Ultimate Fighting Championship will stage its first pay-per-view (PPV) event of the New Year 2024 this weekend (Sat., Jan. 20, 2024) inside Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, as UFC 297 hosts a Middleweight title fight between Sean Strickland vs. Dricus du Plessis. But, that is just the tip of the iceberg of what the promotion has planned for the year.
According to UFC CEO, Dana White, 2024 could be the promotion’s biggest year ever thanks to its upcoming slate and huge plans that matchmakers have on deck.
“Goosebumps, you are giving me goosebumps,” an excited White said when talking to Sportsnet about what the promotion has planned for 2024. “We got this Toronto now, we got Anaheim [UFC 298], we got UFC 300, Miami [UFC 299] is ridiculous. We then got the Sphere, which will be the greatest live sporting event anyone has ever seen. Just wait until you see how this plays out.
“For those of you who haven’t experienced the Sphere yet, what this building is capable of doing is beyond belief,” White continued. “We talk about it everyday, we are deep into it and that fight is not until September.”
UFC 298 is set to go down on Feb. 17, 2024, featuring a Featherweight title fight between division kingpin, Alexander Volkanovski, battling it out against Ilia Topuria, while Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa will go toe-to-toe in a pivotal Middleweight affair.
Three weeks later, the promotion will invade South Beach as UFC 299 will take place in Miami, Fla., featuring a stacked card headlined by Sean O’Malley defending his Bantamweight belt against Marlon Vera. In the co-main event, Dustin Poirier battles Benoit Saint-Denis, while Gilbert Burns faces Jack Della Maddalena.
But, of course, the granddaddy of them all is UFC 300, which is set to go down in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 13, 2024. White promised a massive card for the event, and while the lineup looks juiced so far, it isn’t exactly what fight fans were hoping for. That said, there is still a matter of a promised “rabbit in the hat” that could flip the script.
As far as the second half of the year, White says it will be massive because we will witness the “greatest return” of two of the sports biggest stars: Jon Jones and Conor McGregor.
“And after all of these fights were are talking about play out, we start heading into September, October, November which stuff will be built that we can’t even wrap our head around now. It will all be determined by everything that plays out in these fights that we are talking about,” White added, before giving updates on “Bones” and “Notorious.”
“McGregor will be back this year, possibly him and Chandler, we will see how all of this plays out. And Jon Jones versus Stipe this summer.”
McGregor’s return has been delayed for one reason or another, but it seems he could be on track to fight this year, and Chandler has been more than willing to be patient in to cash in on “Red Panty Night.” As for Jones, his comeback was delayed because of injury, leading a back-and-forth between him and current interim roost-ruler, Tom Aspinall.
Nevertheless, White and Co. are eager to roll out the goods for fight fans in 2024, but it remains to be seen if it will be as profitable as 2023. But, judging by this and this, it very well could be.
Remember that “secret sauce,” too.
To checkout UFC’s upcoming schedule of events for 2024 click here.