UFC 320 is in the books, meaning attention will soon turn to the mixed martial arts leader’s next pay-per-view offering, UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The promotion was in Las Vegas last week, where the T-Mobile Arena played host to a number of intriguing matchups for its nine numbered event of the year. Of note were headline wins for Alex Pereira and Merab Dvalishvili, as well as important victories for Jiri Prochazka, Youssef Zalal, and Joe Pyfer.
While the aftermath of the October 4 card is currently the talk of the town, it won’t be long until focus sways to the next PPV, and from the light heavyweight and bantamweight championship title pictures to the heavyweight and women’s strawweight championship conversations.
At UFC 321, which takes place at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on October 25, Tom Aspinall will defend the UFC heavyweight championship against Ciryl Gane.
This will mark Aspinall’s first defense of the undisputed UFC heavyweight championship. He had been promoted from interim to undisputed champion during the UFC Baku post-fight press conference back on June 21 — the result of a long, drawn-out negotiation process involving him, the UFC, and Jon Jones. Aspinall defeated Serghei Pavlovich for the interim heavyweight championship at UFC 295 and retained the interim belt against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304.
Gane is 13-2 and has won three of his last five. He comes into this bout off a split decision win over Alexander Volkov at UFC 310. Gane defeated Derrick Lewis to become an interim UFC heavyweight champion at UFC 265 in 2021. He has challenged for the heavyweight title twice since, losing to Francis Ngannou at UFC 270 and to Jon Jones at UFC 285.
Stakes will also be high in the co-main event, as a vacant women’s strawweight championship will be on the line, thanks to Weili Zhang moving up to challenge Valentina Shevchenko at women’s flyweight. UFC 321 will see Virna Jandiroba and Mackenzie Dern scrap in a rematch to determine the new champion. Dern previously scored a decision win over Jandiroba at UFC 256. Jandiroba enters this fight on a five-fight win streak, most recently scoring a decision over Yan Xiaonan at UFC 314. Dern, meanwhile, has won three of her last five, most recently submitting Amanda Ribas in a rematch that headlined UFC Vegas 101 in January.
Nurmagomedov, Volkov, Rakic Set The Stage For Heavyweight Title Headliner At UFC 321
Before Aspinall, Gane, Jandiroba, and Dern make their way out for their title fights, several names will look to make their own statements on the main card for UFC 321.
This includes Umar Nurmagomedov, who will be doing battle with Mario Bautista. This will be Nurmagomedov’s first fight since coming just short of capturing the UFC bantamweight title from Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 311, suffering the first loss of his MMA career in the process. Bautista, meanwhile, has won eight straight, which includes defeating UFC Hall of Famer Jose Aldo at UFC 307 and former Bellator bantamweight champion Patchy Mix at UFC 316.
A heavyweight title eliminator will also be featured on this card, as Alexander Volkov takes on Jailton Almeida. Volkov will be looking to rebound from the previously mentioned split decision loss to Gane, a fight that snapped a four-fight win streak for Volkov. Almeida, meanwhile, has won two straight and 17 of 18, coming into this bout off a performance bonus-earning finish of Serghei Spivac at UFC 311.
The main card is scheduled to open with Aleksandar Rakic taking on Azamat Murzakanov. Rakic has lost three straight, most recently dropping a decision to now-former light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 308, which was last year’s Abu Dhabi pay-per-view card. Murzakanov is undefeated at 15-0, most recently finishing Brendson Ribeiro at UFC 316 in June.
Those pairings have currently gotten the nod to feature on the main card over the likes of Ikram Aliskerov, Mateusz Rebecki, and Nathaniel Wood, all of whom are expected to be featured players on the event’s preliminary card.
See below for the UFC 321 lineup, as it stands.
Main Card:
- Heavyweight Championship: Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane
- Women’s Strawweight Championship: Virna Jandiroba vs. Mackenzie Dern
- Bantamweight: Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Mario Bautista
- Heavyweight: Alexander Volkov vs. Jailton Almeida
- Light Heavyweight: Aleksandar Rakic vs. Azamat Murzakanov
Preliminary Card (Order TBA):
- Middleweight: Ikram Aliskerov vs. Jun-yong Park
- Lightweight: Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady vs. Matheus Camilo
- Heavyweight: Hamdy Abdelwahab vs. Chris Barnett
- Flyweight: Azat Maksum vs. Mitch Raposo
- Women’s Strawweight: Jacqueline Amorim vs. Mizuki
- Lightweight: Mateusz Rebecki vs. L’udovit Klein
- Featherweight: Nathaniel Wood vs. Jose Delgado
