taking time away following the defeat.
Alexander Volkanovski then drops back down to featherweight to defend his belt against Ilia Topuria in February.
Volkanovski stepped up to lightweight in February but he was beaten in a tight points decision to champion Islam Makhachev.
The Australian then returned to featherweight for a successful title defence against Yair Rodríguez in July.
Volkanovski then got another shot at Makhachev’s belt on 11 days notice when he replaced the injured Charles Oliveira.
But the 145lb king was knocked out in the first round and comes back down in weight to defend against Topuria, who is unbeaten at 14-0.
Finally in March, Sean O’Malley rematches Chito Vera in a defence of the batamweight crown.
O’Malley stunned Aljamain Sterling with a second-round KO in August.
And he looks to next settle the score against Vera, the only man to defeat the eccentric American.
O’Malley suffered a brutal ankle injury in their original in 2020 and was finished in the first round.
The rematch tops off a hat-trick of huge title fights to kickstart the new year leaving fans feeling they have been given an early Christmas present.
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