UFC schedule tightens into a sprint: five straight Saturdays that will decide contenders before spring

The UFC’s calendar is about to feel less like a weekly option and more like a sleep-schedule commitment. After a quiet stretch, the promotion is lining up five consecutive Saturday events that run from the end of January into early March, stacking a numbered card in Australia, a run of Fight Nights across the U.S. and Mexico, then another numbered event in Las Vegas. For fans, the biggest change isn’t just who’s fighting—it’s planning: time zones, travel weekends, and the reality that momentum swings fast when the schedule stops giving anyone room to breathe.

A fan’s reality check: late nights, travel cards, and fast-moving title pictures

This stretch matters because it compresses storylines. In just over a month, multiple divisions get reshuffled by high-leverage matchups: a featherweight championship sequel at the end of January, a series of contender-setting Fight Nights in February, then another marquee rematch in early March. That’s the kind of run where one upset can erase a year of matchmaking plans—and where a short-notice replacement can jump a queue.

For viewers in Cairo, the timing is also brutal in a familiar way: most main cards land in the very early Sunday morning hours. If you’re watching live, it’s less “Saturday night fights” and more “Sunday before sunrise.”

The UFC schedule: upcoming events and main events (late Jan–early Mar 2026)

Below are the next major cards currently set on the calendar, with main-card start times listed in Eastern Time and Cairo time for planning.

• Sat, Jan 31, 2026 — UFC 325 (Sydney, Australia)

  • Main event: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes 2 (featherweight title)

  • Main card: 9:00 PM ET (4:00 AM Cairo, Sun Feb 1)

  • Early portions of the card typically begin several hours earlier.

• Sat, Feb 7, 2026 — UFC Fight Night (Las Vegas, Nevada)

  • Main event: Mario Bautista vs. Vinicius Oliveira (bantamweight)

  • Main card: 9:00 PM ET (4:00 AM Cairo, Sun Feb 8)

• Sat, Feb 21, 2026 — UFC Fight Night (Houston, Texas)

  • Main event: Sean Strickland vs. Anthony Hernandez (middleweight)

• Sat, Feb 28, 2026 — UFC Fight Night (Mexico City, Mexico)

  • Main event: Brandon Moreno vs. Asu Almabayev (flyweight)

• Sat, Mar 7, 2026 — UFC 326 (Las Vegas, Nevada)

  • Main event: Max Holloway vs. Charles Oliveira 2

A quick note on expectation-setting: while the headliners anchor the marketing, these stretches are often defined by the bouts just beneath them—where prospects get tested, veterans defend rankings, and the next title challenger emerges without the division “announcing” it ahead of time.

One useful way to plan: pick your “must-watch” Saturdays now

If you’re trying to avoid burnout (or a ruined Sunday), this run is easier if you decide in advance which cards you’re staying up for. A practical approach is to split it into buckets:

• Title-night priority: Jan 31 (UFC 325), Mar 7 (UFC 326)

• Contender sorting: Feb 21 (Strickland–Hernandez), Feb 28 (Moreno–Almabayev)

• Wildcard chaos: Feb 7 (Bautista–Oliveira) — the kind of Fight Night that can produce a sudden breakout

Because these events are stacked, the biggest “schedule mistake” fans make is trying to treat every Saturday like a must-see. That’s how you miss the fights that actually matter to you—by being too tired to enjoy them.

Mini timeline of the next five Saturdays

• Jan 31: Featherweight title sequel in Sydney

• Feb 7: Bantamweight main event in Las Vegas

• Feb 21: Middleweight headliner in Houston

• Feb 28: Flyweight headliner in Mexico City

• Mar 7: Major rematch tops a numbered card in Las Vegas — and the winners from February will be lobbying hard for placement right after it