Buy or Sell the Latest UFC Fight Rumors

The UFC is gradually putting its summer schedule together, but as of yet, there aren’t many official fights on the calendar between June and September. That has left fans and pundits with little choice but to speculate as to which fights the promotion will end up putting together. 

In other words, the rumors are swirling. 

The pieces are in place for several massive fights over the next few months, most of them title fights. If we get them all, we will be very lucky. However, any long-time fight fan knows that for every Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor or Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier, there’s a Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brock Lesnar or Georges St-Pierre vs. Anderson Silva — fights that simply don’t happen. 

Having said that, let’s take a look at some of the most widely rumored matchups being discussed right now, and assess how likely they are to actually happen before the summer is over. 

This may be the biggest fight the UFC can make right now — assuming Conor McGregor never fights again, and it doesn’t seem like he will. 

Jon Jones is inarguably the greatest light heavyweight fighter in MMA history, and arguably the best fighter ever, period. As if his legacy wasn’t already impressive enough, he followed his light heavyweight title run by moving up to heavyweight and claiming the vacant belt with a win over Ciryl Gane in early 2023.

Unfortunately, his heavyweight title reign has been rife with controversy. 

Jones has defended the belt just once since winning it, thumping a shopworn Stipe Miocic to a TKO late last year. In the same timeframe, several deserving contenders have been calling for their cracks at the undisputed heavyweight belt. The most notable among them is England’s Tom Aspinall.

Aspinall ended up winning the interim heavyweight title with a knockout of Sergei Pavlovich in 2023 — a championship that was put together due to Jones’ inactivity. Since then, he has actually defended his interim belt with a knockout of Curtis Blaydes — again, because Jones has done little more than beat up an aging Miocic since winning the belt.

At this point, Jones has been so inactive that some people believe he should be stripped of his title, clearing the way for Aspinall to be promoted to undisputed champ. However, nobody wants it to happen that way. We all want to see Jones, arguably the best fighter ever, defend his belt against Aspinall, who looks like he could become a generational talent at heavyweight.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Jones wants to accept this fight. We’re not saying it’s because he’s scared. It just seems like he just doesn’t see Aspinall as a worthwhile opponent. For that reason, we’re not buying rumors that this fight could come together soon.

As much as we’d all like to see it, it’s more likely the UFC strips Jones, and promotes Aspinall to undisputed champ. If Jones does fight again in such a situation, it will mostly likely be a non-title super fight with somebody like Alex Pereira. 

The UFC middleweight division is in an interesting spot right now. It’s one of the few divisions where there is an irrefutable No. 1 contender awaiting a shot at the title. That contender, of course, is Russia's Khamzat Chimaev. The champion he is awaiting is Dricus Du Plessis, from South Africa.

Russia’s Chimaev is undefeated at 14-0. While he spent the earlier portions of his UFC career competing at welterweight, he was later banished to middleweight after repeated scale fails at 170 pounds. 

He hasn’t been particularly active of late, but in his last two fights at middleweight, he has defeated welterweight legend Kamaru Usman by decision and then Robert Whittaker by first-round submission. The win over Whittaker,  one of the best middleweights ever, was particularly impressive. So impressive that giving anybody else a title shot would be a major blunder on the UFC's part.

The champion Du Plessis, for his part, is ready to give Chimaev the opportunity. The champion made no secret of the fact that he would have preferred to fight Chimaev than participate in an underwhelming rematch with Sean Strickland — a rematch he ended up dominating. 

Both fighters want it. The fans want it. The UFC can probably make it happen. For those reasons, we’re convinced this one will happen. Maybe in July, during International Fight Week, or when the promotion returns to Dubai.

In terms of mainstream appeal, this is probably the biggest fight the UFC can make right now outside of Jones vs. Aspinall. In terms of the skill of the competitors involved, it would be one of the best fights ever.

The lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is considered the top pound-for-pound fighter on earth right now, thanks to a string of wins over legends like Dustin Poirier, Alexander Volkanovski, and Charles Oliveira.

Topuria, who recently vacated the featherweight belt with plans to move up to lightweight, is also a top pound-for-pound talent, and may actually be better than Makhachev, if his recent knockouts of Volkanovski and Max Holloway are any indication.

The major hurdle with putting this fight together is that Makhachev doesn’t seem to be into it. He’s certainly not scared of Topuria, but he seems to doubt the long-time featherweight’s credentials as a lightweight, which is fair. From the looks of it, he would rather fight somebody like Justin Gaethje or Arman Tsarukyan, which is also fair. However, a Makhachev vs. Topuria fight is a much bigger deal than a fight between Makhachev and anyone else, simply because they're two of the top pound-for-pound fighters on earth.

It's fight the UFC should make, but because Makhachev doesn’t seem sold on the idea, the best we can do is call it a maybe.

Lightweight legend Dustin Poirier has repeatedly made it clear that he only intends to fight one more time before he hangs up the gloves for good. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would say something like that if he didn't mean it.

Poirier has options for his final fight. However, all signs point to a trilogy fight with Hawaiian featherweight legend Max Holloway.

Poirier has beaten Holloway twice before, first at featherweight and more recently at lightweight. Ordinarily, his 2-0 lead would negate any need for a third fight, but his second clash with Holloway was reasonably competitive. More importantly, Holloway's latest lightweight appearance ended with 2024's knockout of the year, which came at the expense of Justin Gaethje. After that KO, he's a viable opponent for any lightweight on the roster — even a guy he's already lost to twice.

Speaking of Gaethje, he and Poirier are 1-1. Their trilogy fight would also make a great swan song for Poirier, but Poirier has said several times that his final matchup is already in the works, while Gaethje still has his eyes on Islam Makhachev.

Most people think it'll be Poirier vs. Holloway III next. We're not going against the grain on this one. It should happen before the summer is out.

Brazil's Alex Pereira started 2025 as one of the biggest stars on the UFC roster, but in his first fight of the year, he surrendered the light heavyweight title to Russia's Magomed Ankalaev.

Pereira's loss to Ankalaev was close. In fact, it was an admirable performance from the Brazilian knockout artist, who stopped all 11 of his challenger's takedown attempts. However, there was little question that he lost by the time five rounds were up.

The good news is that his popularity and three previous title defenses could set him up for an immediate rematch with Ankalaev. It's been rumored since soon after their first fight ended, and while it's not official yet, it seems like it's a matter of time.

Pereira, unsurprisingly, wants a chance to redeem himself. Ankalaev, meanwhile, seems to see the former champ as the biggest fight available.

Unless somebody gets injured, this one is definitely going to happen, and probably soon.