The pinnacle of following MMA is a UFC PPV. The UFC is the premier organisation in the world and PPVs are the events where they get to show off their best talents, put on their biggest fights and take over the world of combat sports for that night.
The PPVs this year have certainly been solid, however, the frequency of below-par fight nights could, in the long term water down the quality of PPVs.
Let’s look ahead to the remaining PPVs of the year, rate them out of 10 and highlight the best fights on each card.
Remaining PPVs of 2024
UFC 306 (UFC Noche) – September 14th
This is certainly one to look forward to. The UFCs debut at The Sphere in Las Vegas on Mexican Independence Weekend and certainly has a heavy Mexican presence throughout.
The main event sees the bantamweight championship on the line between the champion, Sean O’Malley and the fan favourite contender, Merab Dvalishvili. Despite potential worries around the fight going ahead, there are strong suggestions that it will happen. It’s a good clash of styles. The challenger averages 6.43 per 15 minutes, whereas Suga much prefers the stand-up game, averaging just 0.35 takedowns per 15 minutes. The trash talk between the two is set to entertain fans throughout fight week and we certainly can’t wait.
The co-main event will see a trilogy bout for the women’s flyweight title as Mexico’s Alexa Grasso meets Valentina Shevchenko for the third time since March of last year. The champ won the first bout via face-crank, shocking many, however, in the rematch, the two fought to a draw. The two women have faced off against each other as captains of this year’s TUF tournament, however, there is a strong mutual respect between the two.
Elsewhere, we have a featherweight clash between Diego Lopes and Brian Ortega. The fight was scheduled to take place at UFC 303, however, Ortega had to withdraw from the bout on fight night. Lopes picked up the win against Dan Ige and will be looking to pick up his third PPV win in 2024.
Raul Rosas Jr features and Irene Aldana meets Norma Dumont in what is a fairly strong card from top to bottom.
Overall rating 7/10
UFC 307 – October 5th
UFC 307 will take place in Salt Lake City, Utah. The headline slot will feature the most active champion in the UFC today, Alex Pereira as he takes on Khalil Rountree. In what was an extremely surprising match-up, the Brazilian will look to notch his third straight 205lbs title defence after knocking out Jiri Prochazka earlier on in the year. Rountree will be featuring in his first-ever main event but has impressed as of late, going on a five-fight winning run. Although you could argue this isn’t a case of seeing the best vs the best, the match-up could be fun.
Utah, we’re back for #UFC307 in a BIG way 🏆@AlexPereiraUFC vs @KhalilRountree@RockyPMMA vs @VenezuelanVixen@StateOfSport | #StateOfSport | @DeltaCenter | #DeltaCenter pic.twitter.com/HjFbqbxtTx
— UFC (@ufc) August 16, 2024
The co-main event will see another title on the line, this time, the women’s bantamweight strap. Champion, Raquel Pennington will meet the former champion, Juliana Pena. Pennington captured the belt in January by defeating Mayra Bueno Silva via decision. Pena, last time out, put in a truly awful performance. Defending her title, she was dominated by Amanda Nunes, losing 50–45, 50–44 and 50–43. Is she deserving of a title shot? Absolutely not. Is there a clear contender? Not yet…
The remainder of the card is also strong. We have a welterweight clash between former title challenger, Stephen Thompson and the in-form Joaquin Buckley. Thompson is coming off just the second finish loss of his career, whereas Buckley is enjoying an impressive four fight winning run.
Jose Aldo continues his return after dominating on his initial return in May. He will face another tough test in Mario Bautista. At featherweight, we have the return of the former bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling as he meets Movsar Evloev. Kevin Holland continues his regular appearances as he meets Roman Dolidze. The phenomenon that is Kayla Harrison will meet in what is inevitably a #1 contenders fight when she meets Brazil’s Ketlen Viera.
Overall rating 8.5/10
UFC 308 – October 26th
The UFCs return to Abu Dhabi will feature a number of exciting, competitive match-ups. In the main event, we have a captivating featherweight title bout between the undefeated, dominant champion, Ilia Topuria and the former long-time champion and BMF champion, Max Holloway. Last time out, Topruia did what Holloway couldn’t do on three occasions and that was defeat Alexander Volkanovski. Not only did he do this, but he did so via brutal knockout in the second round. Holloway’s last outing saw him score the knockout of the year so far against Justin Gaethje up at lightweight. With Topuria’s heavy hands and Holloway’s granite chin, this one offers up a salivating fight for fans. What makes it even more exciting is that Holloway’s only losses at featherweight since his impressive title run have come at the hands of Volkanovski… the man who Topuria beat last time out.
The full card is yet to be announced, however, we assume that a middleweight rescheduled bout between the former champion, Robert Whittaker and the undefeated boogeyman of the division, Khamzat Chimaev will feature as the co-main event. The two were set to meet back in June, however, Chimaev had to withdraw from the bout. Whittaker notched his first finish since 2017 on that occasion and enters the bout full of confidence.
The former interim heavyweight champion, Ciryl Gane will meet the in-form Alexander Volkov in a rematch of their 2021 main event. This one could determine the next contender at heavyweight (after Tom Aspinall of course).
Arguably the man who deserved the light heavyweight title shot, Magomed Ankalaev will look to prove himself yet again when he takes on Aleksandar Rakic.
Geoff Neal clashes with Rafael dos Anjos and Lerone Murphy also meets fan favourite, Dan Ige.
Overall rating 8.5/10
UFC 309 – November 16th
Although only four fights have been announced for UFC 309, which takes place from Madison Square Garden in New York City, we have one fight that is heavily rumoured to feature on the card.
The announced bouts are Chris Weidman vs Eryk Anders and Karine Silva vs Viviane Araujo. Both fights are set to be competitive and the women’s fight certainly has rankings implications. At light heavyweight, Nikita Krylov will test the undefeated Azamat Murzakanov and Veronica Hardy will look to continue her good form against Eduarda Moura.
We assume as it’s been heavily rumoured that Jon Jones will defend his heavyweight strap against the most successful heavyweight of all time, Stipe Miocic. Although the fight hasn’t been announced, everyone assumes that this is the fight which will headline UFC 309. Unfortunately, it’s a fight that no one wants to see. Miocic is so far past his prime that the fight is no longer competitive. His prime was arguably in 2020 and he’s been out since 2021, when he was brutally knocked out by Francis Ngannou.
Overall rating – It isn’t fair to give this one a rating as only four fights have been announced, however, let’s not kid ourselves. If Jones vs Miocic headlines, it’s a disappointment.
UFC 310 – December 7th
UFC 310 will round out the UFC’s PPVs for the year live from Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. Similarly to UFC 309, no key fights have been announced, however, there is one, fairly competitive fight that’s likely to feature on the main card confirmed. Two former title challengers, Anthony Smith and Dominick Reyes will clash at light heavyweight.
There are rumours that the men’s flyweight title may be on the line at UFC 310 and Kai-Kara France could be the man to face off against Alexandre Pantoja. Likewise, we haven’t seen the women’s strawweight champion, Zhang Weili since her UFC 300 bout. She could face off against Virna Jandiroba who is on a good run of form as of late.
